Well, it’s easy to disagree with me when you’re not actually disagreeing with what I’m saying.
I’m saying 'tide games has depth in its core gameplay loop. That is, the moment-to-moment combat. No . . . it’s not a stealth game, so comparing it to ones that have that is a silly comparison.
At each given instance of Darktide, you have multiple decisions to make. Sometimes you can get away with mindlessly whacking, but not when things get intense. That’s when bad players who think it’s just button-mashing crumple and good players can salvage a seemingly-lost situation.
It’s a 4D puzzle, as I’ve said before and is literally the most important and main point of what I’m saying. The current correct “move” depends on so many factors; your health, the enemies around, the enemies near you, your team’s postion, et cetera. And in a few moments the entire puzzle has changed as you move, enemies move, allies move, resources are used or lost, enemies die, or new ones spawn in.
At any given moment there’s a lot of options about what to do. Most games of a shooter-style have multiple choices in that moment, too - you can shoot, you can reposition, you can use some kind of secondary weapon. 'Tide games make this a much deeper thing with its melee combat, where what melee attack you should use is the question. This can be simple, like with the Evisverator that has the XSword moveset; lights or heavies (though there is also the push-attack, a viable single-target alternative), whether to rev or not before the attack. And even if you decide to reposition, you have a number of movement options to you. You can pull back blocking, dodge-slide away, turn and run, or if you’re very familiar with the game use move-tech like dodge-sliding off climbable objects for a longer distance. Then there’s the intricacies of kiting large hordes when overwhelmed, because there are situations where players cannot have high enough DPS to simply kill their way through.
Even with the (I would say almost too much) number crunching involved in the game with stat bonuses and armor types and perks and blessings and talents - ultimately it’s that CORE GAMEPLAY LOOP (caps for those in the back) of 4D puzzle-solving that gives it depth. I only recently started playing but have almost 300 hours in it now, and I’m still learning and incorporating new skills; learning optimal weapon movesets on things I haven’t used much, and improving my movement skills.
And yes, it is high-octane, more than any other game I’ve ever played.
However, this is only why I keep playing this game when so much of it is buggy or badly designed. Let’s not forget the original topic here. The game has serious problems, and the fact that Helldivers 2 does so much right is a big reason it’s got a massive playerbase while DT’s is rapidly shrinking. I mean, novelty is also a factor; HD2 is new, but still. The quality and depth of DT’s gameplay should let it have a bigger player count.