I'll be honest, I almost ed on writing about digitised videogame magazines, that stuff rules). But then I discovered the datavault update doesn't just expand your in-game battle-barge with a fictional archive. It also adds a hulking new tyranid enemy with a massive biological gun on its back. Talk about burying the lede, Saber Interactive!
This new foe is called a Biovore, and you'll encounter it in Space Marine 2's Left4Dead-ish 'operations' mode, specifically any map that has tyranids, only tyranids, and nothing but tyranids. It's an Extremis level foe, which is Space Marine 2 talk for 'proper nasty'. This is primarily because it is equally effective at range and up close, able to pepper the battlefield with spore mines from the cartilaginous artillery cannon on its back, and also slice an Ultramarine into sushi with its massive claws. As someone who thoroughly enjoyed Space Marine 2's co-op, I'm glad to see Saber is adding more variety to general play alongside new levels like Termination, which arrived shortly after launch.
Now we've enjoyed dessert first, time to eat our vegetables. The headline event of the datavault update is, shockingly, a datavault, a new chamber in Space Marine 2's battle-barge where "Tech-Priests collect and store intel on the many enemies of the Imperium." You, however, use it to acquire research data by completing ordeals, which you can trade for requisition points, cosmetics, and armour pieces. It's a substantial addition, in fairness, but it also isn't a biological railway gun.
The datavault update throws in a few smaller features. Space Marine 2's competitive 'eternal war' mode gets a new map called 'Tomb'. Several new finisher animations have been added when you execute zoanthropes, scarab occult terminators, or rubric marines. There's an extensive balance rework to perks in operations mode. And it adds the final difficulty level for the game, forebodingly named 'Absolute'.
You can read the update's full details impressive commercial performance.
