In its current form, Mortis Trials feels very boring. For me, the fun part was discovering the new abilities, which was severely undercut by the fact that I didn’t get a choice after every wave, sometimes getting stuck with stuff that had little impact on my build. Allowing players to choose their upgrades from a pool would make the mode more fun because you have more of an opportunity to strategize.
For me this game mode lacks pacing, in the sense that other roguelike/rogue-esque game modes have clear beginnings, middles, and ends, which I think lends itself to some amount of strategy and drama. In that way, Mortis Trials feels pretty flat because the setting doesn’t change, the objective barely changes, and the modifiers don’t change throughout the missions.
I know this game mode was never meant to be Chaos Wastes, but there are some positive qualities of Chaos Wastes that I wish could be present in Mortis Trials, even in an analogous sense. Because Chaos Wastes has a currency and several ways to spend it, it naturally adds some strategy to the game, such as saving for a shop or taking a random weapon to save some money.
I also really miss the cooperate elements of Chaos Wastes, such as choosing the next mission and buying group buffs in the shop. In Mortis Traisl the cooperation feels muted compared to standard Darktide missions because you can’t be left behind, allies can easily revive you during waves, and there isn’t really any overlap in decision-making.
Overall I’ve really been looking forward to a Chaos Wastes analog in Darktide, but right now this mode feels like fun than standard missions.