Astartes 2 Returns: Stunning Teaser Revealed, Yet a Catch Awaits

Games Workshop has reignited the excitement around the Warhammer 40,000 universe by bringing the much-anticipated Astartes 2 back into the spotlight with an awe-inspiring teaser trailer. This trailer has thrilled fans of the franchise, although there's a twist: none of the content shown in the teaser will be featured in the actual animation.

Astartes 2 serves as the official sequel to the fan-made masterpiece, Astartes, which was crafted by the talented Syama Pedersen. The original animation is hailed as the pinnacle of Warhammer 40,000 animations, rivaled only by the recent, high-quality Space Marine 2 animation from Amazon's Secret Level anthology series. The impact of Astartes was so profound that it inspired Saber Interactive’s successful game, Space Marine 2, and ultimately led Games Workshop to hire Syama Pedersen to work on this sequel.

Despite the initial buzz, Astartes 2 seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving fans to speculate if it had been silently shelved. But on January 29, 2025, Games Workshop surprised everyone with the release of the teaser trailer, sparking a wave of enthusiasm among the Warhammer 40,000 community.

It's not even February yet and the Ws for 2025 won't stop coming! Astartes is back, Brothers! pic.twitter.com/sYhu5LjwiC

— Champions of the Ice (@ChampionsOTIce2) January 29, 2025

The teaser promises a grand-scale animation, featuring intense melee and shooting battles, vehicle combat, and epic spaceship clashes. It showcases various Space Marine chapters fighting across diverse settings against multiple enemy factions, including Tyranids, Orks, and Tau. This display undoubtedly builds anticipation for Astartes 2, but fans should be aware that the teaser is purely a montage of scenes representing the characters' past lives, not actual footage from the upcoming animation.

According to a statement on the Warhammer Community website, the teaser trailer is a compilation meant to hint at the backstories of the characters who will appear in the show, with a subtle clue at the end about the storyline. It's set to launch in 2026 exclusively on Games Workshop's subscription-based Warhammer+ platform. The absence of a disclaimer in the trailer might lead to confusion among fans, as they might expect to see the depicted scenes in the final product.

Despite this, fans can't help but feel excited and start piecing together the clues. The final image of the trailer suggests that the characters might end up in an Inquisition-led Deathwatch Terminator squad. As speculation continues, fans of Space Marine 2 are also expressing their desire for similar elements, like capes, to be incorporated into their game. With ongoing updates from Saber Interactive, there's hope that the developers might draw further inspiration from Astartes 2.