Overall Feel of Darktide is Lacking

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide General Discussion
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So I made an account just to voice my opinion on the current feel of Darktide, which I have yet to see anyone bring up.

The Maps, design, combat, soundtrack are perfection. So with that being said:

Has anyone else noticed a drastic shift from the original, dark-horror tones that the game had upon launch? The original tone that the first trailers conveyed so perfectly.

The latest updates have injected much new dialogue (and characters) that have really changed the entire feel of the game. Its starting to sound and feel a lot like Guardians of the Galaxy. The banter has progressively gotten more light-hearted and quirky, replacing the older, more serious dialogue. And I do thoroughly enjoy the funny banter in Vermintide, and find it fitting, because the characters are not convicts and are essentially mercenaries of their own accord. They answer to no one and take up contracts and missions for their own personal gain. I feel like Darktide is trying too hard to emulate this same formula, and its coming across as forced and out of place.

The reality in 40k is 40,000 times more dystopian and bleak than Fantasy and should reflect that. We play as convict-prisoners of the Imperium, the most ruthless and unforgiving regime in the Galaxy. The recent abundance in uplifting and happy chatter amongst the convicts and NPCs feels devoid of any awareness of the current circumstances or reality and can be off-putting when trying to immerse yourself in the universe setting.

For instance, I had minimized my screen while in the Mourningstar, and the 5 minutes of idle chatter I endured amongst the NPCs was abysmal. I was under the impression that this was a military operation, and yet all I could hear was gossip, wise-cracks and disrespect amongst superiors over an open radio channel for all to hear. This was definitely not the case before. I remember hearing about Xenos sightings, teasers for possible new content, Imperial propaganda and urgent matters.

I know I’m not crazy either because one patch note literally said “Changed Hallowette’s dialogue to be nicer to players.”

I get that Games Workshop most likely has a hand in why 40k is becoming less “Grim-Dark” but at the same time, I don’t understand the compromise since Space Marine 2 gets the no-nonsense vibe of the Imperium down to a tee.

So with that being said, how many of you would like to shift the tone of the game back to more of a survival-Horror, rather than the current buddy-cop comedy we have now?

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Honestly I don’t think the game ever really nailed the feel of that reveal trailer. It never was a scary game the way Left 4 Dead was, for example. It always was a more fast paced and arcadey game, albeit with a bit of a gritty visual aesthetic. I personally would’ve preferred a more grounded take on the whole concept with less fantastically overpowered players and more of a scary and overwhelming feeling. Their decision to go for increased spawn rates and just “more” of everything has resulted in a complete trivializing of every enemy, save some bosses/monsters maybe. I would’ve thought harder about how to make the game challenging without making it what it is now which is, to be frank, ridiculous and not believable from a lore perspective at all.

As for the dialogue and the tone of it, I can’t say I’ve noticed it change significantly, or at all, from what it was at launch. That’s not to say I like it. It has that same modern writing tinge that everything else does these days. For some reason the people in game studio writing rooms think these games need to shoehorn in a quip, a joke or some sarcastic verbal fart every 30 seconds. Why things can’t just be sincere in whatever they are to these people I’ll never know. No one is playing Darktide for its comedic relief factor. Let it be the grimy and terrifying reality it is. That is a much more compelling proposition to me.

Not everything has to have the " :smirk:" tone.

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Yeah the writing is totally off and I hope the lay off the marvel quip juice asap. Certain personalities and voicelines are horrible in that sense.
Lately I’ve come to despise insincere writing in serious universes. It feels like the writer was a coward who didn’t dare try his hand at sincere in-universe dialogue. There is variety at least, some characters do not suffer from it at all. To give an example, Morrow is a very serious and sincere in-universe take on the character and it’s one of my favorites. And even he can be funny sometimes, just… sincere and in-universe and not from an up-top perspective that takes the pissout of the setting. There is nothing worse than hearing “Eugh… for the emperor… I guess…” (actual line that the pre-servitor traitor says)

Not just a problem in Darktide, either. Other games will not stop the overdone Joss Whedon imitations.

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This is exactly how I feel. This really is the downfall of so many modern media projects it’s actually shocking that no one really talks about it. Modern writing lacks any real courage or genuine grit. It’s all so addled with this high school petulance that just detracts from whatever story it’s being shoved into.

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What I miss most was the old UI, it was pretty unique and the teammate info/ammo and such looked a lot cleaner. Then it got hit with that Current Game thing and made pretty sterile and white.

I dunno if it was scarier back then, though certain enemies were a lot tougher back then. Like dogs, 400 more HP and nearing stagger immunity, with a much smaller hitbox to push them.

For the tone, its definitely suffering from them mashing too many NPCs into the mission action. They really should have them be more special, but instead they’re all piping in on the vox every 15 seconds to do a bad sitcom bouncing off each other. It was a lot better when we had Morrow on every mission, even if that was basically done with by the time the ‘pre launch’ beta ended (Masozi and Hadron were added then, which was in addition to just Morrow and Zola). Story wise having the NPCs that actually sit at the command room in command makes sense. Now we literally have the barber hiding in a closet while doing a mission with the pickle jar psychanium psyker. It totally jumped the shark.

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Lmao my sentiments exactly.

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Yes! Its this stale, jaded Millennial humor that’s making modern entertainment so bad.

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Exactly, Morrow is the only character they got right. Most Recently, I heard Rannick say over the vox “Okay, good! I like a happy ship!”

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Vermintide 1 nailed the atmosphere perfectly and no Tide game has managed to do so since.

There was no “80s Action Hero” ahh cheesy one-liners and “Buddy Cop” tropes, only a team of four who were fighting to survive against a Skaven onslaught while completing some tactical objectives. Their dialogue reflected this so well, too.

