HomeFeaturesWarhammer 40,000: Darktide
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is worth revisiting after a year of updatesIt needed more levels and less crafting and, well, it does have more levels
It needed more levels and less crafting and, well, it does have more levels
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Fatshark
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Fatshark
I’ve played Darktide most days since the two-part launch of its anniversary update,The Traitor Curse. The game has reached that important point: I can play regularly without growing weary feeling I’m just doing the same thing over and over. It has enough variety of missions, settings, weapons, enemies, and surprises that I sink right into wonderful Left 40K Dead ultraviolence for an hour or two then still want to return tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. Mostly it’s the new missions.
My current favourite character is the Zealot who (with a setupcribbed from the Darktide build site) has an arsenal of survivability and maneuverability tricks to pull off clutch plays and saves, and does it all wearing scripture as handwrapsImage credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Fatshark
The new area and new missions added with The Traitor Curse give me hope for future updates too. While the two full-length missions are mostly built around the usual beats, they spice those up with events like a low-visibility ambush in a smoky room, creating doors in walls using breaching charges, and busting up a drug lab. I’m always here to destroy giant scientific glassware bubbling with lurid green demon drugs. The update also brought a brief live event where cannibalistic cultist twins would drop into random missions to cause trouble before escaping. This led to a new mini-mission which culminates in a huge arena rumble against both twins at once, plus a horde of drugged-up terrors, plus toxic clouds you must avoid (not to mention the toxic mines one of twin tosses). I’d be dead pleased if developers Fatshark do more of this.
Even playing old levels is often different now. Over the year, Fatshark have expanded the ‘Conditions’ which can alter missions. These are effects such as flooding the level with smoke or making the AI director spawn more of certain enemy types. My favourite of the Condition additions and changes is ‘Maelstrom’ setups which turn several on at once. I recently faced the combination of a powercut reducing visibility to two metres, the spawnrates for Specialist enemies cranked up, annnd a chance for Specialists to spawn as weaker Monstrosities. A great time bumbling through a pitch-black maze with Chaos Spawn and Plague Ogryn rampaging all over. Fatshark have also added loads more dialogue options across the years, reducing repeated conversations. A few new enemies have arrived too.
Even if the mission were exactly the same, you might be quite different. An update earlier this year added a full skill tree you fill with points earned every level (up to the cap of 30). replaces the boring series of three options every five levels. The trees include whole new abilities and enable whole new playstyles, and the branches split and rejoin so you’re not forced down one single path. Effectively, it now has distinct but semi-freeform subclasses. I also appreciate that you can reach each skill branch’s final node before level 30, leaving you a handful of points to pick utility perks or lean harder into your build. Good skill trees. I’ve enjoyed exploring different builds, which are easy to swap between now that Darktide has loadout slots saving your gear, skills, and—praise the Emperor!—fashion.
Fighting the twins in the new special mission |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Fatshark
I’m not saying Darktide has become a game of infinite variety, but it’s enough. Fatshark have done enough. If you also bailed and planned to return once they’d added more, hey, now’s a great time to return. Might give you a good few hours of gut-ripping grimdark ultraviolence.
