Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

This game is very fun on its first impression, but there are several issues with it that make it not fun to play in the long run. First of all, you can't share currency or items between characters. This means that it's a slog to get any decent gear every time you make a new character. The loot system is extremely frustrating. It's a shop that refreshes every hour and if the type of weapon or item you're looking for isn't there, you just get to wait another hour and hope it's in the shop the next time.

Weekly missions can be super frustrating and feel like they need to be done in order to get decent gear. But some of them require you to play a ton to complete. And there's a huge bonus for completing all the weeklies. This translates to feeling real bad when you don't finish all the weeklies. Also, some of them force you to play suboptimally to complete, like one that requires you to kill 1000 of a certain enemy type at range, even if it would be more efficient to clear them in melee. Many achievements also require you to change your play and potentially throw the game for your team.

Lastly, unlike their previous game Vermintide 2, they decided not to show stats (number of kills, number of special enemies killed, damage taken, etc.) at the end. If you did great in a game, you can't see it at the end. Overall, after leveling one character to 30 and starting on a second one, I have completely lost interest because there's very little positive incentive to keep going.

Currently there are system issues that require fixing. In particular for my case, there is an error code 4008 bug that prevents me from connecting to the servers (so I cannot play the game). On some occasions I'm able to get into the game and play, on other days I'm prevented from joining. The devs have already acknowledged this bug and are currently trying to fix it. I will retract this review once bug fixes are made, but shall keep this review up so others know what they might experience.

Do i recommend this game? Maybe.

first the pros:
Amazing soundtrack
Awesome atmosphere
Fun gameplay loop and the gameplay itself is fairly polished

cons:
it is still very much unfinished
Alot of functions are still missing, most crafting options are disabled with a "soon" notification on them.
Eventhough it is not finished it has a fully functional ingame shop already
it is still unoptimised to a degree but improved significantly with each update

I can only recommend it if you dont mind paying 40 bucks for an unfinished product.
It is extremley fun though

Game crashes constantly. Worker threads add a level of bullshit when dealing with trying to stop the crashing. I would not recommend that you buy this game right now. I would wait until all the issues are fixed. But hey, they fixed their cash item shop first...So I guess if you enjoy that then have at it.

pretty decent 40k left4dead clone, needs more content like literally any game released, still feels like its in early access. Theirs some bullshit about marketplace cosmetics but if your not a complete spastic who gets FOMO over video game skins then it won't really effect you

Actually unplayable, not a joke.

I had 4 crashes in my first hour of gameplay, on a hunch i turned off DLSS (on by default) and it stabilized i guess. Then i get into my first mission and the elevator never comes and the mission just stops. No enemies, nothing. Chatted w/ other players a bit and left mission. Game crashed on loading the hub.

Be better than this fatshark. This is not a finished product.

This is definitely one of those games that's got some black eyes from some modern game dev practices, but rating the game against other games instead of expectations or promises (including those fatshark set themselves), you'll find an incredibly fun, interactive, and addictive horde shooter. If you're extremely burnt on the lack of content fatshark was hyping players on, or if you just can't run the damn thing, keep an eye on it and come back in a couple months. Personally I've had little performance issues and my PC isn't even that beefy, but I'll just consider myself lucky. Game is amazing with very few flaws, game design outside of the actual gameplay (achievements, economy, armory, etc) is gonna need a while longer in the oven. If you value moment to moment gameplay over long term crafting or looting or whatever (and aren't too upset at fatshark's stunts so far) you'll be coming back to this game daily.

This game is radical. My phyker friend shot lighting over my shoulder as I charged the enemy with my zeal and it was just very kool with the amount of sound and detail. Very satisfying game if you can do your part, and your crew do theirs!

Untill now, I still play Warhammer Vermentide 2 and you know. Darktide gameplays is most likely Vermentide 2 but with modernized weapon such as Laser Gun, Chainsword, Chainaxe, and many things that can be used in this game. But most likely, you can customize your character for their appearance. And the las thing about the gaming experience with playing some few matches is amazing and I can feel the nostalgic playing Vermentide 2.

