As we come to the second anniversary for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, Fatshark has dragged their grimdark co-op shooter back from a difficult initial launch. This week sees the latest free update arrive, Grim Protocols, which kicks off a free new story arc and new Havoc endgame mode, and comes alongside the PS5 launch of the game.
The new Dark Communion mission nudges the overarching story of Darktide along, as Interrogator Rannick sends your team of misfits back to the area nicknamed the Carnival to try and figure out where Chaos-infused Tainted Stimms are coming from. As you get dropped off at a landing pad, it’s pretty damned obvious that it’s the Cathedrum that’s blanketed by a glowing green storm.
The Carnival first appeared as a location with The Traitor’s Curse update for the game’s first anniversary, and Dark Communion picks up on some common threads here, fighting along a different path to reach new areas added onto common spaces. It’s a great-looking location, blending together cyberpunk vibes from the red neon lights that illuminate the market place with the gothic architecture that dominates the Imperium.
It builds up nicely to the final battle at the Cathedrum, as you battle through barriers conjured by cultists to reach and destroy the apparatus that’s producing the tainted Stimms. It’s an abrupt ending though, and it really feels like there’s much more to come.
For long-time players, though, the real draw of this update will be the new Havoc game mode. Pitched as a new endgame that promises to ramp up the challenge higher and higher the more you play, it comes with new modifiers and challenges as you battle at the behest of Commisar Dukane.
At first it won’t necessarily be that stern of a test for you. Running our first mission saw us confronted by certain enemies having Pus-hardened Skin, making them glow green as they could soak up a bit more damage than usual, but there could also be faster-firing enemies, more highly corrupted foes, enemies with head parasites and more thanks to a handful of bespoke mutators. We actually made it through with relative ease – thanks in no small part by Fatshark providing us with some kitted out level 30 characters to play with on this pre-release build – and that gave a false sense of security when hopping back across to try a Maelstrom difficulty mission from the main mission selector… only to get absolutely stomped by multiple boss enemies appearing all at once, tough modifiers and more.
So Havoc starts off easier, but the idea is that it’s more of a challenge mode. As you complete a mission, your ranking increases by one, applying a new baseline difficulty but also giving you a new Havoc Assignment with a randomised mission and mutator to take on, getting incrementally more difficult each time. You can climb up through 40 levels of difficulty, but if you fail, you’ll be stuck at a particular level and can actually slide back a level if you fail three times on the trot – repeating a mission will see enemy spawns re-randomised so that even running the same mission will be a little bit different. Thankfully, assignments are remixed and doled out to the individual, so you can team up with other players or use the party finder to try and find a better configuration if yours is a real stinker (this also allows you to play at both higher and lower levels, depending on the party members).
Of course, it’s not just the glory of the Emperor that will be pushing you to do this. There’s new weapons in the form of the two-handed Power and Force Swords, while the Ogryn is getting a Heavy Stubber (and a slightly reworked talent tree that’s being reset for all players).
There’s also the promise of new rewards, with new Havoc-related penances to work through that can net you a Moebian 53rd black set of clothing, frames, titles, and insignia. There’s also weekly reward caches of materials and Mastery XP depending on how you do, and that ties in with a weekly reset of sorts that marks your new highwater mark of difficulty with a Havoc Clearance Level – this determines your new starting assignment, and you can be demoted if you fail to play Havoc from one week to the next.
It’s an interesting new mode, tapping into the need to continually remix the game’s content and provide new ways to keep players engaged once they’ve reached the limits of the main progression and unlocked all those higher tier weapons and abilities.
For me, though, I’ll be heading right back to the very beginning with new characters. This preview was actually my first time playing Darktide, despite it having been on my wishlist ever since launch. With two years of updates and now with the PS5 release, it’s probably in the best spot its ever been, if a bit overwhelming for newcomers to figure out where everything is in the hub area and decide which character to play as. I’m thinking a Zealot, having played here as a standard Veteran. The real question is, do I play on console or PC? And will I be in it for the long haul of levelling and gear, or a quick sprint through the loose story woven through the levels?
