Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Review in Progress
The suffocating darkness of Warhammer 40,000's bleak future isn't where one would typically seek out a breath of fresh air, but I've come away from every session of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide reinvigorated nonetheless. Whether it's the vicious yet darkly comedic melee brawls or the head-bop-inducing synthwave tracks blasting throughout intense shootouts, this four-player cooperative FPS from developer Fatshark frequently has me grinning like an idiot. While Darktide is still getting updates and new content during its pre-order beta window, sluggish performance issues are the only thing that has tempered my excitement for its full release next week – but even those problems don't diminish the glory that comes with chain-swording heretics in half.
Darktide opens like many other wonderfully over-embellished Warhammer 40,000 stories before it: with a legion of Chaos-worshipping traitors causing trouble. The massive hive city of Tertium is overflowing with zombie-esque Poxwalker hordes, gun-toting preachers spouting blasphemous gospel, and all sizes of misshapen, rift-powered boss monstrosities that you'll joyously slaughter by the thousands as a conscripted convict. Only six missions are available in the beta as of this review-in-progress, so I can't judge the overarching narrative quite yet, but the cheeky squadmate banter is pretty sharp so far, at least.
Of the four playable classes, I've come to adore the tank-like Ogryn Skullbreaker — a tall brute that can easily knock down dozens of enemies with one lumbering swipe. That muscly stopping power never goes out of style either, as Darktide's shockingly in-depth melee combat will consistently test your hand-to-hand martial prowess. Light, heavy, and special attacks are all
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