Fantastic game! And a solid foundation of an amazing game, Different from Vermintide 2 so don't expect a clone of that.

!!! Don't be off put by some of these reviews saying it lacks depth or Content. They expect and compare it to Vermintide 2 that is a 4 year old game with upwards of 15 DLC's. Or some people complaining that the Graphics are bad or the lag is horrible, it simply is not the case. They are most likely newer players to this horde style of game playing at the highest setting. and this type of game should be played at top performance not for looks IMO. I play at the lowest settings and cap my frames at 60 and I haven't lagged once. And I can track everything, and it still looks GREAT!

Although there are a few things I don't like, mainly the banter between characters is nothing like the jabs at the other characters In Vermintide. It seems like they are just randomly tossed in there to fill space. And the fact you cannot pick the exact mission you would like to play. But the selection will always have at least one mission you'll be good playing or are looking for (for weekly's).Also a few crafting options are locked (coming soon in game) but honestly they are end game content that most people wont event use for a few weeks or months depending on how much you play.

All in all right now a Solid 9 or of 10 coming from someone who loves Warhammer and Horde based games.

Core game-play loop is solid, You go in you slay heretics and get currency and or loot.
The supporting systems for the game play tho are HIGHLY lacking.
45 hours in I'm just about max level with one character, I was having a great time with the pre-order knowing they were going to continue to release parts of the game till DEC 1st the release date.

Sadly that date has come & gone and parts are still missing. The crafting in the game has yet to be implemented fully, Frequent crashes and IMO bad weekly missions that really dont feel like they add ANYTHING to the game.

Wait a year untill this game is out of EA then it might be good.

As someone who hasn't really had interest in the Warhammer universe until Vermintide 2, I love this game.

My husband invited me to play Vermintide 2 one day, and I was pretty hooked. I never saw myself as a hack-and-slash type until I assumed the role of my favorite fanatical bounty hunter guy and became sort of addicted to head-shotting rot helms into oblivion and hacking into hordes of skaven 20 heads deep. Now I'm having even more fun with my girl Oni, popping heretic heads like melons all over the God-Emperor's creation, exploding pox dogs mid-air, zipping back to the medicae station I didn't use and hoping I don't die before I get there.

There's a lot that I enjoy about this game. It's fun. It's challenging for me, someone who had never played this genre until Vermintide 2. Throughout my rat-hackin' journeys with my husband and my Saltzy, I kept thinking how nice it would be to be able to create my own character to play in a game/world like this. Now, here we are.

I'm a tried and true RPG-player who has always wanted the ultimate villain playthrough in games like DOS2, DA:O, Skyrim... but I can't bring myself to make the hard choices. Why would I hurt the characters I've come to love so dearly? Luckily for milk-drinkers like me, the setting of Darktide is just the horrifically dystopian ultrafascist scifi hellscape that you need to justify pulping head after head in the name of the God-Emperor. It's dark, and ugly (but beautiful!), and everything is maggot-y and gross. It's ominous. And you know what? The stabby little coin-flip blade-sparkle sound that you hear when there's a sniper nearby? I like it. Gives me a good spook and lets me know that there's a lil challenge nearby - finding the sniper before he blasts you off the scaffolding. >:(

I didn't play the game in beta. I didn't pay for the bundle. I got the base game and have put nothing into the shops except dockets for boots from the armory that one time. To be honest, I'm usually a cosmetics/customization superfan, but there are some predatory sales tactics happening with the aquila bundles. I was disappointed to see this, since after Vermintide 2 I was under the impression that Fatshark really had a decent grasp on how to handle purchases. But the fact that you can't even buy the aquilas you need for what you want, if you wanted, is downright dirty and Fatshark, y'all should know better.

