Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

A worthy member of Fatshark's family of Warhammer games, but it needs more polishing and support from the developers until the remarkable core shines.

Warhammer 40k Darktide is an excellent sci-fi co-op FPS experience that will likely be enjoyed for years to come. While not quite reaching the same quality level of their initial Warhammer 40k End Times: Vermintide title back in 2015, Darktide is something that both diehard Warhammer fans, and co-op FPS fans in general, can mutually appreciate.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a true successor to Fatshark’s previous Vermintide series. If you were afraid the jump from fantasy to 40K would ruin the experience, fear not, it’s even better. Darktide feels less linear than the previous takes, the story takes place between cutscenes of missions. Levels are linear, but do a great job of hiding that fact. Loadouts are a great improvement, along with a wide array of weapons to specialize and unlock. The only unfortunate part is that Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is still best enjoyed with a full party.

Darktide would have deserved a better score, because the game itself is good, real good. But poor optimization (not entirely justified by the game’s looks), far too common game crashes, and a loot economy that cannot help but raise some eyebrows end up impacting the user experience. It’s still a great 40k game, but you might want to wait for some patches if you’re on the fence.

Hilarious banter, ridiculous fights, a great mission structure, and satisfying progression show that Fatshark is only getting better. Being available day one on Game Pass for PC means no one, either alone or with friends should pass on giving this one a go.

A co-op game with well-balanced melee and shooter elements. Visuals and sound are astonishingly immersive, and the combat itself is one of a kind. Although there are some minor issues with the volume of content and finishing touches, the game definitely has an enough potential to be served for a long time.

Fans of Vermintide will definitely enjoy Darktide’s slightly more creative approach to character building, and anyone into fast-paced cooperative shooters — lovers of Warhammer 40,000 or not — will have a great time. Best of all, Warhammer 40,000 Darktide has all the elements for an extended life, provided Fatshark keeps fixing bugs, adding content and rewarding its fans. Darktide is off to a great start.

You can also enjoy the game on your own, as the game searches for mission partners automatically, or you can play against a bot. However, since it is mainly a coop action, it will always be better with friends. [Issue#324]

A brilliant adaptation of the famous grimdark universe. The atmosphere is just great, the gameplay also feels very solid, even though one can feel a certain lack of polish here and there. You should really get three friends to play it with, by the way. Don’t expect to find a good random party online.

Despite some shortcomings, Darktide is one of the most entertaining and promising co-op games of its kind in recent years.

If it goes the distance, Warhammer 40K: Darktide will get better with time. As it stands it's an enjoyable romp through an almost endearingly macabre world.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is the 40K-version of the Vermintide games and Fatshark delivers again a fantastic co-op experience. The combat feels visceral and meaty and is a true upgrade compared to the former games. There are however a lot less classes, even though they all feel unique. Some features are clearly removed during production, so hopefully they will get added next to more classes. Fatshark has already released some updates, so the future is looking bright for Darktide.

Darktide is a fantastic live service co-op FPS that is almost worth every penny. Almost. I love it to death, and it's ramping up to be one of my most played games of 2022, but it's not perfect. It will surely become one of the titans of the genre just like Vermintide and its sequel, but it's got a long way to go.

The transition from killing Rats and Chaos Warriors to fighting the Scabs and Dregs couldn't have gone smoother. Warhammer 40k: Darktide adds enough new ideas to differentiate itself from the previous Vermintide games without ostracizing the fans of that franchise.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is, without question, the most entertaining co-op FPS I've played since Left 4 Dead 2. That careful balancing act between multiple methods of murder is ceaselessly entertaining, especially while hatching diabolical plans with your buddies to silence whatever horrors lurk in Tertium's plague-ridden streets. Tedious between-mission progression and persistent framerate dips are the only things that can occasionally spoil that fun, which is a shame when Darktide otherwise nails virtually every fundamental of its genre. Regardless, I firmly believe anyone with even the mildest interest in crushing unholy dissidents under a half-ton boot should try it out for themselves.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is an evolution of Fatshark's previous Warhammer Games. The balance between the two fighting styles, the impressive graphics and variation in enemies make every mission a special experience.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is exactly as we expected: a thoroughbred co-op action game, solid and very fun with friends, featuring a gameplay enriched by some new features compared to Vermintide, a structure focused on progression and stunning graphics that need some optimization to run smoothly.

Though Warhammer 40K: Darktide needs more time to develop, its core gameplay is the best Fatshark has ever created.

But even as omnipresent as Darktide‘s technical woes are, it’s the exhilarating thrill of a mission run that shines most brightly in my mind when I think about my experience with it. Even on low graphics settings, shining your rifle’s underslung torch down a dark corridor, only to see a horde of Poxwalkers glaring back at you before your whole squad unloads on them, provides an utterly giddying rush.

