Recent reviews by Chizakura

I'm not big into WH40K or even Fantasy (soon to be Old World), but I've played, both, Vermintide 2 (and 1) and Darktide and DT is finally starting to live up to the promise it was meant to deliver a year ago.

If you love fast paced, sweaty, try hard action in the mold of Left 4 Dead, hack 'n slash in the grimdark world of 40K, contending with wave after wave of disease riddled Nurgle (one of the four Chaos gods and the primary antagonists of the 40K and Fantasy universe) servants, you're in for a treat.

Currently, there are four major classes, the veteran, the psyker, the zealot and ogryn, each with a talent tree with 3 major branches, but which you can customize to a large degree by mixing and matching various skills and abilities. All are fairly balanced, though, some may disagree to varying degrees. There are a plethora of weapons to choose from, some of which are exclusive to the class you're playing (eg, force swords for psykers, club and shield for the ogryn, etc). Most of the weapons are useful at all difficulties, though, at the highest levels, there may be a desire to lean into the 'meta', but in regular difficulty and in most auric difficulties, the weapons are balanced enough (with a few exceptions).

The in game combat is the crown jewel of the game. The pace is fast and furious with 5 difficulty levels and an alternate difficulty called auric (with difficulty levels of only 4 and 5, but harder) as well as a mode called maelstrom which adds to regular and auric difficulties.

The music is also excellent. Fatshark does awesome music whether it's here or in Vermintide 2 (and 1). It's a... I don't know how to describe it? Some form of industrial edm? If that's your thing, the soundtrack to the game is a must.

Now, all of this isn't w/o some warts in the game. The game has become far more stable in the past year compared to launch as well as servers they seem to be using has caused, at least me, far fewer disconnects than before.

It also lacks some QoL items that are oddly missing considering they were implemented in previous games like Vermintide 1&2; namely, keyboard shortcuts to the various stores and vendors. The Hub is far more spread out than the Inn in VT1 or the Keep in VT2 and, yet, we are forced to run around everywhere to reach them.

You're also subject to the whims of rng when it comes to maps you might want to play. Want to play a repair mission to fulfill a penance? Too bad, what you see on the map board is what you get. Oh, there's a repair mission, but it's only available at difficulty 1 or 2? Or vice versa where you're only at 2 or 3, but it's available on difficulty 5? Again, too bad.

I'm editing this section regarding issues with crafting b/c a recent-ish major update did a bang up job of correcting the previous crafting system. Gone are locks on perks and blessings and achieving blessings have been replaced by a mastery system. The lack of locks ensures that you'll be able to customize a weapon to your heart's content and, even if there are updates changing perks or blessings, you'll be able to alter them w/o being screwed instantly. Frankly, this has been one of the best changes to the game to make things much less rng dependent (almost negligible by my standards) and put customization in the hands of the player.

Oh, one other minor point. Unlike in Vermintide 2 where there is a huge variety in maps and landscape, the maps in Darktide are definitely cool, the sort of grimdark, futuristic hellscape/wasteland of a mega city in decline is awesome, but after a few rounds, become quite ordinary.

If you can live with these warts or you don't care at all, all the merits I mentioned before this, the actual missions and combat, the music, the atmosphere, etc, then this is probably a game for you. Thanks for reading this extremely long diatribe and, remember, the Emperor Protects.

Changing this from a favorable review for the past several years to a negative one.

The core game is an absolute blast and ~5 years or so of polish in the game has made a fairly satisfying in game experience. If you enjoy hack and slash, L4D style games set in a grimdark fantasy world, this game is highly likely for you.

Unfortunately, and I don't do this lightly, Fatshark's propensity to make knee jerk changes w/o extensive testing (or what can only be described such considering their decisions), catering to a vocal minority on balance changes has worn me down to the point that I am fast losing my interest in this game.

This review is less about the current state of the game and new players who may just be signing on and haven't experienced the past several years of patching, fine tuning, tinkering, etc, but more for people who may want to get into this for the long haul. Don't.

If you need a cheap game on sale and haven't had to endure or don't plan to play this for the long haul, the game is fast, fun, try yard, sweaty goodness, but if you're looking for measured, reasonable changes this late into the game life where, more and more, the changes that are made are going to be or close to the final take on class and gear balance from devs who appear to cater to vocal minorities and ill conceived changes, you may find yourself frustrated at the direction FS takes with the game.

Like I said, I don't change my review lightly and I have seen so many changes in the ~4 years and over 8k hrs I've played this game so, while my decision is heavily influenced by the most recent changes, it's also the how and what they've done and the direction they've taken over the long haul and past several years, not just the most recent things that have completely turned me off.

If you are new, you may not care or have any reference point so, in that case, this very may well be for you.