A second game would have seen a very different Titus, effectively ‘going rogue’ as he becomes exiled. The third and final instalment would have been redemption of sorts.
The writing was on the wall however: THQ would not survive and so neither would Space Marine as a franchise. Its demise did at least lead to The Long Dark.
“I had some big plans for Titus. The second part of his story was to focus on a ‘Titus Unleashed’ plot–basically there were forces arrayed against him that would see his loyalty to the Adeptus Astartes pushed to its limit, and his reaction would be to kind of ‘go rogue,’ and we’d see a different Titus, not quite as in control as we saw him in Space Marine. He would be kicked out as a consequence–exiled, which would basically be a death sentence for him,” van Lierop said.
”He would survive, and come back even stronger in the third game, where other Space Marines still loyal to him would rally around him and he’d return to ‘clean house,’ but as the head of a brand new Chapter that we would build around him.” What nefarious plot was hatched to stop all this from taking place?
”Sadly, THQ was already starting to fall apart by then and it became clear that Space Marine 2 wasn’t going to happen. I was pretty heartbroken about that,” he admitted to Penny Arcade.
“But that’s the way the business works. In the end I’m glad things turned out the way they did, because I think if the end hadn’t been so hard, I might not have sought out a better way. And Hinterland might not have ever happened.” Today Raphael van Lierop runs indie Hinterland with their Kickstarter project The Long Dark.
At least van Lierop could offer Space Marine fans some closure on Captain Titus.