If one were to look at Darktide as a foundation for Fatshark’s newest co-op shooter legacy, you’d be impressed at the sheer girth of it all. This is a title that comes with a fat promise of more great things to come, while already awash in a sea of great things to see and do. Short of some critical failure on Fatshark’s part, I really can’t imagine a future where Darktide doesn’t establish itself as another fantastic team shooter experience for fans to enjoy for years to come. It is a great many things – gorgeous, fun, rewarding – but one thing it is not, is lacking ambition.

With Darktide being more of a live service game, there isn't necessarily an ending to its narrative to speak of. Players will rank up and be treated to short cutscenes reflecting the increase in trust and standing the spaceship's NPCs hold for the player. However, each character feels rooted in the dark sci-fi future the Warhammer series takes place in, as they deliver hints of its complex lore. More story will likely be introduced over time, with hopefully new locations to explore, because players may be left hungry for more narrative and beautiful levels to look at. Still, mowing down enemies with friends has rarely felt as satisfying as it does in Warhammer 40K: Darktide.

Some occasional technical issues and an unwillingness to truly burst out of the norms for the genre keep Darktide from reaching enormous heights, but within the confines it sets for itself, this is about as good as it gets.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a worthy successor to Vermintide. Fans of good first-person melee combat shouldn’t hesitate to check this one out.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a beautiful-looking and sounding game with fun team-combat, even for players who are new to the universe. There are some issues with loading times and connectivity that are sure to be patched in the future.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is one of those games that oozes fun, no matter how you play it. It lends itself perfectly to all playstyles, and has this natural way of immersing the player in its world. That might be from the unique RPG system, the insanely detailed environments that make you feel like you’re really walking through this huge hellscape, or maybe it’s just the gratuitous violence. Whatever the cause, it’s doing a great job of keeping me hooked. Of course, the game isn’t without its cons, and these do detract from an otherwise solid experience. Regardless, it’s a game that I will absolutely be coming back to time and time again.

As a "survival" game, Fat Shark games has absorbed a lot of successful experience from Vermintide. Darktide inherited the classic "cooperation + grinding" gameplay, it has shown good quality in the plot; game settings; and background music, but the annoying network, poor optimization, mistranslation and half-finished equipment system also dragged down the game experience of players. I hope that Fat Shark games can solve these problems in the future updates, so that I can continue the journey of "killing mice" nicely.

Once you get down into the dilapidated yet impressive levels of the Hive and start swinging, Darktide is as great a swarm shooter experience as any, but it needs to improve much of the surrounding infrastructure to make that core combat experience feel rewarding and meaningful. Who knows? I may even come back in a year to re-review the game (which is something that should generally happen with more game reviews), but in the meantime it’s a simmering cauldron of potential that still feels a little raw.

Warhammer 40,000 Darktide is a superb first-person cooperative action game, spectacularly staged and offering a very satisfying challenge, but at the same time it is a step back from Vermintide 2 in terms of content and player progression. An unpolished gem that we hope will unleash its true potential in a few months.

Darktide is an outstanding shooter and one of the best Warhammer 40k games, but it struggles with technical and progression issues.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide makes a great first impression. Unfortunately, over time, some flaws come to light, like an awful main story or scant content. It’s still a good game that WH40K fans should play, but it could’ve been much better.

Warhammer 40000: Darktide shows a lot of raw talent but needs more polish and much more content in order to become a solid co-op experience. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of the Warhammer universe you will definitely find something to love here.

Overall, Warhammer 40000: Darktide is an immersive, fun experience that allows players to shape the game to their playstyle while still challenging them to adapt to the game mechanics. Darktide delivers graphically with RTX on gameplay but is nothing special when RTX is off. Further, though the gameplay is immensely satisfying and challenging, the repetition leaves much to be desired. Warhammer has great potential and opportunity to build a truly unique experience for gamers who want to take on its challenge and serve the God Emperor’s just will.

All in all, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is pretty enjoyable, but definitely lacking on content at launch. There’s a really good launching point presented at the moment and I expect the long term lifespan of Darktide will be great. There are a few small bugs to work out, but nothing I encountered that was unforgivable. I don’t think there’s much you haven’t seen here before, other than maybe the setting, but it’s fun nonetheless.

The gameplay is great, brutal and dynamic, at the same time the game came straight with a decent selection of maps, albeit very similar. You will enjoy slashing, shooting and throwing out hordes of enemies with grenades. But the authors have literally not put many systems into the game yet, and more content will come later.

Warhammer 40,000 Darktide is a title that needs more content and some tweaking. Graphically it is excellent and the play of light and shadow, in particular, make some moments even memorable. However, the balance between the classes needs to be reviewed, as well as the in-game economy and the cost of aesthetic elements. In any case, when lived with a handful of connected players, Darktide manages to be appreciated at its best but in some hours the shadow of repetitiveness makes itself felt. As for the Warhammer 40,000 lore, the game is steeped in it, but an audible and non-influential background radiation remains. The launch on Game Pass can help support the experience in the short term, when the novelty effect is still hot but it is clear that the production will need worthy support from the developers to continue to entertain the public.