Psyker visual effects. Owlcat really dropped the ball, ha?

Let me preface this by saying that I love the game, and some of the visuals—like collision and damage from things like plasma guns or bolters—are done really well. That’s why I don’t understand how Owlcat, the same studio that gave us so many amazing-looking spells in WotR and Kingmaker, has done such a poor job with most of the psychic powers.

You might say, “Hey, random guy from the internet, that’s not really true. Some of them might not be great, but surely most are fine.” Well, let’s take a look together (I’ll write in italics the ones I consider fine/good):

Pyromancy
Ignite – not amazing, but a fine effect
Firestorm – that’s a good one!
Molten Beam – another good one!
Orchestrate Flames – well… I’m not exactly sure there’s even an effect? You seem to burn the same
Inflame – VFX of all burning creatures flicker a bit
Incinerate – THE ultimate spell… oh wait, same effect as Ignite. That’s really bad, man

3/6 – not great, not terrible

Biomancer
Iron Arm – actually a great effect; arms covered in stone, looks very cool! Thats how buffs should look like!
Metabolic Overcharge – pretty good too; those tentacles are cool
Enfeeble – fine. Could be better, but acceptable
Warp Speed – eh, just some purple mist around the character?
Invigorate / Regeneration – same low-effort flicker effect

3/6 – same so far, but I do see a trend: most effects are just some kind of blue/purple mist or flicker

Diviner
Foreboding – purple-ish circle on the ground? Looks fine, I guess
Prophetic Intervention – that one is fancy, with a surge of… purple. Damn
And… the rest of them use the same VFX: glowing purple eyes, plus some mist on top. It looks cool, but I count it as one reused effect

3/6 – the trend continues

I could go on with other disciplines (let’s not even talk about Sanctic—some powers there don’t have any effects at all. Heck, they added a new Sword of Faith effect two years after release). Navigator powers also reuse a lot: Glimpse of Fate has the same purple eye animation as Forewarning; Mend Reality, Touch of Anger, and Spot of Apathy have ZERO VFX…

Honestly, can anyone name really good and unique Psyker or Navigator power VFX? For me, it’s Lidless Stare, Iron Arm, Firestorm, and Molten Beam (not counting staves).

And this is kind of… bad. Disappointing, even. For the fantasy of being a cool space wizard, there isn’t much “space wizard” spectacle to throw around. Sure, most powers have some minor purple-tinted effects, but in WotR and Kingmaker, it felt amazing (visually!) to play a mage. In Rogue Trader… it doesn’t.

I really hope this won’t happen again in Dark Heresy, and that powers with no effects at all will actually get them.