‘Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’ could be the co-op game of holiday season

Fatshark deserves more acclaim for what it has done. Over the past decade, the Swedish studio has identified a franchise that deserves more love in “Warhammer” and married it to a genre that worked surprisingly well within the fantasy setting.

The vision was the successful “Warhammer: Vermintide” series and it revealed that first-person online co-operative games could work within the context of swords and sorcery. The developer showed how creativity can still squeeze out a great time in a genre that “Left 4 Dead” popularized and still dominates.

ADAPTING THE FORMULA TO A SCI-FI
Now, Fatshark is turning its sights to an even bigger franchise in the Game Workshops stable. With “Warhammer 40,000: Darktide,” the developer takes the years of work put into “Vermintide” and adapts it to the sci-fi universe.

The online cooperative game takes place in the hive city of Tertium on Atoma Prime. Players take on the role of inmates who forced to conscripted to fight in the area after an infestation by the Admonition Chaos Cult and the Moebian Sixth Regiment’s traitorous support. As underlings of the Inquisitor Lord, players start off with pretty bad gear and must gain levels and trust of the Imperium’s secret police.

MEET THE FOUR CLASSES
That’s done by tackling a series of missions and investigating the mysterious incidents on Tertium. Players can choose from four classes: Veteran Sharpshooter, Zealot Preacher, Psyker Psykinetic and Ogryn. Players can choose where their character is born and pivotal moments of their history including why they were imprisoned in the first place.

From there, they’re dropped into a communal area where they can visit shops and other facilities. But to actually access these, players need to level up aka gain trust, and to do that, they’ll have to run through missions.

Fatshark recommended that players start off easy because the combat in “Darktide” can spiral out of control real quick. The campaign missions will have a few enemies scattered about, but players will run across scenarios where zombie-type creatures, rival space marines and even mutated creatures will descend on the squad.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE CHARACTERS
With such a wide array of enemies, it’s good to bring a diverse squad with players who know how to fill their roles. The veteran sharpshooter leans heavily on shooter mechanics and is ideal for popping snipers and assisting front-line classes. The downside is that players rely heavily on ammo and that can be few and far between.

The Zealot Preacher is the melee fanatic. They wade into the hordes and hack and slash away though health can be an issue. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Psyker Psykinetic is the space wizard of “Darktide” who is capable of dealing heavy damage. It’s a glass cannon-type build and that means it’s for advanced players who are comfortable with a high-risk high-reward playstyle.

Lastly, the Ogryn Skullbreaker are the tanks of the group. If the Zealot is offensively minded, the Ogryn is all about taking punishment and drawing the enemy’s attention so that other members of the four-person squad can dish out damage.

SPECIAL ABILITIES, PERKS AND AURAS
Each character has a special move that needs cooldown time after use. The Zealot dashes forward covering a lot of ground with the first strike delivered being a guaranteed critical hit. It’s good for dealing with elites or bosses. The Ogryn rushes forward in a straight line knocking down enemies left and right. It’s a good way to crowd control if the group feels overwhelmed.

With Volley Fire, the Sharpshooter gets in a shooting stance, which lets the character deal more damage, and at the same time, it automatically spots elites and specialists as priority targets. Lastly, the Psykinetic’s Wrath resets the perils of the warp meter to zero and staggers enemies in front of you.

In addition, each class has a specialized grenade that leans into the strengths and each role has its own set of unique weapons. They are further differentiated with iconic perks of each class, which provide a boost in stats or powers geared to their roles. For example, the tanky Ogryn has Excessive Force, which gives them a +25% Melee stagger; Loyal Protector, which lets them revive or assist allies without being interrupted by damage; and Thick skin, which gives the class +20% toughness Damage reduction and +20% health damage reduction.

Finally, characters have an Aura ability that works off unit coherence, a concept from the original tabletop game. In “Darktide,” coherency works differently in that units are boosted with Auras when they’re within a certain distance from each other. With the Psyker, the aura boosts attack power while the Zealot increases toughness, which is essentially a regenerating shield that every character has.

A FUN AND FAST-PACED CO-OP EXPERIENCE
Each of the missions I played in the closed beta took anywhere from 20 minutes to a little less than an hour. It all depends on the difficulty with the higher levels taking more time. Players will have to deal with tougher foes and larger swarms of enemies. I mostly did quickplay, which resulted in some unusual squad combinations. I rolled with two Ogryns while on another time I was with three Zealots and a Psyker. It’s better to be versatile and have a group with a diverse set of skills, so players can handle any unexpected situations.

As far as the level layout, players have to get from point A to point B. On the way, they’ll find meandering routes that open up the possibility for ambushes. Players will also come across situations where they’ll be besieged by a flood of enemies and squads will have to carefully coordinate. The ending finale is usually the toughest scenario. I had to deal with a boss who called on swarming hordes when his shields went down. In another mission’s finale, my squad had to collect batteries and put them in a carrier. That’s a feat easier said than done when rival space marines and hordes swarm players. In fact, it’s a little frantic.