Darktide Is Getting A Large RPG Overhaul

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide was one in every of my most anticipated video games of 2022. I couldn’t wait to play Fatshark’s first-person shooter evolution of the rat-infested melee frenzy that was Vermintide 2. Sadly, it had its justifiable share of points at launch, from efficiency frustrations on PC to a lackluster development system and loot financial system. Now, the studio is engaged on a type of fated live-service sport turnarounds, and it apparently begins with a giant revamp of its RPG ability tree.

Fatshark advised PC Gamer it’s at present engaged on releasing a significant replace in October that can add extra nuance and customization to character builds. Darktide is a darkish fantasy loot shooter about repeating the identical missions over and over as they get remixed by way of procedural technology, random spawns, mutators, and your personal arsenal. However with solely 4 courses at launch and a smattering of ability upgrades, the squad-based dungeon crawler ran out of fuel actual fast. The October replace is meant so as to add a bunch extra passive and energetic talents with new choices for easy methods to combine and match.

“We wished gamers to get a bit extra company into the courses, a bit extra experimentation, help much more completely different play types,” Darktide sport director Anders De Geer advised PC Gamer. “Mainly what we’ve accomplished is reimagine what a category in Darktide is. That is our large replace: we’ve expanded the expertise timber, added a ton of latest choices and talents, passives and actives.”

As a substitute of getting one perk level to experiment with each 5 ranges, every level-up will let gamers progress by way of the brand new ability tree and tinker with one thing as they progress. Examples of latest talents embody a dome protect for Psyker (the mage class) and extra taunt and grenade choices for Ogryn (the tank class). From the look of the ability tree it looks like a extra Borderlands strategy to construct crafting, with various paths that increase the underlying class position in additional methods. Backside line: leveling up ought to really feel extra rewarding and offer you extra possession over your character.

Whether or not or not that finally finally ends up being the case stays to be seen, however hopefully it may well assist pave the best way for a Darktide turnaround. The co-op shooter was supposed to return to Xbox Sequence X/S someday in 2023 after being delayed. It’s at present free to strive with a paid PC Sport Move subscription, although at this level it’s in all probability price ready for the October replace.

Replace 8/23/2023 4:09 p.m. ET: Fatshark confirmed at Gamescom 2023 that the sport fill lastly come to Xbox Sequence X/S and Sport Move on console on October 4. Right here’s the announcment trailer: