I've been watching the Hammer and Bolter animated series on Warhammer+, and I'm reviewing each episode as I watch it. There may be very minor spoilers, but ideally no more than you'd get from the episode description.
It's an episode about the Death Guard sorcerer Ephisis and his single-minded mission to corrupt the Imperium with the, um, blessing of the diseased dark god, Nurgle. If you love disease, infection, and mutation, then this is the episode for you.
I don't love those things, but I loved this episode.
If you're not comfortable with horror, it's probably not an easy episode to watch. There's a lot of physical corruption in this one, lots of (animated) disgusting body horror. Throughout, it's a perfect picture of hell.
Ephisis is a gleeful sadist, but he doesn't hold a candle to his herald Nex. There's a scene outside a locked gateway in which Nex must perform a ritual to produce corruption strong enough to break through the door. It's an amazingly depraved scene, during which the purpose of one of the Death Guards they've brought along on the quest becomes clear. It's pretty sick stuff, and the transformation of Nex during that scene beautifully (that's not really an appropriate word in this context) mirrors the constant corruption of everything the Death Guards touch.
This episode is great sci fi. There's a minor space battle, there's an undefeatable alien (or demonic, I guess) disease. It's a dark space opera.
This episode is great Warhammer 40,000. Nurgle is disgusting, and the Death Guards are gross, but this story is inspiring. Ephisis might be turning all living matter into gloop, but you have to admire his determination and his strength. It's just a good story, and it moves from a dead world to outer space to an astropath's temple. Absolutely worth watching, as long as you enjoy plague horror.
All images in this post copyright Games Workshop.