Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Hands-on Impressions

Warhammer: Darktide opens with a beautiful-looking cinematic where the player learns that they are a prison inmate who has to help fight in the war against the heretics to prove their worth to the Imperium and their loyalty to the Emperor. First you will create the character that you will play as. There are four classes from the Warhammer existing universe to select from — Psyker: Psykinetic, Veteran: Sharpshooter, Ogryn: Skullbreaker, and Zealot: Preacher — each with their own types of attacks and attributes. 

Once you have selected your class, you will get to customise your character's look. There are options for head size and structure, facial hair, voice, hairstyle and colour, along with how many scars and tattoos your character has (if any). The reason you are in prison will determine your prison garb style and colour, you select from sedition, dereliction of duty, misplaced faith, and insubordination. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide also lets you select which of the eight planets your character is from, along with five descriptions of what their childhood was like, and the defining moment of your life. 

Darktide is not a single-player experience, two or three other characters will make up your team and who can be friends or with other random players, but be warned: if you try to go off on your own, the game will punish you. The missions available have varying degrees of difficulty, ranging from sedition level one to damnation level five but the more challenging missions won’t be unlocked until you raise your “trust level” and level up. The current challenges available are on a timer and will change when the time runs out so if there is one you are interested in tackling, be sure to try it before it cycles out. 

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a gorgeous-looking game, even when you have the graphics set to low and ray-tracing turned off. The game also looked great on the Steam Deck, which makes sense because it is newer and because of the screen size. The music is impressive and incredibly immersive as you are inundated with great music mixed with the sound of the environment and battle surrounding you.