Necromunda: Underhive Wars Gold Edition

My first instinct when I loaded up Necromunda: Underhive Wars was to cross-reference it against Rogue Factor's earlier work on Mordheim. That reference point is both the best and worst thing you can bring to the table. The good news: if Mordheim clicked for you, a lot of the DNA here will feel familiar and even improved. The bad news: the studio carried over most of Mordheim's unresolved problems alongside the ideas that worked. The core loop is a third-person, turn-based skirmish system where units alternate activations based on initiative, you pick a fighter, the opponent picks a fighter, and the one with higher initiative acts first. Movement Points govern how far you roam, and they recalculate intelligently if you backtrack, which is a smarter design than most games in this space bother with. Action Points then handle your attacks, from a standard 30AP aimed shot to a 40AP focused shot that lets you target specific body parts, head, limbs, torso, so you can exploit cover angles and partial exposure in ways that actually matter. The three base houses (Escher, Goliath, Orlock) each carry distinct playstyle flavors, with classes ranging from snipers and brawlers to saboteurs, engineers, and leaders. The Gold Edition adds the Van Saar, who bring deployable turrets and high-tech discipline, and the Cawdor, a faith-fuelled faction with unusual wound-resistance mechanics, both meaningfully expand the roster rather than just reskinning the defaults. Where the game earns genuine respect is in its persistent campaign structure. Fighters gain experience, develop skills, and can be permanently injured or killed, which puts real weight behind every engagement. The vertical map design, with multi-level tunnels and walkways running in all directions, creates sight-line puzzles that reward players who think in three dimensions. Objective variety in Operations mode goes beyond simple elimination, infiltration runs, supply grabs, timed extractions, and the better missions land with real tactical tension. Four-way online PvP and co-op modes add longevity that solo play alone could not sustain. Now for the honest part. The AI is inconsistent in ways that undercut the experience at a core level, opponents can circle aimlessly or blow cover in ways that deflate hard-earned tension. The campaign's Story mode reads more like an extended tutorial than a substantial narrative. Pacing is the headline grievance across most player feedback: individual turns can crawl, progress feels slow to accumulate, and the overall tempo demands a particular brand of patience that not everyone has in reserve. Launch bugs around mission objectives, cases where the wrong fighter picks up an objective item and the map becomes unwinnable, soured early impressions, and the Steam review score still reflects that rocky start. Some of those issues have been patched, but the fundamental rhythm of the game was never redesigned. For 40K tabletop veterans, especially anyone who has actually assembled a Necromunda warband, there is enough authentic atmosphere and strategic texture here to make it worthwhile, particularly at the Gold Edition's current price point where you get the full faction slate. For everyone else, particularly players who bounced off Mordheim or who want responsive, fast-moving tactics, the friction-to-reward ratio will frustrate well before the good systems get room to breathe.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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