If it was for me, absolutly no "Shock Value". I don't feel like Shockvalue, Violence for the Violence or Gore have any value themselfes. (For me atleast, some people just like to see that stuff...)

Now before you burn me alive, that doesn't mean I want no Violence or blood or cool finishers. But it has to have a reason. It has to feel "natural". It has to feel like they would do the IP disservice if it was less. It SHOULDN'T feel like they upped the "Shockvalue" to please someone who wants Shockvalue, regardless of the IP.

I know the following comparison falls flat, because I am not talking about a game, but maybe you can still figure out my opinin through it: (and sorry if you don't watch anime )
On one hand we have Animes that seem to be build around the Idea of having much gore and Shockvalue, but offer not much more. Everything else is just build around it to support the violence.
On the other hand we have animes like Attack on Titan, or Parayste. They are both very graphic, violent and have tons of Shockvalue. BUT, they also have a great deep Story. A Story, which requires the violence, and uses it.
A Story, that would feel without all those things like it's missing something. A Story that naturally needs these things.

To translate it a bit to Warhammer40k and EC, even if the Violence and Gore of the Wh40k universe is not directly justified through the game, it is already justified through the IP.

So what I want to say is: Warhammer 40k Violence yes, more just to appeal to people who like Gore? No. (And I recognize that those two demographiks overlap a bit... and that you could write a bad Warhammer40k Story, that focuses to much on it without giving anything else.)

I agree that it shouldn't be the whole "wooo look at how gory everything is every space marine is basically Kratos from God of War yeah!" . I think the current space marine bolter execution is a pretty good one. Ok wounded enemy, kick him over, give him a face load, move on. That feels like something a battle hardened space marine would do it's cold, calculated and efficient. While on the other hand I feel like a space wolf or follower of khorne would naturally have an execution which is them literally punching someone's face flat with their fists because they fight in more violent ways and it suits their characters.
On a side note give me the face punch execution BE I need it for my khorny ways.

Realistic brutality .. no Tarantino blood ty.

No bs Rated-11 kind of old western level of violence either.

i dident even know that it was shock value that Mortal combat used, the games has allways been violent and gory, the only game in mordern time i know that has used succesfull shock value to commersiolise is HATRED.

Oh don't know what's more worrying:
1: the fact I didn't realise HATRED uses shock value until now because it doesn't shock me.
2: Now I know it's supposed to shock you and I'm not shocked and I'm still completely ok with that

Well considering its the first game from a polish idie developer and now has a great deal of fame, and enough pre-orders to enhance their company
All becouse shooting a few pogrammed civilians got them on some American news shows. thats pretty succesfull shock value.

(im also okay, but many many many arent.)

Some people get really sensitive about weird things sometimes. I mean yeah I get that you might have witnessed a mass shooting or something but at the end of the day it's still a game. Most action games have you kill people but they are ok because the people have guns? Sometimes oversensitive people hurt me with flawed logic...because I'm like super hipster and stuff.

so edgy people cut their eyes by reading man.
But nah, its people like SJW's that are offended, and lesser smart people + alot of americans that think its a school shooting simulater xD

I really need someone to make a khorne berserker sim so I can be all "im sorry what I can't hear your complaints over all the bodies!"

meh,

I grew up watching 70's and 80's slasher films when SFX gore was the "go-to" default setting of any half serious horror director .... you'd have to do something really extraordinary to get more then a reaction like "oooh thats cool" from me regarding shock value