Overall, though, I love it, and I'm always excited to play it. I was intimidated by the "mandatory" PUGs at first, because previously it was just me, my husband, and two bots. But everyone we've grouped with has been fun and considerate. I can hold my own at higher difficulties, but I know I'm not as fast, strategical, or resourceful as others who have longer histories with this genre than me, so I have enjoyed being able to experience the game from release day with others like me, who are new the game, and co-ops with strangers. I'm hoping for some quality of life stuff to be implemented, like being able to accept all your rewards quickly at the end of a run, or being able to adjust the amount that you zoom in or out on the character creation screen. But it's not a big deal, really, because the game is just fun, and horrifying, gross, and spooky.

There are a lot of people who are upset about the money that they spent vs. the content they received. But if you're like me, a filthy casual who just likes wreaking havoc and being a pissant to the baddies and stopping that disgusting ugly mutant in its tracks just before it reaches your friends, you'll love this and you should give it a try (though I wouldn't fault anyone for waiting on a sale!).

Oh, and the music absolutely karkin' slaps.

* Want you use a 3000 series card? Wait a year. The game crashes constantly until you turn off ray tracing.
* Only four classes when previous versions had triple that.
* A bunch of in-game stuff says "Coming soon."
* Money, gear, and items are not shared between characters. (grind from scratch for hours and hours per character)

The game feels very lackluster.
From very few repeating missions with lazy modifiers like reduced visibility, through animations that looks like beta stage, to small amount of usable weapons, I don't think this game is worth full price.
Wait for a sale, because you're gonna get less content than in Vermintide but with similar stale and outdated game design.

To add to it, the microtransactions for this fullprice game work perfectly (including such classic like set amounts of premium currency, that will be always a little short for what you want to buy, so you'll have to get more than you need) so you can tell exactly what was the main focus of the development.

So I played this game during the Closed Beta, the Pre-order Beta, and after release. I very much enjoy the game itself. I like it as much as I enjoy Vermintide 2 (if not more). And while having a premium currency cosmetic shop isn't a big deal for me, as it was there in Vermintide 2, it didn't feel as predatory. Buy cosmetics to support the developer whenever you want. However, after learning of the timers on the Cosmetic shop, I very much am disgusted by it. I can't stand games that try to use FOMO to push people to make decisions on purchases in haste. However, it's not just that, as I CAN buy all of the cosmetics there if i wanted, but I would rather be responsible with my money and buy them over time, like in Vermintide 2. Here, no such luck. So when the shop timer ends in 7 days, are there going to be new cosmetics in that shop? Will there be new cosmetics in there every week, and then they will rotate back through? will any of them rotate out of stock for good? It really doesn't matter what the answer is, because this shop is currently working, and is set to roll over in 7 days, while the base crafting of the game is completely missing from the released version. Fatshark, I supported you, and your games, and but I can't support this kind of change.

So it is with a bit of anger, and righteous fury I enter a negative review until you change this predatory practice. I bought the game for a AA price, and the Imperial Edition to support you. Now you want to Force me to make purchases to support you or lose out on these items? That's unacceptable.

If you get crafting up and running and you remove the rotating in the shop, I will adjust this review again then.

Super frustrated... and as fun as it is, I can't recommend a game with these current standards of exploitation for their player base and community.

Carpunch

Very grindy. Every mission feels the same and the gameplay gets very repetitive very quickly. There is no need for teamplay or tactics, just bash your way through to the end each time. There's no differentiation between characters of the same class, of which there are only four. Despite the rich atmosphere and beautiful graphics, a real snoozefest.

This game is full of action, mutants to kill and can take hour before you even realize the time has passed! i highly suggest picking this title up, it is well worth the money, as well as the imperial DLC!

