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Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC - 30 November 2022, Xbox Series X|S - "later") - update: reviews from OpenCritic posted


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From the developers of the best-selling and award-winning franchise Vermintide, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a visceral 4-player co-op action game set in hive Tertium. Fight together with your friends against hordes of enemies in this new Warhammer: 40,000 experience.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/23/2020 at 8:33 PM, Emperor Diocletian II said:

Alright, I'm totally down for playing as an Inquisitorial Tempestus Scion in Vermintide 40K :p

 

Normally I shy away from 40K games since Warhammer has possibly the worst licensed-game record of any "major" IP out there...but Vermintide 2 was really, really good.

 

My main concern with this game is that they'll go too generic with the characters. I want to see:

  • Inquisitors with swords and handguns
  • Tech-priests with weird machines
  • Psykers with telekinetic and energy powers
  • Servitors with huge strength

 

The only thing I'm not sure about is including space marines, since a single one could basically take on an entire group of any other "class." I just really want them to avoid just giving us some generic planetary security forces with a few different abilities.

 

 

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  • 4 months later...
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (4-player co-op set in hive city of Tertium) - Official Gameplay Trailer (2021)
  • 5 months later...

 

 

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WWW.PCGAMER.COM

The author of the Gaunt's Ghosts and Eisenhorn books explains why, in the grimmest sci-fi setting around, human characters matter.

 

 

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WWW.POLYGON.COM

Plus details on turning 40K’s wimpiest weapon into a killing machine

 

 

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WWW.PCGAMESN.COM

Author Dan Abnett, who's written for 40K, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Judge Dredd, brings his pen to Fatshark's next co-op game

 

 

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WWW.CBR.COM

Despite much-continued secrecy, Abnett and De Geers talk about new mechanics and worldbuilding and the importance of human vulnerability in 40k.

 

 

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WWW.INVERSE.COM

Director Anders De Geer and writer Dan Abnett reveal how Fatshark is treading new ground for the franchise.

 

 

An interview with Warhammer 40,000 author Dan Abnett, who's writing Fatshark's Darktide (Eurogamer)

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Dan Abnett has a lot to say about Warhammer 40,000 - and so he should. The author behind some of the most beloved Warhammer 40,000 books ever written has been thinking about the lore of Games Workshop's grim dark universe for 20 years. But it's not all about the Space Marines stomping about imperiously, shouting "for the Emperor!" while blasting all in their path to bits with guns large enough to suit a tank. In penning the Gaunt's Ghosts series, which is about Warhammer 40,000's regular human infantry, and the Eisenhorn trilogy, which is about inquisitors who hunt down heretics and demons, Abnett gave Warhammer 40,000 a more human face. Unlike the genetically boosted Space Marines, bog standard humans are squishy, vulnerable and, crucially, relatable. It's exactly this expertise that sparked Abnett's involvement with Darktide.

 

 

Also,

 

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WWW.PCGAMER.COM

Meet the man responsible for Mozû the Blight.

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (4-player co-op set in hive city of Tertium) - update: multiple interviews with newly-revealed writer Dan Abnett
  • 1 month later...
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (4-player co-op set in hive city of Tertium) - update: release delayed to Spring 2022
  • 8 months later...
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (4-player co-op set in hive city of Tertium) - update: 13 September 2022 release announced
Just now, CitizenVectron said:

Still hopeful about this one!

 

Should be good based on Vermintide. Now if only I can get my friends to play. 

 

Ooo wait based when I'm seeking political asylum in Canada we will have a game to play. Just need 2 more players.

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  • 2 months later...
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (4-player co-op, 13 September 2022) - update: "Rejects Will Rise" trailer
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (4-player co-op, 13 September 2022) - update: Summer Game Fest 2022 | Gameplay Trailer
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WWW.PCGAMER.COM

Darktide is a confident, carnage-filled step forward from Vermintide.

 

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There's still more melee combat in Darktide than I was expecting—Fatshark definitely didn't jettison what it did so well in Vermintide. But the guns? The guns feel good. I only got to sample a few, but they all feel like they belong in a proper shooter, unlike the rudimentary secondary weapons in Vermintide. Magnuson referenced aiming for a Call of Duty-level of gunfeel, which is a high bar in terms of smoothness, but I think Darktide's already spanking COD on weapon design. Give me a rifle that spits out lasers over bullets any day.

