Warhammer 40,000: Darktide finally comes to PlayStation after two years of being on PC and tries to capitalise on the success of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II, released earlier this year. Darktide is a first-person multiplayer cooperative game that sees squads of up to four players or AI-controlled teammates go deep into the bowels of Hive City Tertium and expel the Nurgle cults that are there.
Unfortunately, I have not yet checked out the impressive Space Marine II, but I am familiar with Games Workshop’s dark fantasy, and I must say, this game does a fantastic job at aiding that rich lore.
Story
After you create your character known as Operative, you are shown to be detained aboard the prison ship Tancred Bastion for a crime you picked in the creation screen.
While on board, your ship is swarmed by followers of the Chaos God Nurgle. During the invasion, your character assists Explicator Zola, and the pair of you are able to escape the terror on the prison ship. As a thank you for your help, Zola pardons you for your crime but conscripts you to the Inquisition, and you come aboard the Mourningstar.
It is on this ship where you are deployed to the different mission areas (which we will discuss later), and you also upgrade your character from this base.
Overall, this story, which is penned by veteran writers Dan Abnett and Matt Ward, is definitely for those who are hardcore into the Warhammer 40K franchise and will appreciate all the little details that have been included in the game.
As someone who has only ever dipped his toe into the actual real-life game and the original Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, I found this story to be very light on plot and just a vehicle to get you to each of the next mission areas.
Missions and Gameplay
You will be shooting your way across 20 missions in Darktide and exploring six large zones that, unfortunately, get very familiar after a few missions.
Each mission takes advantage of a unique area, and you will have to complete a number of objectives alongside your squadmates in fast-paced, high-octane action that goes on for about 20 minutes per mission.
You pick one of four classes that, according to the Warhammer 40K community, have been improved since the initial PC release. The classes are Veteran, Zealot, Psyker and Ogryn, which all have unique abilities and weapons. I did give each one a go, but as a veteran of first-person shooters, I went with the appropriate Veteran class for my full playthrough.
What I will say is that I had no friends to play this game with (yes, I am Johnny No Mates), but I will give credit to the AI-controlled teammates who do put up a decent fight when the action gets going, and as you can imagine, it is a true dice roll when you play with randoms.
I did enjoy the gameplay, for the most part, but there were moments when my immersion was broken due to an inconsistent framerate. It didn’t happen enough to ruin my experience, but it did annoy me enough to make it a point in this review.
Alongside the kickass gameplay, there needs to be a high-level soundtrack to complement it, and Darktide doesn’t disappoint on that front. There is an absolutely awesome dark techno soundtrack that pounds away at your eardrums as the action continues on-screen. Having a decent pair of headphones for this game is a must.
Conclusion
Darktide definitely has the markets of developer Fatshark’s other titles, the Warhammer: Vermintide games, as it is a kickass co-op experience with a wafer-thin plot.
The gameplay is awesome and will easily keep you entertained, but some little problems prevent this from hitting the heights that Space Marine II hit earlier this year. You never feel really overwhelmed by the enemies on the screen; however, if you do get complacent, then you will easily be taken down a peg or two as even basic enemies can catch you out.
As mentioned, the soundtrack and general sounds of the game are really good and definitely add to the experience, and as I mentioned earlier, do make sure you wear a decent set of headphones to get the most out of the hard work that has gone into it.
Unfortunately, the letdowns do come from some of the performance issues and the iffy-looking character models. Even though this game has been out for two years on PC, and my PS5 doesn’t have any issues, the game sometimes struggles to keep up with the action on-screen. This does detract from the experience, especially during intense battles, and it can become very frustrating when dealing with a stuttering framerate.
Look, if you love the Warhammer 40K franchise and haven’t had the capacity up until now, then this title is a must-play, especially as I have seen it on sale at the moment on Xbox for £15. If you are curious about the rich lore that the Warhammer 40K franchise boasts, then I would say give this one a miss and spend that bit more to pick up Space Marine II.
Developer: Fatshark
Publisher: Fatshark
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: 3rd December 2024 (PS5), 4th October 2023 (Xbox Series X/S), 30th November 2022 (PC)
Gaming Respawn’s copy of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide was provided by the publisher.
