Warhammer 40,000: Darktide: The Review

*Note: Updated in June 2025 in an effort to remove AI-generated content from the blog.

Overview

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide drops you feet-first into the grimdark hive city of Tertium, where corruption, cultists, and chaos spawn fester in every shadow. As a reject in the Emperor’s service, you and your squad are tasked with cleansing the city in a first-person co-op action shooter from the creators of Vermintide. With its visceral melee combat and rich Warhammer aesthetic, Darktide brings brutal 40K action to life—but technical issues and a lack of content at launch keep it from achieving the glory of the Emperor.

Score: 6.5 out of 10

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The Positives ✅

✅ Grimdark World-Building: Tertium is gorgeously dystopian—decaying cathedrals, flickering cogitators, and gothic steel create a palpable 40K atmosphere fans will love;

✅ Satisfying Hybrid Combat: Whether you're chainswording heretics or blasting them with a lasgun, the game delivers crunchy, weighty action across both melee and ranged combat;

✅ Class Personality & Dialogue: The characters feel alive with excellent voice acting and darkly humorous banter that builds immersion and adds flavor to every mission;

✅ Visual & Audio Presentation: Impressive lighting, atmospheric effects, and bombastic sound design make each firefight feel chaotic and cinematic;

✅ Warhammer Fan Service: Lore, iconography, and grim tone are on point—this is a world where hope is a lie, and Darktide never lets you forget it.

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The Negatives

⚠️ Content Feels Sparse: Mission variety is limited and the lack of diverse objectives or environments makes grind set in too quickly;

⚠️ Technical Issues: Long load times, matchmaking hiccups, stuttering, and crashes were frequent at launch and still linger depending on the platform;

⚠️ Progression System Lacks Depth: Gear acquisition and upgrades feel underwhelming, and there's a lack of meaningful long-term goals;

⚠️ Live Service Structure Feels Unrewarding: Time-limited store items and shallow crafting systems hinder replayability rather than enhance it;

⚠️ Disconnected Solo Experience: The game is clearly built for co-op, but solo players are left with a lackluster, often frustrating experience due to weak bot AI and punishing difficulty.

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The Experience

Darktide gets so much right in terms of aesthetic, combat feel, and tone—it’s a love letter to the 40K universe’s hopeless violence. But for all its visual and gameplay polish, it’s dragged down by undercooked systems and a frustrating lack of content and polish. There’s potential for greatness with updates and content drops, but as it stands, it feels like a promising machine still missing key parts. 🔩☠️⚔️

A brutal dive into the horrors of the Imperium—Darktide looks and sounds the part, but needs more time in the forge.