 

There were a few rough spots in my preview of Darktide—a couple crashes, some brain-dead teammate AI that is still on Fatshark's to-do list—but it's a game I would've happily played all day even in that state. I don't know yet how well the changes to loot and leveling will play out here, but the action is everything I wanted from a 40K version of Vermintide. It's a big, big galaxy, and it's full of skulls that need popping.

 

 

 

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WWW.THEGAMER.COM

Fatshark has designed Darktide with variety and replayability in mind, and it seems to be a huge step forward from Vermintide 2.

 

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While Darktide improves on the Vermintide 2 formula in many ways, the core gameplay is pretty familiar. A team of four players fight their way through twisting, futuristic levels while fighting off hordes of poxwalkers, deathguard, and cultists, occasionally stopping to solve small puzzles, and proceeding to a last-stand encounter before rushing off to an extraction point. The big difference you’ll notice right away is how much more focus there is on ranged combat. Arrows and bullets are a luxury in Vermintide 2, but here, ammo is practically unlimited. I used a single-shot rifle that had a capacity of 500 rounds and never even got close to running out. Magnuson says that the team spent as much time refining ranged combat for Darktide as they did perfecting melee combat in Vermintide, and it really shows. He expects most players will find themselves using ranged weapons 50 to 60 percent of the time.

 

That’s not to say melee has been neglected though. My character was equipped with 40k’s iconic chainsword, a light one-handed weapon that could make short work of the zombie-like Poxwalkers, or I could rev it up and charge a heavy attack to slice through the armor of deathguards. That kind of versatility is new to Darktide, and represents a new focus on stronger weapon identity.

 

 

 

 

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Overall, combat was quite enjoyable. My teammates and I were repeatedly cautioned by the Fatshark developers to stick together, and it’s easy to see why. Not only can dozens of enemies come barreling out of nowhere at you at any moment, but occasionally larger, stronger, and tougher miniboss encounters do too. I saw a shielded Ogryn, who proved to be an effective counter to my slow, lumbering brute because I couldn’t get around to attack him from behind very quickly, and my combat knife just bounced off his massive shield when attempting to attack from the front. Only a grenade – which are few and far between but are scattered in the occasional ammo box around the level – could bring him down in a hurry. Meanwhile, mid-mission objectives, like having to power up reactor cores, freshened up the action by forcing you to stop, anchor down, and protect an objective while enemies swarmed at you. I appreciated the little minigames tied to these otherwise-rudimentary moments, as sometimes you’d have to do a quick icon-matching puzzle before you can proceed – all while you’re getting flanked from all sides.

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (4-player co-op, 13 September 2022) - update: new hands-on previews posted
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (4-player co-op, 13 September 2022) - update: full mission gameplay walkthrough as Veteran & Zealot
  • 1 month later...
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC - 30 November 2022, Xbox Series X|S - "later") - update: PC release delayed to November 30, Xbox Series X|S release delayed to "later"

My big concern about this game is that there won’t be enough environmental diversity. I never really clicked with Vermintide, but it did have a lot of beautiful levels. All I’ve seen from this is cut and paste grimdark corridors.

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30 minutes ago, Moa said:

My big concern about this game is that there won’t be enough environmental diversity. I never really clicked with Vermintide, but it did have a lot of beautiful levels. All I’ve seen from this is cut and paste grimdark corridors.

 

I'd say that's very much a legitimate concern considering that it's set in a Hive City.

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC - 30 November 2022, Xbox Series X|S - "later") - update: Gamescom 2022 Trailer
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC - 30 November 2022, Xbox Series X|S - "later") - update: new developer interview and gameplay montage videos
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WWW.GAMESRADAR.COM

I fell in love with a devastating eight-foot destroyer in Warhammer 40K: Darktide

 

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Earlier this year, we learned that Warhammer 40k: Darktide offers Left 4 Dead-style storytelling with over 75,000 lines of dialogue already written. Developed by Swedish outfit Fatshark – of War of the Roses, and Warhammer: Vermintide fame – Darktide is a gorgeous, gritty, and often grueling first-person action game that tasks four players with investigating a suspected Chaos infiltration on the planet Atoma Prime in the Hive City of Tertium. 

