Let's talk about the Good side of the game!

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
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I think everyone comes here and trashes the game. The developers see it and likely only think the game is bad, see only negative comments. All the bugs and issues they need to fix. While that is very important. And while they may likely never see this post. I think it is important to at least post some good things about the game!

Name some things you’ve enjoyed about the games below!

I think the AI is very VERY brilliantly made. If you know military tactics you can see clearly some very big features that make me wonder if they asked some subject matter experts or something. There are your basic horde mobs. No tactics, no training, charge and try to hit you, yell while doing so. Then there are your trained troops. These are soldiers, many are vets who’ve experienced battle, and were corrupted by chaos.

They move with purpose, they use cover, fire at you then take cover again. When they are in a group, they use brilliant tactics you don’t see in games much, they work together, coordinate, and cover each other. When they see the group approach, they don’t camp out and wait to enter the melee and die. They retreat back cover to cover, one is providing cover fire while the others fall back, then they provided cover fire for their buddy they left behind. The scab gunners provide excellent suppressing fire which is incredibly annoying but they are meant to be annoying! I become suppressed I cannot do anything for fear of being hit like a freaking truck!. THAT is how it SHOULD be. It is awesome!!!

The game is a far from perfect and has alot of work to be done but it is at its core very good.

5 Likes
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I absolutely agree about the AI. It’s wonderful, and a huge step up from Vermintide. The scab bombers are way more interesting than VT2’s poison globadiers; they actually seem to intelligently pick the best moments to lob their grenades and will retreat if in danger. The trappers sneaking about and netting you from the shadows only to flee a second later is also very fun to play against, especially when compared to the relatively dumb hook rat AI from VT2. The only enemy I’d say is a downgrade from Vermintide at the moment is the dog. Compared to the assassin, it seems way more predictable and also doesn’t seem to react to hits as reliably.

And building upon what you said, the regular ranged soldiers are where this game really shines. It’s painful to see them getting so much hate on here. I fear the devs will nerf the ranged enemies into an absolute ineffectual soup based on the feedback from the forums. You’re not MEANT to be able to rush them, you’re supposed to take cover and return fire safely, or maneuver up through strategically moving from cover to cover and forcing them to engage in melee.

I think a lot of people coming from VT2 were expecting a similar type of gameplay, where you don’t really have to worry much about cover or non-melee enemies hitting you when you’re in the open (with the exception of the ungor archers, which are little more than a nuisance most of the time). Darktide on the other hand requires you to completely change your playstyle in certain engagements to avoid being gunned down, and it adds a whole new element of fun to the game. Squads of dudes with lasguns can be as punishing for bad teamplay as monsters or a barrage of specials/elites. It’s really very well done.

Anyway, in the spirit of the thread, some other things I really enjoy about Darktide are the level design, mission formats, visuals, music, and general atmosphere. It all comes together in a very immersive and evocative way. Also the weapons are, generally speaking, quite well made. There’s a few things I have some minor quibbles with, mainly that the special attacks for several weapons are borderline useless, but for the most part they feel really solid and fun. I don’t care so much about things that some people have recently complained about, like racking the slide every time you take out a gun (or at all on lasguns). IMO that’s in “rule of cool” territory. I think in a patently ridiculous setting like 40k, where looking cool is manifestly more important than realism, things like that don’t really matter. I do get why it bothers some people, but I’ll point out that, for example, flintlock rifles in vermintide 2 can be reloaded in a matter of seconds. That’s significantly sillier than anything you do with guns in Darktide. The animations for pretty much every weapon I’ve seen look awesome and I love them to death.

I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting, but I’m meandering so I’ll just end by saying that I think Darktide has the potential to be excellent. When it’s good, it’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had with a video game.

6 Likes
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The gun play, besides the balancing issue (Looking at you, autogun), all feels absolutely fantastic. feel like the Omnissiah had personally touched the game. They have totally nailed the long-range combat experience. And if the dev is reading this, DO NOT NERF RANGE ENEMY, they are perfectly awesome and fine as it is. Anyone who wants this game to get turned into Vermintide 2 mod where hack-n-slash works against everything should be sentenced to the penal legion, or send back to their VT.

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The psyker feels pretty much perfect.

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I feel the long reload animations is purposefully done to force you to switch out to your melee in a pinch rather than being able to just backpedal and reload when youre getting mobbed.

Love the animation and details on the bolter. Having the massive mag release button and seeing your character push it before pulling out the mag is amazing

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I really like where this game ist going, the AI is good, expecially the “traitor guardsmen”

I’m completely in love with the astetics of the enemys and maps, everything just screams 40k. Everything being dark and gloomy, enemys almost blending in with the dirt and rubble and of course the verticality of everything. I love just looking at the giant buildings.

And the music and background sounds are really well done, you can’t get salty if you fail the assassination boss fight, with music like that. I allways want to try again to give that traitor what he deserves and get to experience the Boss music again.

The challenge level is also nice, I found some guys who played VT2 (I didn’t) and WE really had to play it slow and carefull, always watching ammo level and group health, while only playing on challenge rating 3 with endless horde modifier.

And don’t get me started on the weapons, they really nailed the “Monster Hunter effect” in the melee weapons and somehow also on most ranged weapons, you can almost feel the weight and power behind each swing and every shot. I didn’t find a single weapon, up until now, that felt bad in using it, even if I didn’t like the moveset of it.

Tldr: Great game which forces you to think outside the box in almost perfect 40k visuals.

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Reactive animation on enemies is really a beautiful touch. They will fall over based on the leg I shot or the ragdoll effects from an explosion transitioning to standing up is excellent.

Audio is fantastic. Soundtrack is great.

Also want to say range enemies are perfect the way they are.

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Also forgot to say another reason i love the bolter; you can hear the chunky spring inside when you slap the magazine and and after racking the slide. Amazing.

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Yes, and the snap-krack sound of the Las ist almost like I imagened it while reading 40k guard books.

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  • Environment design: Dripping with gorgeous and varied details (honestly V2 was already good at this, but they knocked it up several notches)
  • Music: Incredible. Have listened to several tracks on repeat since they came out. Jesper Kyd is amazing
  • Fidelity: Weapons, characters, animations, environments, everything just looks like a massive upgrade
  • Loot/progression: One thing I think they did improve on is the reduction in RNG. Used to be, you had to cross your fingers Ranald would give you an emperor’s chest, then when you opened it, it could contain nothing you want anyway. Your power level progression was also dependent on whether you pulled an item with a new-highest power level. Even though the Darktide shops are random, at least your progression is linear and predictable now.
  • Guns: Vermintide melee + proper guns was always gonna be a good time
1 Like
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People are deservedly trashing the game because it’s a f*cking rushed job for a holiday cashgrab where the god damned devs have their head up their own ass having learned basically nothing developing Vermintide 2 for multiple years.

Gonna let mods do all the work for you again fatshark? Are we gonna have to mod in a stat screen? Just make sure you sanction the mod when it releases.

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First person animations are generally great
Third person animations are a mixed bag (looking at you empty handed run animation) but pretty decent

But what gets me are the enemies death animations
There’s so much variety, it’s a throwback to the L4D quality and puts the pale imitation Back 4 Blood to shame

Sound design is also generally pretty great although i’d really like it if i could actually hear the 50 trash mobs who spawned right behind me before they start mauling my ass cheeks, it really feels ridiculous when a literal mob army just sneaks right behind you

I mean yea sorry i know you wanted a positive thread but almost everything i genuinely like comes with caveeats

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Reading the topic I was like: So we talk about everything in the game?

xD I really love it so far, and I am pretty sure the full release will be even better.