More than two years after launching on PC and one year after its Xbox Series X/S version, Fatshark’s Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is finally coming to PS5. It’s available on December 3rd for $39.99, though purchasing the $59.99 Imperial Edition grants six days of early access, thus allowing players to start on November 27th. A lot has changed with the co-op shooter since its initially troubled launch, and several new features have been added to transform it into a new game. Check out 15 things you should know about the PS5 version, including the upcoming Grim Protocols update before launch.
Classes
Darktide launched with four classes – Veteran, Zealot, Ogryn, and Psyker – and that remains the case. Each has different starting weapons befitting their playstyles and abilities. The Veteran, for example, is all about ranged weapons, dealing more damage to weak spots. The Zealot is a melee combatant with a fair amount of toughness and attack speed, while the Ogryn is your tank, taking up space and slapping enemies around with heavy attacks. Finally, there’s the Psyker, who can deal extensive damage with psychic attacks but can self-detonate when racking up too much Peril.
Talent Trees
While classes originally had Feats, they’re replaced with Talents and corresponding trees with branches. Leveling up allows for allocating points into nods that increase stats, improve your Aura, and so on. Though each class has three “builds”, you can mix and match nodes depending on your requirements, creating options like a Veteran who can deal ranged damage but also restores toughness and staggers all enemies in a nine-meter radius. You can even go from a frontline-fighting Zealot to one specializing in throwing knives and backstabs, a Psyker that shields, and a taunt for the Ogryn, making for more effective tanking.
4-Player Co-op
While you could very well play through Darktide solo, the appeal is in co-op. Up to four players are supported, and there is crossplay between all platforms – Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5 when it launches. Matchmaking is one avenue, but there is another method for players seeking more matches – the Party Finder.
Party Finder
Recently added last September, the Party Finder allows selecting your game mode, difficulty level, and language to search for the desired group. You can assign tags like Casual, Hardcore, Power Leveling, Quickplay, or All Welcome to specify goals or mindsets. It’s also possible to create a party dedicated to Havoc assignments (more details on that shortly), with players deciding which to pursue.
Weapons
What would a Warhammer 40K game be without weapons? Darktide offers an extensive range, from tactical axes, power mauls, combat axes and bully clubs to swords for melee combat. Ranged weapons include Lasguns, flamers, force staves, ripper guns, boltguns, shotguns, and much more. Each has a different rarity which determines Perks and Blessings, with Salvaged being the lowly white color rarity with neither and Transcendent acting as the topmost, orange color rarity, offering two of each.
Weapon Mastery
As part of this year’s Unlocked and Loaded update, Mastery provides more freedom in customizing your arms. As you use a weapon and progress through the Mastery track, Blessing Points are gained and spent on Blessing Traits. You need to spend four points to get the very best, but this allows for more freely selecting specific Blessings. But that’s not all, as the Mastery Track allows for increasing a weapon’s Power Cap and equipping stronger Perks. It’s also possible to sacrifice weapons of the same family to gain Mastery Track XP for the same, though attempting to hand over Profane weapons could result in issues (read: death).
Maps
Tertium, the setting of Darktide, consists of multiple Zones, each breaking down into separate sections where missions occur. The Carnival is where Stimms flow freely among the citizenry, though it’s since been taken over by the traitorous Moebian 6th. By contrast, Chasm Terminus is a railway hub and the epicentre of the battle against the forces of Chaos. There are 20 missions in all, not including the Prologue and Operation Rolling Steel, with a new one, Dark Communion, to be added in the next update.
Mission Types
While players face and slay hordes of enemies, there is some order to the overarching anarchy, courtesy of different mission types. Assassination involves reaching and taking down a boss and overcoming their minions in the process. However, Investigation is about scanning the area for objects. While different mission types can appear on several maps, Operations is limited to its own map and offers a considerably faster-paced experience.
Special Conditions
Different conditions can arise through missions (depending on the mode), increasing the amount of XP and Dockets. These range from Hi-Intensity Engagement Zone where more Specialists and enemy hordes appear, to Power Supply Interruption or Lights Out, where there’s barely any light. You also have Pox Gas, which reduces toughness when standing in it, and where abilities that restore toughness can come in handy.
Puzzles and Martyr Skulls
For those interested in the lore (and why the Moebian 6th turned traitor), there are Martyr’s Skulls to collect. You must solve a puzzle to obtain it, but doing so for the first time can also reward additional Plasteel, which is used to upgrade the rarity of your gear.
Contracts and rewards
Contracts are like weekly challenges, with five available weekly at Sire Melk’s Requisitorium. They award Ordo Ingots, which can be spent on limited-time items, including Transcendent rarity weapons and Curios. You can also invest in Mystery Acquisitions for weapons and Curios though they’re completely randomized.
Penances
Penances offer in-game challenges in which players can compete for cosmetics. Last year saw an overhaul in the system, updating existing Penances and changing them to allow for easier solo completion. There are also new Penances for each class, like knocking down 5000 enemies with the Ogryn or slaying 350 enemies with weak spot damage from range as the Veteran.
Havoc
Launching alongside the PS5 version in the Grim Protocols Update, Havoc is a new post-Trust Level 30 progression system. It consists of 40 Order Levels, each with specialized missions (aka Havoc Assignments) and modifiers that add to the challenge. You get three attempts to complete the assignment, with enemy types and placement changing on each attempt. Succeed, and you go to the next rank, which brings new challenging modifiers to add to the challenge (though only two can be active on a mission at a time)
Havoc Mutators and Conditions
The Mutators in Havoc Assignments are noteworthy since they include four brand new and exclusive to the mode. You may also run into conditions every few Order levels, including Lights Out, Pox Gas, and Ventilation Purge, which add even more challenge to the assignment (especially when dealing with enemies who thrive in those conditions).
Console Performance
When it first launched, Warhammer 40K: Darktide received extensive criticism for its performance on PC. It improved with multiple updates to the point where even the Xbox Series X version ran well. However, performance has seemingly ping-ponged back and forth between acceptable and iffy for console players since the last several updates. We don’t know how much this will affect the PS5 version or what bugs emerge with a major update like Grim Protocols. With advanced access starting soon, it’s a good idea to wait and see how the performance is before buying.