Video game developing company Fatshark has had a successful run with the Warhammer Fantasy series, especially with the Vermintide series. This series of games take place in Warhammer Fantasy during the End Times.

The game features four heroes facing off against a race of vicious rat-men known as Skaven. Vermintide is mostly melee-based however there are some guns and magic. Fans of the series were happy when Fatshark announced their newest game, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, available on PC for Steam and Windows.

When you first start the game, you will have four classes to choose from Psykers, Veterans, Ogryns, and Zealots. The Psyker uses sorceries to defeat your enemies. This class is mainly a ranged magic user with little health but powerful abilities. The Veteran is a guardsman soldier who has survived countless battles,with your main weapon being your choice of countless weapons. The Ogryn is a 10 feet tall human with limited intelligence but have overwhelming strength and the ability to shrug off wounds that would kill an Imperial Guardsman. Zealots’ focus on melee combat and become stronger the closer they are to death.

During the game, there will be things players may not know so this will be a short summary of the lore as well as the story of the game. There are many different factions in the Warhammer 40k universe, but for this review, we will be focusing on two of the factions. The Imperium of Man is a massive empire hailing from the world of Terra in the Sol system with the Emperor of Mankind being the de-facto leader of the Imperium.

However, due to his being wounded in a civil war known as the Horus Heresy, he has been confined to the Golden Throne, where 1,000 Psykers a day sacrifice themselves a day in order to keep him alive. Because of this, Imperial citizens have come to worship him as a god, turning him into the God-Emperor of Mankind. This then became the Imperium’s official religion, known as the Imperial Cult. Worshipping anything else or doubting the Emperor is heresy and will be taken care of accordingly.

The Chaos faction hails from the Warp, which is basically just hell in the 40k universe. The thoughts and feelings of these characters are sent to the warp, so naturally, there are many horrors there such as demons and the Chaos gods. There are four Chaos gods, each with their own quirk. For example, Nurgle is the Chaos god of disease, decay, despair, destruction, death and rebirth. Nurgle followers often spread pestilence and disease wherever they go.

Darktide is a very repetitive game with a simple plot, however, that’s why people play it. Darktide is a first person shooter with little chance to survive on your own. It’s similar to Left 4 Dead in that the objective players are combating hordes of corrupted enemies that try to stop you. Each of the classes is better suited for better tasks like the Ogryn who soaks up damage for your team. Veterans can take out the longer ranged enemies. Teamwork is essential in order to survive enemies as you explore the map as you’re completing you’re objective. Each game has an objective thatt players must complete to beat the level. There are also side objectives to reward adventurous players with extra items.

Ultimately, Darktide encourages players to stick together or die alone.