It is a common practice these days for Game creators to leave all sort of references to other games, books, or even movies laying about in games for us to find. How much they do this depends on what kind of game you have and which universe the story is set in. As Darktide is set in the universe of Warhammer 40k, there is no room to really make any references to other games or their respective universes. But, their is still the possibility of adding references to other Warhammer 40k games, and to a lesser extent fan-made works. Now, I will state this right off the bat, that I am aware that before the Devs can toss in new content they have to check with Games Workshop to make sure they are not breaking the lore too much, and of course that Fatshark didn't create every other Warhammer 40k out there, so there might some issue with copyrights. But as most of the games that I intend to reference are on the older side (about five years last I checked), there might be some leniency in regards to that subject.
For everyone’s convenience, I will be sorting the ideas I have by their chance of success, with most likely being first, and least likely being last. If you have any suggestions of your own to add, feel free. If you think this a bad idea and do not agree, a simple “No” will suffice. Save the toxic salt and profanity for situations and/or discussions that deserve it.
Idea 1
The first idea I have is also the simplest, and that is to have more in-game items that are references to other Warhammer 40k works. I already found multiple references to Sega’s Warhammer 40k Space Marine, the most obvious of which are all the “Graia” Weapons and Cosmetics (for those who never played Space Marine, Graia is the name of the Forge-world that the games campaign takes place on.) So It would not be too much of a stretch have more items in game that reference some of the other Warhammer 40k games out there, both weapons and Cosmetics. To give an example, there are several helmets that I could see being added to Darktide that originate from the early Dawn of War games, specifically from the in-game Imperial Guard faction. The ogryn bonehead had a particularly interesting helmet if i recall.
Idea 2
The second idea I have is to simply have the characters in-game, both the created characters and the crew of the Mourning Star, have more conversations that are references to other Warhammer 40k games. This idea is second in the list because first, to use it, Fatshark would need to make sure they are not breaking the fourth wall too much and upsetting Games Workshop. And second, It would also mean a lot more work for the voice actors, since that is something that has already had a great deal of effort and time poured into.
Idea 3
Third idea is kind of in the realm of “Easter Egg” content, that is small references that are left lying around for us find in-game. It involves making a small tweek to all those “skull radios” that are lying around in game. Currently, all they do is broadcast propaganda for whichever in-game faction the Devs decided to go with for a particular area. I think it would somewhat amusing if all the “skull radios” were changed, so that whenever someone hits one with a melee attack, it would short out and play a brief bit of music from other Warhammer 40k works before shorting back out and resuming defualt broadcast. Some examples of music that could be used are Dawn of War 2’s “Angels of Death”, and Dawn of War 3’s “Tip of the Spear” (as broken and janky as Dawn of War 3 was, the composers did an excellent job on the soundtrack, practically the only good thing about it). This idea is third on the list because I am not sure if the copyrights for other Warhammer 40k music belongs to Games Workshop, the games developing company, or to the composer.
Idea 4
Now this the last idea I have, and as I stated above, least likely to be used. But, if you are going to try something out, you may as well see how far you can take it. The idea is to actually promote this game by creating content for entirely seperate game. Valves Team Fortress 2, to be precise. Now you are probably thinking something along the lines of “What the ****?!? How the heck do you think this will work!?” I am well aware that this idea is unlikely to ever be used, but there are some logical reasons that it could potentially work, not just personal ones like me wanting play as Demoman with a chainsword
First, Valve’s Team Fortress 2 has a long history of weapons and cosmetics being added to it to promote the sale of other games, and on a few occasions, allowing their in-game characters and items to used as bonus content for other games (“Dungeon of the Endless”, and “Evil Genius 2”, to give two examples), although I doubt they could do that here. That is unless you think we can give the ogryn a Warhammer 40k version of Heavy Weapons Guy’s Minigun. As long as the content is not too similar to the 40k universe, I think there is a chance to get away with it.
Second, Teams Fortress 2 is free to play, so financially Fatshark do not lose anything if they make weapons and/or cosmetics for TF2 that promote Darktide. And yes, while Valve does have an in-game shop for TF2, theirs is fairly benign compared to some of the other “free-to-play-pay-to-win” constructs that have come and gone over the years.
And third, If I am not mistaken, the vast majority of Fatshark’s sales have come through via Valves “Steam” Store. So it would too much of a stretch to ask Valves to agree to a cross promotion like this. The uncertain element is Games Workshop. If they say no, then that is it.
So, that’s all the ideas I have for cross promotion. If you have some your own please go ahead and add them. If you think some, if not all, of these ideas should be chucked, again, a simple “No” will be sufficient.