Space Marine 2 is shadowdropping a free campaign mission and giving Siege Mode progression some much-needed love

To celebrate Warhammer Skulls, Space Marine 2 is shadowdropping its Purgation Update, delivering free single-player and PvE content.

Space Marine 2 has just released a free PvE Operation, a huge update to its Siege Mode, and a host of new weapon and armor cosmetics. On top of that, the Warhammer 40k game is free to play this weekend, with a trial available between Thursday, 21 May and Monday, 25 May. The Purgation Update, as it's called, is available now on both PC and console.

The new Space Marine 2 update is a chunky one, and the majority of it is completely free. We have a new PvE mission that takes place in the Kadaku swaps, and a re-jig of the Siege Mode progression mechanics, including new Hive Tyrant and Mutalith Vortex Beast enemies.

With new enemies to fight, it makes sense to have some new firearms to go with it; the Bolt Carbine Sidearm is a new secondary weapon that packs a punch, which you can see for yourself in the relatively safe (but still not really) environment of the brand new practice area of the Battle-Barge.

It's a lot, which makes sense considering it's 40k Christmas at the moment with Warhammer Skulls going on. It's a celebration! And for those who haven't yet dipped a toe in Space Marine 2, there's also a free trial of the gory shooter available this weekend - you get the first couple of missions from the campaign, the Inferno, Decapitation and Vortex Operations, and all of the PvP modes for a few days, so dig in.

Along with the slew of additions, there is also a patch going live today, May 21, with the regular host of balance changes and tweaks to PvP. It's a good time to be a Space Marine at the moment, and a particularly bad one to be a Xeno - but when isn't that the case, really? I'll be jumping back in, chainsword in hand, to try the Purgation Update tonight. For the Emperor!