The game in its current state should be advertised and labeled as early access.

"Hope is a first step on a road to disappointment." - Actual in-game quote that represents it in an uncanny way.

From prioritizing cash shops with micro transactions over promised missing features on launch, to not really addressing optimization issues plaguing the beta and launch until people screamed loud enough to drown out an astropathic choir, Warhammer Darktide spits on the good name of not only the previous Warhammer videogames, but the concept of Warhammer as a whole. If you're looking for a good game of this genre, the very best you can find is probably something along the lines of Vermintide 1&2. Other than that, you're out of luck. Because the people who made this game just don't care about the playerbase.

And it's hilarious that Lead Developers keep looping around backtracking on the reneged promises and gaslighting the fans. "Crafting doesn't fit the 40K narrative"? I guess sitting around every hour for the armory to restock praying to RNG that you get a weapon you want, then praying to roll for good attributes that you spend materials and currency on that aren't shared across characters is the better alternative. I mean, it certainly fits the grim dark narrative of stagnation and standstill to progression.

Let's also not forget how weapon customization and attachments were talked about then ~data expunged~ from the records, oh and how talks of the premium cash shop currency, "Aquilas", could be earned by playing in-game were ~redacted~. On the subject of the premium currency, I liked how the community immediately realized how scummy it was to make the purchasable packs from premium currency just not enough for a cosmetic set, so you'd have to spend extra to get the right "2400" amount to be able to buy one, or you'd buy have to buy a bigger more costly pack. Either way, the outcome was always spending more to beat the FOMO timer! It reeks of the Tencent Midas shit touch, where whatever Tencent gets their grubby hands on starts to smell a little stinky. I mean, what a great first impression for first time players to be greeted with a fully flushed out cash shop way before any other promised features or bug fixes were implemented in the release. Bravo! How did we go from what Vermintide 2 is (granted it took 2 years for it to eventually "get there") to this? Did we not learn anything?

The in-game penances. (achievements for characters and other aspects of game play) This one sentence alone is enough to make some abase and flagellate themselves, and rightly so. It's what whoever designed them would probably want out of those who are trying to get them done. The Lead Developer(s) made it clear that some aspects of this game were implemented/removed to be less toxic than Vermintide 2, when in fact these penances did a full 180, crazy! They completely go against the nature of this co-op game. Class specific penances, let me be clear, are the bane of the player's existence. For some of these penances, you have to actively grief or just be a detriment to your team by screaming at them to not do their jobs or by not doing your job as (x) class. For the more ridiculous penances, you need to have a team of four people all collaborating together coming up with the most asinine and insane ways to get them done that no normal/casual player ever could get done by themselves. On very rare occasions, queuing with randoms will get you a screamer. Someone who screams at you through voicechat then quits because you messed up their "take no damage, complete the level in under 20 minutes, or blow themselves up to kill elites" bullshit ass penance, because 3/4ths of the team wouldn't go along with them. I mean that's just the cherry on top to be yelled at for wanting to just play the game. Before private games were introduced, trying to play normally on Heresy+ difficulty would almost be impossible since you'd always run into one or two people trying to get penances done instead of wanting to play the missions.

Also, mission/map selection still hasn't been implemented into the game as I write this review. I know some people who just gave up for certain penances, because a Heresy+ difficulty repair map they've been waiting for would never show up. I did all of the class specific penances and I'll be honest, if you can cheat/cheese some of them as I did, do it before they patch it. This game doesn't deserve the time you'd put into doing them legitimately since it doesn't even respect your time in the first place. I will always remember those who have helped me and those who I have helped getting these penances done because we are all troopers for not deciding to put the barrel of a shotgun in our mouths after each of them.

