We played Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster, here are our thoughts

There aren’t many stealth-based 2D platformers, are there? Going into my demo for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster, I wasn’t sure what to expect. With all the Gamescom prep I had to do for so many demos and interviews, I didn’t get the chance to see the big reveal trailer that came out during the same week. As it turns out, this isn’t a traditional Warhammer game, but rather a spin-off based within the universe and featuring its characters. As mentioned, this is a 2D stealth-based platformer and I was lucky enough to try a short demo.

What struck me immediately was the almost depressing, gloomy vibe the whole atmosphere has. The art style is dark and gothic, the music is low-key, and your playable rat-man protagonist is dumped onto a pile of corpses at the start of the level. It’s not exactly what you’d call sunshine and lollipops, but still, the vibe is distinct and creates a unique atmosphere I haven’t seen in a game like this before.

The playable character, a Skaven as they are referred to, is a rat guy with a very particular set of skills to help himself get around. In the level I played during the demo, we open with limited movement, our rat pal’s arms locked up. After finding a place to break his bonds, he gets some more free movement. He can crouch, sprint, run up walls and climb along ceilings. This made for some unique puzzle platforming as we come across security guards trying to kill anyone they see. Ratboy here is quite weak to start off, so if a guard spots him, it is instant death. To avoid detection, we need to move in the shadows. Luckily, there are coverings and darkness around the level that can hide your presence.

After giving a few enemies the slip, I encounter a puzzle where a guard is staring at the one exit out of a room, and he ain’t movin’. So, to progress, we have to distract him and make him look elsewhere. That is where we’re introduced to the mechanic where the Skaven can grab a skull and chuck it in an arch, which is what I used to create an escape opportunity. The sound of the skull hitting the ground in the opposite direction of the exit allowed me to slip past undetected when the guard looked away. 

As our rat friend finds a shield toward the end of the level, he gains newfound confidence, now able to bash up enemies that he was cowering from previously. He, uh, doesn’t hold back either. Kills are exceptionally gruesome looking. Just when we think we’ve got the upper hand against the guards, we’re jumped by an even bigger rat, who looks exclusively interested in killing us. So, we make like a banana and split, running away as fast as we can to avoid getting caught.

No matter how far we run, however, our efforts seem fruitless as the giant rat gets closer and closer to us. Just when it seems like we’re about to bite the big one, a mysterious, cloaked ninja rat with twin blades shows up and saves our hide. While initially cool, he immediately uses this life-saving act as leverage to force us to become one of his minions. He also keeps insulting our rat guy, calling him a half-rat. I don’t like edgy Splinter here at all. He’s needlessly mean.

We go to a new base camp, where we meet other rat ninjas and see a new shop to buy stuff. We also get a cool new outfit, and a grappling hook, which is fun to traverse with. By the time I started messing around here, though, I had to put the game down and end my demo. 

I really enjoyed my time with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster. The sense of power I got rising from a body of the dead to being a genuine threat to the guards I was sneaking past was a thrill, and even in the short time that I played, I felt like I was getting stronger and better at the stealth mechanics. While I’d love to say I’m itching to play more, and I am, we have a while to wait as this one isn’t releasing until next year on Nintendo Switch 2 and elsewhere. As early demos go, though, this game looked and played great. I’m looking forward to slinking around in dank caverns as a rat some more.