New Warhammer 40,000: Darktide details have been revealed -- this upcoming co-op game will have customizable characters and a Left 4 Dead-style "Director" AI.
First announced in the summer of 2020, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide was delayed last summer. It finally locked in its release date for September of this year. Now, a new feature-length article in the latest issue of Edge reveals some of the interesting changes and improvements coming to Fatshark's latest venture into the Warhammer universe.
Fatshark Evolves Gameplay in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
As highlighted on The Loadout and GamesRadar (via YouTuber milkandcookiesTW), Fatshark aims to take the lessons it has learned from Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide and Warhammer: Vermintide 2 to make Warhammer 40,000: Darktide a bigger and better experience across the board.
You shouldn't expect to binge Warhammer 40,000: Darktide for a few weeks and be done with it -- Fatshark is leaning heavily into the live service model and will release new campaign episodes on a weekly basis. You won't be playing a premade character, either; instead, you'll be able to create a custom character to suit your visual tastes. The choices in characterization were quite deliberate -- Squats were left out, in part, to make this game feel distinct from Vermintide.
This change-up in the way Fatshark usually does its stories is backed by the writing efforts of longtime Warhammer 40,000 writer Dan Abnett -- there are already over 75,000 lines of dialogue written for Darktide (and more to come, I'm sure).
The core gameplay is changing, too. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide will feature an adaptive difficulty system that acts in a similar fashion to Left 4 Dead's "Director" A.I., factoring in what characters you're playing and which weapons you're using. As with Left 4 Dead, this is done to ensure a consistent challenge and to keep the game fun -- use a different kind of weapon and the game will adapt to your new strategy.
Transitioning to the futuristic side of the Warhammer IP also means a change in weaponry. There's customization here, too, of course. You'll be able to trick out the Lasgun and various other weapons with scopes and attachments, allowing you to perfectly tailor your weapon to your preferred style of gameplay.
You can learn more about what you can expect in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide in July 2022's Issue 372 of Edge which was published today. As for the game itself, you can check out its official website and add it to your wishlist on Steam.