The major W's of this game. The sound design is absolutely amazing, the deep staccato barking of the bolter, that snap hiss of las guns, the enemy sounds that let you distinctly know which ones are coming to eat you alive, to the sounds of bodies being torn apart by chain swords. The music, Jesper Kyd is a Rembrandt! He will always be an absolute god, ever since Assassin's Creed 2. The voice acting and dialogue is brilliant, it really brings to life the characters you've created into this 40k setting. Speaking of which, I love me some decent character customization and this game has it. The combat, the meat of this game and what keeps me coming back, is definitely not perfect but it's so close and so very satisfying. Map design, the environments, world building, ambiance, lore, the scale of it all is very imposing in a good way, its screams at you in a good way that you are in this universe. All of the aforementioned is an easy 9/10. I was ecstatic when I heard that some of my favorite writers for the series were working on the story aspect and world building of this game. Dan Abnett, Aaron Dembski Bowden, and Matthew Ward just to name a few. Even though the story is lacking, the world building and dialogue between characters more than makes up for it. But also, a campaign would definitely make up for the current lack of story.

If this game didn't have the Warhammer IP backing it and its $40 price tag, it would've been dead/dying a lot sooner than it currently is. It's sad and ironic that WH40K die-hard fanboys refuse to accept valid criticism and see how this game is a shell of what it could have been. Valid criticism, comparative analysis and discourse is crucial to improving the quality of this game. These die-hards will lash out at you for even the slight hint of a sleight against their precious IP, never have I been more ashamed to be apart of this "community" after participating in and viewing many open/closed discussions with "like minded individuals". Ironic since they'll probably keep the player base statistics up and this game alive long enough for it to gradually improve. I know because I could see myself being one of these die-hard look at everything through rose-tinted glasses fanboys, but I will fight not to be.

I despise how the norm now is "stop hating on a game that just released" to just accept something I paid for to be unfinished, but that's here to stay. Every game nowadays sucks gorilla balls and we all sit in silence and accept that that's fine and that it'll be "good eventually" but I'm just so tired of that. If a game comes out half-completed, I should only pay half the price. It only seems fair. It's absolutely disgusting that games like these keep coming out in a state that wouldn't have been acceptable 15 years ago, let alone now.

I would like to end this on a more positive note. There is so much potential for this game, I can see the passion and effort poured into this game by the devs and artists who are passionate about this IP. The core game play is a lot of fun with friends and is what will bring me and others back. It's also great that updates with bug fixes and features are now and hopefully continually being implemented to address the issues. I understand that game releases/launches are not perfect now, and I understand that devs are not machines, they are humans too and have lives and families outside of their occupation (what some fail to realize). As for the cash shop, I do want the people who worked on this game to get paid, but a more clear road map would be nice to have. Instead of relying on people to spelunk and data mine the game to gleam hints at future content. If you enjoy this game in its current state then I guess more power to you, it's your money and your time not mine. I am not telling anyone that they can't have fun. Will this review age like milk? I surely hope the negative aspects of it do.

TL;DR Game is unfinished, still in early access with a lot of missing features/content we were lead to believe would be on launch. If you love RNG and loading screens, this game is gonna be your Goodfellas. It's fun with friends, but it doesn't justify the horrible state it was released in.

In about a year this will easily be a 4 star game. Unfortunately, it just isn't complete enough for me to give it higher than 3 right now. Because while the core of the game is excellent, there is just not enough content, and it has some bafflingly dumb design decisions.

On the positive side, the combat is crunchy and satisfying, the environments are gorgeous, Jesper Kyd's score is incredible, and the higher levels offer an insanely intense horde experience.

But on the negative side, the game is literally just missing content at launch, and the whole crafting system has yet to be fully implemented. The game also has too much of an early grind to get to level 30, but once you get there you'll find that there's currently no real endgame content, just more of the same missions you've already been doing only now they have more enemies. It also doesn't help that the game is not structured in a linear campaign like Vermintide 2 was, and instead the missions are cycled out randomly on an online mission-select screen. But since its always changing what's available, you may end up never playing a certain mission for 20 hours simply because it was never offered when you were online. I understand that this decision was made to make it easier to match make, but uhhhhh I do not give a fuck about playing online with idiot randoms. I have enough friends playing to fill a group and if I don't, the bots are better than most of these idiots online anyway. So I would have much preferred the linear campaign structure that they had in vermintide 2, that way the game has a better sense of progression, and I don't have to repeat the same missions over and over. And don't even get me started on how braindead the current RNG weapon shop is.

In the end, the fundamentals are there, they just need another year to rework their stupid ass decisions (Please just yeet the current weapon shop and make a new one) and add more content into the game.