Personal opinion obviously, but last chancers would the novel example I’d use to illustrate life in darktide, even if it seems the rejects have a bit more leeway/freedom of movement.
And by that standard, I’d say DT nailed the human body look fairly well if we discount possible limitations in the graphics engine being the sole reason.
In real life, if you’re running on the bare minimum needed for weeks at the time, nobody looks like a chad or supermodel, ask anyone who’s done a 4+ week SERE variant or just had to maintain high activity for a few weeks to a month while having very little to eat (sub-1k calories, aka on the border of where the body finds it easier to convert muscle and organs to energy rather than fat), let alone over years of that state.
Imo, on that note DT did well on the character design.
Going back to fantasy land and picking at a few points above without wading in entirely, outside of the (very real) disappointment of there not being a coherent story in darktide, I’ll take the soundbites and coms lines in darktide once repeat gameplay becomes a factor.
I mean, i know a lot seemed to like SM2’s story, i can’t help feel like there’s some trolling involved there.
The marines act like emotionally insecure teenagers, with just about zero interesting nuance, and the plot points are bafflingly bad.
You could in fact, correctly point out that these characters act very much like strong male characters.
Plot summary for SM2;
“Oh, i’m so insecure and conflicted. Do i like the ultramarines or my brooding deathwatch existence? If only i had someone to tell me what to think? Thank you for guiding me chap-pai character that seems to have a suspicious amount of information on me! Oh, this relationsh… redeployment isn’t turning out how i thought it would, but I’m going to be outwardly gruff and nonsensical and just carry that weight so it can cause some drama and pitfalls, until we’ve all shared our feelings and then we’ll all get along, even though we all have actual grievances now, because i’m a strong male character! Then when we’ve all bonded without any consequences for previous actions, we go to the princess pala… glorious battleground and we win the day in ways that will change the phrase mary sue into chaddy sue, yes indeed!”
Bad (and/or generic) writing is bad writing, try not to attribute the quality of the material to what gender the character is.
Nagging (female) characters in DT need to go has been said repeatedly, but that chaplain, SGT, Captain, and SM2 Titus get a pass? And how is Rannick not first on the list over anyone else in DT on that criteria, as he’s obviously written as airlock fodder?
Calgar in SM2 acting like he’s in a TTS episode? Sure, seems legit.
After all that, this is essentially the big showdown in SM2;
https://youtu.be/tum66sLmaR8?t=115
Honestly, i wouldn’t mind if SM3 was based around a squad from a newly created female space marines chapter called “wings of freedom”, their iconography being a waterfall, specializing in shock assaults from hovertampons.
If the writing is good, the characters acted even remotely sane or relatable, and the world looked like SM2 I’d simply applaud it for getting the mood right and being better than SM2, despite the tampons with bucket seats and side-mounted lascannons flying around in the background while crushing and gently absorbing heretics.
If your enjoyment or context applied to a product is based solely on it being a male or female, while interacting as chemically castrated, essentially asexual, emotionally scrubbed and indoctrinated super-soldiers, i would argue you’re focusing on the wrong points.
Also, nothing wrong with linking SM2 or even enjoying the story or combat.
I obviously don’t, but that is an opinion/preference and we all have them, it is however no better on many points than the absolute shovelware in other media or even games, it just comes in decent wrapping paper if you happen to like 40k.
And that can be enough too, it is however not the messiah no matter what your political or social slant is, it is at best a slightly naughty boy (or girl).
