Well, the Warhammer 40,000: Darktide private beta was this last weekend, and there were thousands of players getting their first look at Fatshark’s upcoming hack-and-shoot title, releasing November 30th. As some of those who played it can attest to, it was… okay?

Gameplay

For context, Darktide is the latest game from the developers of the award-winning Vermintide 2 from 2018. The context was the same, although the setting was quite different. Vermintide 2 took the Left 4 Dead formula of hordes of very weak enemies with a few stronger foes and dropped it into the Warhammer Fantasy realm. Featuring online coop of up to 4 players or solo with AI, the game was applauded for its spectacular battles, fun progression, and unique characters that all had their own quips and styles that could be changed. Along with that, each character had different versions of themselves with different abilities, weapons, and voice lines that added a lot more nuance to the game and encouraged finding your own style.

Darktide, on the other hand, features a character designer that allows the player to create their own unique-looking character based on 4 preset classes. While each character has their own look, class style, and abilities, it feels very surface level. When you get into the game and are stalking the streets of this Manufactorum, fighting hordes of Chaos-infected enemies, the battles can definitely get intense and interesting. I had a lot of fun as a sharpshooter picking off the rifle-armed enemies with headshots and then switching to my sword to fight off a horde of 30 or so Chaos zombies, but some of the fights with bigger opponents could be annoying. The gunplay was enjoyable at times, but compared to the ranged combat Vermintide 2 it feels meh. The same can be said of the almost floaty feeling of melee combat that cannot be compared to the impactful combat from the previous title.

With that being said, I still had a fun time with the Darktide beta and was lucky enough to have some friends I could fight with. When playing solo, I felt like I was dealing with AI due to the incompetency of my teammates. Items to replenish health and ammo were always picked up by the same players who then never used them. My lines of fire would be blocked by other players running in front of me as I am shooting, and let’s not even talk about the time I played with three Ogryn teammates who became walking walls for me to friendly fire while trying to shoot things that were killing them. With friends, it became much more fun and competent and we were able to play on the harder difficulties, where we had a great time screaming as we were overcome by loads of enemies and laser rifle fire.

Expectations

Going into this private beta, I was very excited. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is on my list of games I’m most hyped for in 2022, and I had such a great time with Vermintide 2. As I played, I felt my excitement dissipate. It was very much a situation where I looked around and said to myself “Is this it?” Fortunately, it isn’t.

The private beta was apparently just a way for Fatshark to stress test their servers and ensure the gameplay was coming along well, and we have been assured there will be more content and progression upon launch. While walking around the hub area was very awe-inspiring and cool, I couldn’t help but notice all the potential vendors or quest givers that I couldn’t talk to. Hopefully, they are available in the full game along with some sort of story that drives the progression forward. The whole experience felt very surface level and had no depth, so I truly hope this is the case and I eat my words when Darktide comes out.

Verdict

As said above, the Darktide private beta was okay. It wasn’t groundbreaking or addicting, it didn’t give me a lot to play around with, and felt pretty bland even if it was visually spectacular. Along with some server issues, visual bugs, and crashing problems, it was an overall underwhelming experience. Hopefully, that was the goal for the beta, and when the full game releases it will have that depth and meaty experience I am looking for. So while I can say I wasn’t most pleased with what I played this weekend, I can see the groundwork for a potentially amazing game. I still remain looking forward to the full release, and I can only hope I get to gleefully cut through Chaos with much more gusto come November 30th.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide releases to PC via Steam on November 30th. Check out the Closed Beta Test Welcome video below, and let us know your thoughts about Darktide in the comments. Did you have a different Beta experience? Let me know!