 

This week at Gamescom though, I didn't really care about any of that. Not because it wasn't interesting – far from it, Darktide looks to be even more enthralling than the break-neck, wanton bloodshed of Vermintide before it. But during my hands-on time with Darktide at Gamescom 2022, all I cared about was blowing the hideous heads of scores of AI-controlled foes with an automatic shotgun. Even writing that sentence alone has made me smile. 

 

I spent much of my 45 minutes or so of hands-on time with Darktide smiling. Because while I'm almost exclusively a magic-leaning, stealth or ranged combatant in games of this ilk, I filled the hulking boots of Ogryn class character Yarp – a bruiser tank type who you might have spied towering over his companions in the game's promotional material. As detailed in an interview with Edge magazine(opens in new tab) back in May, Yarp's eight feet-high frame proved such a pain in the neck for Fatshark's environmental design team, that they ended up doubling the size of doorways and narrow walkways in order to accommodate the big lad. 

 

 

 

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WWW.ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN.COM

We got a brief hands-on with Warhammer 40K Darktide and reckon it's a great extension of the Vermintide formula, even if it's quite a familiar one.

 

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Feeling proud is a nice sensation isn't it? I've felt proud a number of times at this year's Gamescom so far, marked first by an excellent McDonald's choice (honey crisp chicken and bacon) on the first evening, followed by a doner kebab that put it to shame. And in a non-savoury twist, today it was being a member of the first squad to complete the Warhammer 40K: Darktide demo mission – the sweetest feeling of them all, and a perfect team-bonding exercise.

 

The bonus emotions? Surprise and... not being so surprised. Surprise that we'd accomplished such a feat, but not so much surprise in the game itself. It was, as expected, a good co-op FPS time! But a very familiar one.

 

In a roughly 40-minute play session, I partied up with two other journos and a very helpful dev, each of us picking one of the game's characters. I opted for a bloke who hit things with a big sledgehammer, while the others took on a huge ogre-like lad called an Ogryn, a psychic spell-slinging fella, and your veteran soldier type. After readying up we were plopped into a mission reminiscent of the bowels of Ironforge, with its abundance of massive metal pipes and control panels sat on grating, and entered the fray.

 

 

 

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC - 30 November 2022, Xbox Series X|S - "later") - update: new hands-on demo impressions
  • 4 weeks later...

Some more recent previews:

 

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WWW.IGN.COM

We went hands-on with Warhammer 40,000 Darktide at Gamescom 2022, and it's looking like the gory, intense shooter than 40k deserves.

 

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But perhaps my favourite thing about my short time with Darktide is how it captures the shooting and fight phases of the tabletop game. While Darktide definitely has a lot more shooting than Vermintide, it’s not abandoned the melee brawls that are important to both its fantasy predecessor and Warhammer in general. The mission was a constant push and pull between intense ranged volleys and gory hand-to-hand battles.

 

Because I wanted to see how much of a role guns would play in Darktide, I played as the Veteran, who Fatshark told me was the most ranged/close hybrid of the four roles available. Armed with the aforementioned lasrifle, I was able to snipe targets over much longer ranges than I’d ever do with Vermintide’s bows and flintlocks. This is particularly useful against the numerous pockets of ranged enemies you come across, as actually advancing while under fire feels incredibly difficult. As a Veteran you can thin out those gangs of gun-wielding foes in order to allow more melee-focussed allies to get into range.

 

But that lasrifle felt next to useless at close-range, where its single-shot nature meant it was just too slow and unwieldy to deal with the colossal hordes of zombie-like Poxwalkers that flooded the corridors. Just like in the tabletop game, being up close felt like I’d transitioned into a different combat phase, with its own rules and methods. In Left 4 Dead guns are useful at pretty much any distance, which makes for gameplay that’s similar regardless of range. I really like how Darktide forced me into a different routine when the enemies got in my face. In the Veteran’s case, that meant swinging around a chainsword and cutting things into wet, sloppy chunks.

