Two and a half years.
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That isn’t what I said, though.
I’m not demanding that the devs make a solo mode, I’m expressing frustration with the complete lack of communication around it.
Yes, Darktide is primarily a co-op game, I’ve said so ad nauseum, but so were Vermintide 1 and 2, and both still offered the ability to play solo with bots. Every single other co-op horde shooter and slasher does as well. On top of that, Fatshark themselves told us nearly three years ago that Solo Mode would be coming to Darktide, and since then there’s been no update, no clarification, not even a simple acknowledgement of where that plan stands.
If the answer is, “We aren’t doing solo mode,” that’s fine, just say so.
If it’s, “We still want to do it but can’t promise anything,” that’s fine too, just say so.
My issue isn’t that the developers haven’t made solo mode yet. My issue is the total silence toward a portion of the player base that clearly exists, clearly supports the game, and clearly cares about it, while thanking them for their support.
Communication is all I’m asking for.
You’re mostly right, and that’s exactly what my complaint is, but I don’t think this is just a case of the devs “not knowing they need to say it out loud.” This request has been made repeatedly across the official forums, Steam, Reddit, and Discord. It’s not a hidden or niche ask, hell I’ve been asking about Solo Mode in almost every patch notes or announcement post for the past two years, I even made (and I’m about to make a new one in 3 days) a “Solo Mode Announcement Anniversary” post that had insane engagement from the community and 0 acknowledgement from the devs or CMs. Since Fatshark confirmed, almost 3 years ago to date, that solo mode was planned and nearly ready, the question of what happened to that plan feels like something they should expect to be asked about.
I get that communication often flows through CMs, and I don’t blame individual staff for the workload and restrictions they’re under. But the solo mode topic has been brought up for long enough, in enough places, by enough players, that it really shouldn’t hinge on whether one CM happens to pass it along.
All we’re really looking for is a direct, updated answer from the devs, whatever that answer may be.
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Well, the way I see it, if after all of that, there’s still nothing from FS, then that means that they have a reason for not acknowledging it. What that reason is, I don’t know. Could it be that FS does not want to say that solo mode does not fit their image of what DT is supposed to be, lest it ends up sounding similar to “This isn’t CoD”?
Or maybe FS has a limit of how much they can acknowledge when it comes to failing in delivering things? There was an open letter from the CEO acknowledging the bad state of DT after its release and also in the Arbites update there was an interview with a game designer, where he said that when the game first released it was in a rough shape.
So they can very much address things like failing to deliver on stuff, but it seems that they only do it selectively. As to why is that, I do not know. It’s all just speculation and just like with the class delay, we’ll never know what really went down behind the scenes.
I get what you are saying, and you might be right that there was some internal reason for the silence, but that’s the problem.
- If the reason is that solo mode does not fit their vision of what Darktide is anymore, then saying that clearly would at least set expectations. It would stop people from holding onto an old confirmation that no longer reflects the game’s direction.
- If the reason is something practical, like resources, shifting priorities, or something else behind the scenes, then that is also fine.
Fatshark has already shown they can acknowledge when things did not go as planned. The CEO letter and the interview comments from developers about the rough launch were honest, but the Letter and comments about launch are about the game during year one and a bit of year two when the game truly was in a bad state. At this point though, it would be hard to argue that Darktide is still “rough” except in terms of their communication, their FOMO-driven design choices, and some ongoing balance issues (which are always going to be a thing)
That’s why this situation is different. Solo mode was not just speculation, it was something they officially stated would be in the game. When a previously confirmed feature disappears from all communication, players naturally want to know whether it is still happening or if it has been dropped.
So maybe you are right that there’s a reason they’re not addressing it, but from the player side the silence only leaves people guessing, and guessing turns into frustration. A simple yes, no, or even “we are not sure anymore” would go a long way into resolving some underlying frustration in the players
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To know what is the reason would mean us having to understand FatShark game design philosophy. And let me tell you, when you try to break it down, it only ends up breaking you. Trust me I, I tried.
I mean, that sounds like a convenient way to dodge the actual issue. “Understanding Fatshark’s design philosophy breaks you” doesn’t excuse the silence. Nobody is asking us to decode the entire studio’s internal logic or justify their priorities. We’re just asking for a yes or no on a feature they already promised almost three years ago.
If trying to communicate with players is so complicated that it “breaks” people, then maybe that’s the problem, because it shouldn’t be. A straight answer isn’t philosophy, it’s basic transparency, and pretending that players have to somehow reverse-engineer the studio’s reasoning just to know if solo mode is happening is a pretty flimsy defense for saying nothing at all.
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Never said it did. Just that if we won’t get any straightforward answers, then trying to understand Fatshark’s design philosophy might be the only other way of getting any conclusive answers on why are they like this. And then I made a joke on how their design philosophy is very convoluted and confusing. It wasn’t any defense or “a convenient way to dodge the actual issue”.
But as you said it yourself:
.
Correct
That wouldn’t be a conclusive answer, it would be speculation, which is all we have so far. Which is my point. You’re basically saying:
- There’s a lack of comms so we don’t know.
- Since we don’t know, we shouldn’t speculate
- The only way we can know is by speculating on why there’s a lack of comms.
You just keep circling around the issue. They aren’t telling us anything when they should be. That’s it, and me saying
Isn’t me saying “We should understand the internal logic of Fatshark” it’s me saying “All we’re left with is speculation, which is a problem.”
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I guess that’s just what happens to a mf after 2 years of almost nonexistent communication from FS.
Don’t hype yonself up for something that is unlikely at best.
Yep the absolutely plum-last choice of character to add and they went done did it lol
Jeez Louise.
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Welp, time to add another entry because almost nobody likes this lmao
But I bet whales are gonna shell out for it anyway.
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Its a new class with what looks like some really cool gameplay from the devblog. I am not a “whale”(?) but I am buying this day1.
Can’t wait to see the personalities and the DLC cosmetic looks sick.
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kk.
That was a starting choice for veteran with a new weapon drop. That such a massive blunder.
I find it funny that people that said they delayed it because they saw how much of a nothing burger their new class was were right.
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Oh and btw @FatsharkJulia we’ve hit the character limit again. Maybe just add an extra zero onto there.
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Imperial Guardsmen are recruited from Hives, so its backstory, but its not the same as someone who is living in a hive as a ganger. You get that stuff beaten out of you when you join your regiment and become one of the faceless innumerate guardsmen. Hive gangers are not the same as Guardsman, either in lore or mechanically on the table top or in how they comport themselves.
Does it deserve to go into the book? I mean, it’s a new class, just a new class that some folks did not want. I really feel like Fatshark would not have won anyway had it been admech as there would have been another community uproar just for ganger and not admech. It just feels like people got overhyped about AdMech when it was nowhere in the files, at least as far as I remember. There was no datamine for AdMech, but some data for Ganger and Arbites. I personally did not hype myself for Admech as I knew the chances for Ganger were higher than Admech. I feel like they have ganger in the works for a while and naturally just released said class that was in the works for a while.
P.S. - Not Defending Fatshark, just curious. Still doing good work with the book!
I haven’t seen both the forums and reddit near-universally go ‘this is disappointing nonsense’ since they released the RNG crafting circus that was OG itemization. Even Arbites at least was ‘this looks cool af’, here everyone is calling it bland.
So yeah this is going in the book.
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