The in-game grip is shorter and more blockier than the one shown in the artwork and on the tabletop model. Personally, I prefer the original design. The artwork grip is a visual element shared across a lot of the newish admech weaponry, which helps create a consistent aesthetic and help the baroque look. I also prefer the flintlock or revolver-like profile it gives the weapons,particulary the pistols.
I’m not sure why the Darktide team seems to favor blockier grips. It was already something that bothered me with most of the laspistol and lasgun marks, whose artwork features noticeably more curved handles than their in-game counterparts(Admittedly it’s most true for the laspistol and accatran lasgun).
The lever looks noticeably shorter than it does in the artwork and tabletop version. It’s a small detail, but it contributes to the weapon’s silhouette.
It also lacks the completely useless metal spur thingy on top of the receiver.
I’m still hoping we’ll get a second pattern or mark variant—perhaps a heavier Arc Rifle—that stays closer to the established tabletop and artwork design.
Maybe it’s just my tism talking, but I’m a little disappointed that the weapon doesn’t adhere more closely to the classic Adeptus Mechanicus look.i could understand for the lasguns as most of the artwork depicting them are a bit old but these are quite recent.
I think i will have the same nitpick about the phosphor blaster from what I saw of the model on the deluxe edition package. It seems to also go for a different grip compared to the official artwork
I understand the choice of not having the arc rifle backpack. It is what it is for gameplay reason and clipping reason
The blockier grips probably fit better with the character’s hand model. Static miniatures or art can get away with these things because the hand will never move and can stretch slightly to compensate for weirder shapes or positions. The 3D model could have looked weird or misshapen while holding the original shape.
I don’t know, that’s the reasoning for the different shape that I can think of, if it wasn’t an aesthetic change for the sake of it.
I’ve never dabbled in anything Warhammer before the Tide games, so I don’t really have a horse in this race
I don’t think the aesthetic change was made due to animation constraint.
I am not a animator but i would think that the weapon model is made first then you make an animation that fit the weapon models.
We have never seen the arc rifle officially in a fps before but they were multiple mods for differents games made which featured them and other admech weaponry and it didn’t seem to me that the shape played wrong with human anatomy or that the resulting hand placement was weird to the observer eye
I tend to think that is it like for most of the other ranged weapons, an aesthetic choice
I think OP has a bit of a point. Skitarii weapons have a ornate and somewhat ‘fragile’ look to them that should be preserved if possible. That said, as computers have become more powerful, game programming at the engine level has gotten sloppier, and Darktide sometimes ‘runs out of memory’ on my PC and I have 96 gb of ram.
So it might be that more complicated models would hurt Darktide’s engine a bit.
Still, if the programming is up to it, I’d also like to see the more fragile/ornate look to the weapons.
That said, perhaps the modding community will deliver that?
yeah i just saw that deluxe skin is different. but i kind of doubt that the premium and default skins would be so close. so i’m thinking the one pictured in the event could also just be wip
also there could be marks that look more like the baroque design
but it’s impossible to know for sure, even with computers
Whilst I agree it could be daintier to fit with mechanicus a bit better, the grip will almost certainly be fit to a universal mesh/anim formula they use on all their weapons. This is just economical to do so, and I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t the reason.
I hear what you’re all saying. Yeah, it could be a mesh or animation constraint. But at one point, weapon mods allowed swapping grips between different types guns flawlessy. I often used one of the flamer grips or the light-pattern lasgun grip on the lasgun and laspistol to better imitate the Kantrael look from the artwork.All that to say that more elongated grips on existing anim set did not broke the anim set.
All in all it is what it is
That said, I’m still hopeful we’ll get more accurate-looking versions of the AdMech weapons in the future—or perhaps Mars-pattern variants, if we assume all the current weapons are local patterns produced within the Moebian Domain. Maybe they’ll come as Max Mastery skins (doubtful i think ,they will probably be the classic red and gold with white cog pattern skin)or through the Commodore’s Vestures shop.
The Galvanic Rifle and the melee weapons seem to be a perfect fit so far, so there’s at least that