 

 

 

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WCCFTECH.COM

After Left 4 Rats (Vermintide), Fatshark are taking us to space and looking to beat themselves with the upcoming Warhammer 40k: Darktide. Here's my preview.

 

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As one could expect, Darktide'll sometimes filter you into arena-style areas; this is where the real meat of the combat starts. Hundreds upon hundreds of enemies swarm you and your team. Sometimes you're simply fighting them off, trying to survive. Other times, you have to collect power cores and put them in specific machines to let you progress, one person carrying the core while others strive to defend them. So far, so 4vsAI.

 

Let me be honest; it is all "so far, so 4vsAI". What matters here is that combat feels great. While swinging around my hammer, it felt like it had some heft. When I used my ability to create a bit of a shock blast, stunning enemies, it felt like I was doing that. Even when I pulled out my gun, taking shots from far away, it felt like the bullets had some weight. There's a heft to the combat that other titles can lack.

 

All of this is supported by a game that looks and sounds great. The cavernous areas suitably echo the approaching hordes of monstrosities and the sounds of combat. While some of the design has already led to me getting a little turned around - likely intentional - I can't help but praise the visuals. Everything looks so suitably vast and overwhelming, with the more minor details all present to add to the atmosphere and enemies that are appropriately gruesome; and gory when you happen to slaughter them.

 

 

 

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WWW.DUALSHOCKERS.COM

Like Vermintide, but not.

 

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My very brief time with the game has led me to believe that Vermintide fans will be happy. It feels reductive to say “it’s more of the same” from Fatshark because they are tweaking a lot of systems and judging from the game’s development blogs, putting their full effort into the adaptation. While the overall feel of the game is quite similar to its predecessor, there are some noticeable differences. Fatshark has improved upon its systems, the AI seemed a bit more robust, and movement felt a bit sharper. A lot of changes will come via new content, there is going to be more of a focus on load-outs and ranged weaponry in Darktide. However, as I was placed into the game with a preset loadout, this isn't content I was able to explore with my hands-on. Darktide is going to feel like Vermintide 3 — but that isn't a bad thing.

 

 

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WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

Eurogamer's hands-on preview of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide.

 

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It feels real good to shoot stuff in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. This might not sound like the biggest deal - it's always important for this type of horde-based, zombie-mowing game - but for Darktide good shooting is significant. Developer Fatshark, who previously made spiritual, franchise-adjacent predecessors Warhammer: Vermintide and Vermintide 2, hadn't used actual FPS mechanics before, with Vermintide almost entirely based on melee. And doing it right in Darktide, it turns out, has been a challenge.

 

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  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC - 30 November 2022, Xbox Series X|S - "later") - update: sign-ups available for PC closed beta from October 14-16
  • 3 weeks later...
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC - 30 November 2022, Xbox Series X|S - "later") - update: "Veteran: Sharpshooter" and "Zealot: Preacher" class spotlights
  • 3 weeks later...
  • Commissar SFLUFAN changed the title to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC - 30 November 2022, Xbox Series X|S - "later") - update: "Ogryn: Skullbreaker" class spotlight
40 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Nice. This is four player? It looks like a good mix of range and melee, too.

 

 

Yes 4 player COOP. Vermintide's melee system with guns, lasguns, and I think I saw someone carrying a plasma gun in one of the videos.

 

The lasgun is so satisfying. It kinda takes the role of a battle rifle but it's basically a hitscan weapon. i love the burn effect it leaves on enemies. It's just so accurate I love it. there is recoil but ya conventional firearms feel beneath me now. All hail the humble flashlight. Sure I probably need to hit a Chaos terminator lord in like the eye to have any hope of damaging one but hey laser accuracy makes it kinda possible. Plus that's what plasma is for. There are no Chaos SM from what I have seen. So far poxwalkers, nurgle chaos cultists, traitor PDF or guard, and Orgyyns the toughest so far being Plague Ogryns.

 

I look forward to plasma guns. Be cool if they added 30k era lasrifles but with the current maps it probably wouldn't be that useful unless they make it a lasgun with alternative fire modes.

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