It’s really simple, and probably should have been around since beta.
Right now the only difference in things that are available to you based on the backgrounds you select are what pajama prison uniform you have, and what eye colors/voice for vet you can unlock by selecting cadia.
Quite honestly, that sucks. Now that players can respec their backgrounds let’s talk about expanding what is unique to backgrounds and planets.
I’ll throw out some suggestions to start.
Crimes that land you into this adventure should grant unique tattoos.
Planets selections should offer unique eyes, yellowed scelera or radiation scars.
Planets could also offer a unique weapon skin. Since we’ve themed weapons after planets.
But whatever grand narrative plans Fatshark had before launch, those clearly got slam-dunked into the same dumpster they lit on fire pre-“beta”.
Differentiating us from eachother at all, right now, is so far down the list of things this game needs that I don’t think they’re going to address our backgrounds or add anything to them for years. They’re too busy rewriting and reworking or simply finishing core systems for any of this to matter right now.
While I want more body customisation. I don’t really get the idea of locking it behind specific backgrounds. Like the Cadian and the Psykers I like cause its tied to lore, but in any other case just introduce said new things as simple new customisations
I feel like the steady player narrative developed by Fatshark, addressing us as ‘rejects’ being an exemplar of this point, built up seemingly as an interpretation of the tone of Warhammer 40,000 (“You shall not be missed”), really leans into staying far away from the well-developed characters and interpersonal relationships.
It seems to me that the typical cynicism and one-among-trillions reflection of the spark of individual humanity sacrificing itself to the Imperium that the background of the 41st Millennium heavily carries is something that Fatshark really have tried to embrace. From that, it follows that the decisions to trend away from the strong, individual characters-with-stories and into the somewhat more diffuse and non-specific templates-as-characters were purposeful.
Now does that then mean we can’t have more cosmetic choices based on backgrounds? Probably not. Does it push interesting implications and interwoven character responses off the drawing board? I feel it probably does.
I disagree. I think this is a more charitable interpretation of what FS has done.
I believe all of this is not a conscious thematic choice but rather a side effect of having a character creator. People will make up backstories for their character, and will be more attached to the game (and more likely to buy cosmetics for their character) as a result.
I think an apt comparison is Helldivers. That game embodies the “meat for the grinder” way, way more than Darktide does. No character customizer outside of armor, you don’t name your Diver, no backstory, you can have a random voice every time you respawn, and with the upcoming armors in the new warbond you can have a different skintone everytime you respawn.
It’s a much different feel than having your super special customized Guardsmen dying and respawning every mission with the same face and voice.
Oh I agree, it’s entirely possible it was a side-effect of the character creator. I can’t be sure which concept came first. It’s possible that the character creator was smashed into things ‘just because it’ll sell stuff’ after the initial intent of keeping things more “meat for the grinder”. Either explains why the effects and dialog of those character choices are so bare-bones, really.
However I can’t comment on the state of comparison to Helldivers, since I’ve never played it. I’ll take your word on it!
They said that background were going to play into your characters story before launch, but the only character story you have is Reject to warband reject. it’s really nebulous too considering there is a canon group (which is technically us) that is the best in the warband.
You can’t have two siennas or two kruber in VT2 in a match. There can only be one of each class. They can’t stack like in Darktide, where you can have 4 vets or Zealots for instance.