It's a good game but poorly managed. The bad stuff other reviewers are saying are true at the time of their posts. My personal problem is EAC, everyday there iarenew things for me to troubleshoot for hours to get this damn game to work

I'm a casual Warhammer fan at best and even I love this game. Its just like any other horde shooter, but the AI seem a lot more engaging and varied. Each mission may be the same but the experience feels somehow different. There's plenty of side things to do an new guns to unlock to keep you entertained. This is also a good game to play alone or with friends. Would totally recommend for hardcore Warhammer fans and just casual Faraday fans.

the open beta test ran fairly smooth and had minor connection issues, then the game released and it takes me 10 minutes to load in just to get disconnected from the server, and if i do make it in i cant even walk around, instead i teleport around like i have 3000 ping when in actuality my latency is fine. it was just fine when i logged in on the 30th but as of right now its unplayable, if i were able to play i would definitely recommend this game but until this gets fixed its not worth it.

I cannot recommend this as it simply does not launch. I have tired every thing that the internet can suggest except disabling my firewall/spyware no game is worth that. This is really disappointing I would have hoped that bugs that disallow a user access would have been fixed prior to release, but here I am I have had to ask steam for a refund.

Playing this on a laptop from several years ago, yet other than the odd DC (you can rejoin after reloading anyway) I've been having a blast.

Most impressive of all, running this on Low graphics and turning off or down most all settings this still looks amazing. I think this is going to be a gem for years to come, especially considering they will make money from cosmetics you know they wont drop it easily.

Looking forward to the years ahead with this L4D-esque 40K love child. Blessed Emperor guide this review to thy ravaged servants lost in these dark times. Praise Him.

Beta + First Week review

In My Words

I would say that Darktide is a First Person, PvE, co-op action game based in the Warhammer: 40k Universe. It has some roguelite elements, as well as crafting and leveling systems. The game has a beautiful soundtrack that melds perfectly with the environments on screen, which can range from disgusting sewers to golden cathedrals. The maps are designed linearly, and in a way that the hordes - which never stop coming by the way - can hit you from a couple different paths at once.

Oh and don’t get too far away from your team, things can get bad for you quickly. Or, maybe do, and go looking for some of the extra ammo or the secrets hidden throughout the run. If you have secondary objectives, make sure you are EXTRA observant because things are hard to find. Did I mention don’t wake the daemon? Because seriously, don’t. The game has some big difficulty spikes, and they are pretty unforgiving even on lower match settings. The closer you are with your strike team the more “coherency” you have, which lets you take some damage.

Overall, I say that Darktide is genuinely a good game. While it has some issues, - such as performance problems, and also with it having some default features removed from the game, or at least not accessible at launch. - The bones of a good game are here and the team seems to be working to address the issues at hand. I’m not sure if they’ll actually make it crossplay or not, so keep that in mind. Darktide is a lot of fun, and has plenty of potential, I just hope it reaches it.

Pros

- Beautiful world environments/graphics
- Quick-ish missions
- Easy to pick up*
- Sounds are great
- Genuinely fun for me

Cons

- NO CROSSPLAY Seriously it’s ridiculous that I can’t even play with people on Game Pass
- Friends don’t join the same Mourningstar lobby after a mission when they’re on your strike team?
- Some performance issues
- Hard to tell when people are talking in game
- Not a lot of variety in the secondary mission objectives
- Could use some better accessibility options
- Needs some internal map variety**
- Lacking features it should have on release

* - I have played pc games for 20+ years, these controls were simple for me to figure out and use.

** - Just some minor differences between runs would be cool

What I'd like to see for the future

CROSS PLAY FOR THE LOVE OF THE DAMN EMPEROR!

Introducing some new secondary objectives, maybe changing up the way some of the maps play so you’re not always doing the exact same thing when you play a certain area. The game has a good base to start on, so hopefully the small problems are worked out and it can truly shine.

Mr. Magoo of game dev. They made a great game once, but just cant for the life of them get a good development/business model to support it. Check back in a year when hopefully Fatsharks actual talent have internally pushed back upon seeing their good work publicly crucified.

This game has a lot of problems; a microtransaction cash shop, server problems, a mere 4 classes (11 less than their previous game of the same genre), incomplete/missing features at launch, and a shallow gameplay loop, just to name a few of them. But the actual gameplay and meaty combat is so incredibly satisfying that it's just barely possible to overlook all of them. Besides, Fatshark is kind of known for having rough launches. I'm optimistic.

