-EDIT- [24/11/2023]

[Darktide has come a long way from the issues and problems that were plaguing it during the release months with substantial fixes and updates on the technical and mechanical aspects that were sub-par or poorly excecuted. The game right now is how it should have initially released but sadly, that was not the case. I can now finally recommend the game as it has exceptional gameplay, sound and art design.]



Original review:

"Warhammer 40,000: Darktide" released as a full, complete game while practically being on early access based on the ample features, mechanics, the story that was missing from the "full release" and with a premium cash shop that was working flawlessly and was rotating new cosmetics every 2 weeks without fail.

The game industry is at a point where it is somewhat acceptable for a company to release a product that is clearly not even remotely close to being finished and then take the next few months or even years to properly complete it and this happens because of a few reasons in my opinion.

1) Higher ups, excecutives and CEO's that are completely seperated from the actual development of the game and what makes it fun and engaging to the customers/consumers are making the important and excecutive decisions that are detrimental to the game either by releasing the game early and/or creating terrible systems with the sole purpose of inflating player/time numbers and implementing insanely priced cash shops because live service games are a vehicle for monetization. Gaming is a bussiness after all.
2) When money and growth is the only thing that matters, making the players buy your unfinished game and playtest it for you is one of the most malicious ways that can be used to save money since you don't really need to do extensive testing for your game! Your players do it for you and they even pay you for it.
3) The final reason and in my opinion the most obvious and blatant one is the existence of the cash shop. The fastest they open the game up for bussiness, the faster steady income rolls in through microtransactions.

"Warhammer 40,000: Darktide" does the bare minimum to provide an admittedly solid gameplay loop but takes away every aspect of player agency in favor of random gacha-styled systems and mechanics that are 100% detrimental to the enjoyment of the game and frankly, its longevity.

I'll give credit where credit's due and say that the gunplay, melee, art and sound design are superb but a cake that is wrapped in ♥♥♥♥ is still disgusting and unacceptable.

The story is non-existent
You cannot choose missions and difficulties as they are randomized and on a timer.
The only way to "gear up" is with a totally random, 1-hour interval changing RNG store making it frustratingly hard to
actually get the items that you want.
Secondary mission objectives are worthless and most people skip them because they are not worth the time it takes to
complete.
Arbitrarily low material drop rates and a useless abundant currency that is dockets.
Non-existent balance of weapon perks and blessings and most of them are there so they dilute the pool of the actual good
ones that are worth using.

This game has been created as a vehicle for the monetization that is the cash shop, as evident by everything else while
excluding all player agency.
All the systems are made deliberatly to artificially pad player game time for the player charts and analytics and make us
log in the game every hour while passing by the premium cosmetic shop to check and pray for something good from the
weapon store. It's obvious, its blatant and its disgusting.

Enough is enough already with these live service games. I do not recommend "Warhammer 40,000: Darktide".

-EDIT- [24/11/2023] [Darktide has come a long way from the issues and problems that were plaguing it during the release months with substantial fixes and updates on the technical and mechanical aspects that were sub-par or poorly excecuted. The game right now is how it should have initially released but sadly, that was not the case. I can now finally recommend the game as it has exceptional gameplay, sound and art design.] Original review: "Warhammer 40,000: Darktide" released as a full, complete game while practically being on early access based on the ample features, mechanics, the story that was missing from the "full release" and with a premium cash shop that was working flawlessly and was rotating new cosmetics every 2 weeks without fail. The game industry is at a point where it is somewhat acceptable for a company to release a product that is clearly not even remotely close to being finished and then take the next few months or even years to properly complete it and this happens because of a few reasons in my opinion. 1) Higher ups, excecutives and CEO's that are completely seperated from the actual development of the game and what makes it fun and engaging to the customers/consumers are making the important and excecutive decisions that are detrimental to the game either by releasing the game early and/or creating terrible systems with the sole purpose of inflating player/time numbers and implementing insanely priced cash shops because live service games are a vehicle for monetization. Gaming is a bussiness after all. 2) When money and growth is the only thing that matters, making the players buy your unfinished game and playtest it for you is one of the most malicious ways that can be used to save money since you don't really need to do extensive testing for your game! Your players do it for you and they even pay you for it. 3) The final reason and in my opinion the most obvious and blatant one is the existence of the cash shop. The fastest they open the game up for bussiness, the faster steady income rolls in through microtransactions. "Warhammer 40,000: Darktide" does the bare minimum to provide an admittedly solid gameplay loop but takes away every aspect of player agency in favor of random gacha-styled systems and mechanics that are 100% detrimental to the enjoyment of the game and frankly, its longevity. I'll give credit where credit's due and say that the gunplay, melee, art and sound design are superb but a cake that is wrapped in shit is still disgusting and unacceptable. The story is non-existent You cannot choose missions and difficulties as they are randomized and on a timer. The only way to "gear up" is with a totally random, 1-hour interval changing RNG store making it frustratingly hard to actually get the items that you want. Secondary mission objectives are worthless and most people skip them because they are not worth the time it takes to complete. Arbitrarily low material drop rates and a useless abundant currency that is dockets. Non-existent balance of weapon perks and blessings and most of them are there so they dilute the pool of the actual good ones that are worth using. This game has been created as a vehicle for the monetization that is the cash shop, as evident by everything else while excluding all player agency. All the systems are made deliberatly to artificially pad player game time for the player charts and analytics and make us log in the game every hour while passing by the premium cosmetic shop to check and pray for something good from the weapon store. It's obvious, its blatant and its disgusting. Enough is enough already with these live service games. I do not recommend "Warhammer 40,000: Darktide".