Warhammer 40,000: Darktide proudly wears itsLeft 4 Deadinspiration on its ceramite shoulder pad. If you thought fighting through waves of Skaven inVermintidewas aWarhammer-branded version of Valve’s co-op shooter, thenGames Workshop’sscience-fiction reskin took it a step further.
This is mostly because of the zombies. While technically they’re Poxwalkers and infected cultists of Nurgle, a lot of theDarktideenemies look, and act, like zombies. It can get a little samey when you’re fighting hordes of the things, despite the bursts of excitement pumped into your veins when you come across a Plague Ogryn or Beast of Nurgle. But what if, instead of shooting countless zombies, you played as one?
The scene is set: four champions of Chaos, representing an accursed God each, are your protagonists. While it’s nice to see different sides of the Imperium represented in the current line-up of classes, the Chaos worshippers would provide a host of more exciting gameplay styles. Khorne would represent your offensive close-combat monster. Nurgle would be your tank. Tzeentch is your spellcaster (and Fatshark couldreallyhave fun with Tzeentch if it wanted to push the boat out), and Slaanesh is your agile movement character, a glass cannon. I’d miss the Ogryn a lot, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for a more varied and exciting roster.
Left 4 Dead 2 allowed you to play as infected in multiplayer. Take note, Fatshark.
Upgrades? Rather than spending your currencies on marginally increased weapons, you can make offerings to your God of choice. Maybe Khorne will reward you with a sharper Chainaxe, or Tzeentch will bless you with a staff that teleports a host of enemies across the map.
Speaking of enemies, how are you replacing the horde of Nurgle cultists that are the mush beneath your feet? The Hive City of Tertium on Atoma Prime can remain, we’re just trying to invade rather than defend. The missions would naturally have to be shifted a little, with objectives like advancing through a key outpost or taking control of planetary defence emplacements replacing the more reactive missions currently in the game.
As for the enemies, Guardsmen are the perfect cannon fodder. A unique, and even weaker, planetary defence force as seen in Warhammer novels like the Eisenhorn series would also be cool, but I imagine Games Workshop will want units that have equivalent models in its tabletop game to be featured.
The one problem this presents is that it makes Darktide a much shootier game. It’s currently very melee combat-oriented by design, even if you play as the Veteran, and I doubt Fatshark would want to stray too far from that philosophy. Filling Tertium with Hive City Gangers a lá Necromunda would be a solution, but they don’t have a 40K force, so are probably vetoed along with the planetary defence force. Changing the enemy race to Orks or Tyranids would give you plenty of cannon fodder with model equivalents, but Orks are too tough and both would drastically change the game in terms of setting and missions. Tyranids would not defend a city, they’d invade one and move on. Besides, they’re catered for in Space Marine 2.
The answer may be Catachans, the unloved Astra Militarum regiment that specialises in jungle fighting. Based on Arnie in Predator, their machete-based fighting would work for Darktide, but there’s still issues. Would there be a Hive City on Catachan or another jungle planet where the Catachans would be deployed? Would there be enough variety in enemies? Would Games Workshop want to revisit the range loosely based on US troops in the Vietnam War in its current era?
The answer may be to incite a Chaos civil war, and include enemies of all Gods just as your team contains representatives of each. Perhaps Horus’ spirit has approached you with a special mission to unite the Gods, or an even greater force is at play. I don’t know. All I know is I want to play as the bad guys in a modern Warhammer game. Yes, I know that the Imperium is hardly a bastion of respectability, but they’re the poster boys and so often shown in a halo of golden light. Darktide understands the grimness of the Imperium, but it would be even better if we could worship Chaos, too.
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