The core gameplay loop of this game is very fun.

Unfortunately everything else is not.

The central hub and mission select makes it very hard to tell what the mission actually is resulting in my friends and I replaying the same mission by mistake. The upgrade system is very obtuse with weapons summarised by gear scores. That is good. What the individual stats do and mean us not explained very well.

There also does not seem to be a lot of variation and available missions currently. I do not see my self playing this in several months

I payed 40 dollars for this. I payed 2000 dollars for my PC... I have a more consistent gaming experience with fckin Star Citizen.

Here's the thing: This game is good. Unsurprisingly, that's only if you can ignore it's very obvious issues. I think I speak for many that the main gameplay loop is simple (maybe too simple) and decently fun.

It pisses me off that I bought a game for 40 dollars, waited through it's pre-order beta, and there is STILL features left to be released. It pisses me off even more that there is a premium currency to buy skins, in a video game I already bought, when they already had a system to unlock cosmetics by playing the game in the first place.

But I can ignore all of that.

Except this game runs like fckin dogsht, and I can't ignore that. To be fair, I don't lag while playing, I just think it's their servers and the games general instability. I've experienced a lot of desktop crashes, and sometimes wait upwards to 15 minutes just to load into the hub. I have a 3070 and 48 gbs for ddr4 ram. I run this game on low settings.

I've seen a lot of map problems too. Lasers clipping through 1px holes in the floor, and enemies walking through walls or hitting me through them. I feel as if these things should have been cleared out in beta, and the fact it was overlooked reflects quite poorly on the developers.

This game is utterly unoptimized. During the beta, it was crushing. Thus I actually played for 0 minutes. I thought Fatsharks will fix such a critical problems on release, but it became worse. The game now after several seconds I pressed the green button to play in steam. Great fix, thank you!

Game crashes to desktop at-least once a match with DLSS enabled, but runs at unreasonably low frames without it (on a 3080TI with the newest drivers and an I9). Major bugs have been completely ignored by the developers during the Betas while they chose to implement micro-transactions. Wait until a sale in a few months and please do not encourage Fatshark by purchasing their mediocre skins.

The game is fun, don't get me wrong but...Don't buy this game right now, wait a few months and pick it up. It's got a lot of bugs and balancing that still need addressed, feels like its early access rather than a finished product. If you pick it up after a few months or so, it will likely be a better product and won't leave a bad taste in your mouth having to deal with all the issues it has currently.

its a really good-looking game. love the mechanics on its combat and anything that happens in dungeons.
enemies are really challenging and not something that you can just dive in and whack away, you need to actually think and enemies are not just simple bullet sponges (i.e. hitting them mostly in the head, or this big guy on the pus in his back deals more damage, or Eviscerating a big guy's back kills it easier, etc), make simple mistakes can get your team wiped out even in Malice difficulty, really challenging fun

BUT

- terrible cash shop prioritized over crafting and other features that's already available in Vermintide
- ungodly awful game optimization (dips alot of times, i have an AMD 3600 16gig 1660ti, so i guess that's it)
- those loading screens, man.. IT TAKES TOO DAMN LONG (sometimes it doesnt but alot of times it does)
- while i think they may improve and add other things/QoLs in the game -- JUST A SIMPLE ARCHIVE that can be accessed to see info on enemies you've unlocked, some basic guides on how to handle them. Or weapon mechanic explanations other basic shit. But instead they went the cash shop way first, game improve later

NOTE: just get Fatshark games at least 1 year later. Again, i love the game.. its just too hard to get into the game
(waiting for loading alot of times just makes me wanna turn it off and play other older and already optimized games instead)

Not an FPS player, never engaged with the 40k universe yet I'm enjoying this game tremendously; the gameplay loop is super enjoyable. People complain only 65 out of 70 promised weapons are out, and other overly nit-picky "issues". Game's fun, pick it up (provided you've a decent rig).