Vermintide 1 was also more grounded, as the number of Skaven that the Ubersreik 5 slayed in those missions was actually somewhat believable. The Protagonists are all decently experienced and skilled compared to the average Skaven Clanrat, but it never felt like we were gutter stomping hordes of every Skaven Enemy like we do in Vermintide 2.

Fighting mere Stormvermin in Vermintide 1 felt like how fighting Crushers in Darktide feels, and pulling a Stormvermin Patrol could easily wipe a mediocre team on Nightmare or Cataclysm.

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I haven’t played VT2 in over a year, but now I remember just how difficult and stressful Cataclysm felt when being the last man standing vs a horde of Armored enemies. THAT was adrenaline. Now in Darktide, I can just whip out my Spearhead Boltgun and vaporize the entire room. It just doesn’t have that same feel you’re talking about.

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From what I get out of this is some kind of odd formula of satire as we are those Rejects/Penitent soldiers on a Imperial sanctioned space pirate ship, teamed up with sanctions of the Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus.

We become over the course of trust levels a more important part of the Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband, we encounter all the horrors, even in the lights out situations it still holds the horror elements. I do see where they need to give more serious dialog on the Mourningstar, we have the serious tones from Commissar Dukane, and more needs to be added. Of course Hallowette adds alot of the misperceptions of their personality and joking nature, yet I like to think that its because she is a cabin fever cookie character as batty as some dizzy dame that doesn’t get to leave her post much lol. It seems like there is the kind of humor and satire that can get lost in the mix…

I do agree they need to follow through with content that they hint in Mourningstar dialog though

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This is genuinely what I think of whenever Hallowette threatens Morrow over the Vox:

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Its kinda like that :flushed: :laughing:

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Ill be honest I think whoever was behind Hallowettes personality design was throwing a Harley Quinn idea of a character around and snuck it in lol

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In that case, for my contributions to this community, can I get my own NPC? An arrogant Lightning Pilot with a malfunctioning Vox on his Flight Helmet that makes him sound a bit screechy, perhaps?

(I’m joking, don’t worry! :joy:)

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I don’t think it is completely so, take a look at the official cinematics. It’s more like they have “mild” representation stuff for the wider audience but on the other hand they keep doing the same grimdark things.

Tithes episodes show how Imperium is just a meatgrinder. In the end of Parriah Nexus guards shot the survived child.

Rogue Trader is probably the most grimdark WH game and the best representation of it. Every aspect is captured - tragedy of regular humans life, mass casulties and martyrdom, neo-feudalism, horror aspect be it bodyhorror, lovecraftian or psychological one, etc, not just being edgy.

This. Characters don’t reflex enough on that fact they are in the middle of the apocalyptic hive holocaust, neither their humor is harsh or cynical enough for those who are facing death everyday. Mor like someone who knows the lore and was issekaid in 40k universe, not someone who stuck in a living nightmare (makes sense cadian vet stays calm, but savant psyker who was just a local enforcer?). And someone who is fueld not by zealous hate but main character syndrom.

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Because it’s not an apocalyptic hive holocaust yet. A large part of the hive is still running as business as usual. None of the nobles are alarmed. Atoma’s factories are still producing (and now will produce even better tanks); the worst thing that happens to the regular folk (asides from getting hit by the Nurgle plague) is being re-assigned from a higher class to factory worker. The Lord Moebian finally took notice and assigned someone to the job.

To the core Inquisition members, this is just another day on the job. Brahms’ and her retinue are forced to be here, so they’re just making the most of it, and Brahms could care less for Atoma as it’s not part of her demesne. If Atoma blew up tomorrow, she’d just shrug her shoulders and leave. Maybe she’ll try to wrestle some further payment out of Grendyl.

The only person that will be panicking is whoever gets the blame of assigning the Moebians so close to home and allowing them to rest on their home planet. There’s a reason IG get sent off to far-off places and never get assigned to their home planet.

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It’s not about panicking over the whole situation even. You can hear lone groaners cry and moan as if there is some consciousness left. In the world of 40k soul exists, it would be organic if zealot was saying something “their bodies and minds are beyond saving, but may the Emperor be merciful to their souls” or more fanatic archetype would say they deserved it cause was weak in faith. Or atleast you would expect righteous fury against Archenemy is trying to destroy one of the Emperor’s worlds.

Nurgle beast is straight up a creature from the unreality, but characters don’t voice up their disgust and astonishment enough. Again it makes sense for vet if he was fighting something stronger than cultists. But then he should express more spite.

But more regular archetypes? Most Imperial citizens live in agnorance, they know that ruinous powers exist, and that there are crusades and wars across the galaxy. But they don’t know exactly how chaos mutations and demons look exactly.

Characters are doing lore dumps in banters about Wh40k universe, like they are tourists in a theme park, but not about surroundings like Imperium citizen would - be it medicae servitor behaving weirdly, complaning that mechanicus should sent skitarii to do smelter/power matrix, ogryn being insulted that other ogryns went traitors, etc.

Ehhh… it’s not like characters are operating in the underhive. Enclave Baross is more upper level, groaners wear fancy clothes there.

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I think it has less to do with GotG syndrome and more just an inevitable progression of multiplayer games to add more humor and have less environmental storytelling in favor of maps that streamline the current combat loop.

Also the “reject” thing did nooot go well. You can only take the player character hate so far before CPS had to get involved.

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Not really. She sounds exactly like every other quippy character from any other current media. Whoever wrote her is a cabin fever cookie character who never has in person social interactions, but lives permanently on Reddit.

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