I really wanted to like this game, but its clearly unfinished. No private lobbies really ruined it for me, but there are also literal "coming soon" labels in the crafting menu. Throw a predatory premium cosmetic store on top, and you have a pile of missed potential.

I think I'll go back to playing Vermintide 2 til they fix this one up a bit.

The Good:
- Guns and melee weapons feel great and have a decent amount of variety.
- Aesthetics of the game are solid.
- Slashing through hordes is addictive as ever.

The Bad:
- The game often crashes or disconnects midgame.
- The weapon crafting system is unfinished, so you cannot create a build currently.
- Weapons can only be obtained through the ingame shop and are random.
- Ingame paid cosmetic shop day 1 of release while major systems remain unfinished.

Wait a bit before getting this one, or play Vermintide 2 in the meantime.

Game needed a few more months before release.
Play is awful at difficulty 2-3 as someone without a 4 man.
The bots are better than most of the mm I have had and the bots don't try to help you at all.
Daemonhosts are actually just bad design for how they can spawn in and just wipe a few people with no recourse.
Will say the game is pretty and the music is good, but otherwise this needs a lot of time.

Darktide is a fun, amazing Warhammer experience where you in nothing but a prison jumpsuit and Shovel destroy hordes of Heratics in GLORIOUS MELEE COMBAT!

the only real downside is the cosmetic store being typical anti consumer but like there's worse out there, and the game takes a long while to load, my pc is very high end and it can take minutes to load into menus and missions

once again the wh40k franchise presents us an overly complicated game with a bland environment and other broad reaching disappointments. Hated it after a single level. Really wanted to like the game but... bleh. refund requested.

-Unstable as shit, constant crashes and hangs
-Unstable as shit networking, constantly dropping and disconnecting from servers
-Optimization is complete garbage, stutters and lags even on a machine well above minimum specification

This crap needed to stay in the oven another six months by the looks of things.

During Beta this game crashed. Ok thats fine.
During Launch game crashed, not ok. In fact, it crashes and bugs out worse during launch compared to Beta.
Surely, the developer would acknowledge the most common errors right? RIGHT?! Nope, day 2 of launch no fix in sight.
BUT! The dev had enough resources to commit to making sure that the CASH SHOP has a SEPARATE engine that ensures it runs smoothly. Fatshark, habibi, my wifes boyfriend gave me 200$ to spend on aquilas yet your game crashes each time someone farts in the main hub. How am I supposed to spend my allowance on your game? Maybe my motivation to spend money in your cash shop will speed up the process of making a game that I spent money on actually LAUNCH and work? Until then, have a negative review

I've posted my problems on the forum, your response? And I quote "Looks like your having all the errors! We'll take care of it, I promise". REALLY?

Oh also, crafting system apparently doesnt make sense in the setting (?????????) so they removed it although it was promised?

70 Weapons at launch? Nah dawg here's 20.

Earn-able premium currency? Naw dawg, pay money

Warhammer shills, we all know you are used to eating dung from Games-Workshop when they feed you subpar minis, thats cool, but keep your toxic positivity to your tabletop hobby and not video games, thanks.

You're Worthless, Welcome to The Imperium

The best 40k game that exists to date. A great cooperative melee-looter-shooter within an incredibly realized grim dark setting. There are still some bugs and the progression is half finished (lookin' at you crafting) but after the last few hotfixes I can say the game is definitely worth money. Maps are gorgeous, guns are fun, heretics go splat.

I get on average 60-80 fps on 1440p, all high settings, dlss on quality with totally smooth gameplay, zero crashes, provided RTX is off. If raytracing is on I crash intermittently and lose about 20 average fps. (R9/2080/64gb) They've acknowledged raytracing is gorked right now and they're working on it so I've been playing with it off until it is in a better place.

Spent more time trying to troubleshoot game than actually playing it. Game is stuck on a cut scene that crashes every time and is not skippable. Went on to fatshark forums to find out everyone is crashing for various reasons. Tried multiple suggestions and none worked.