Recent reviews by AlphaEp1

TL;DR,
A Solid Casual Horde Slasher/Shooter Experience
"RPG" Shooter at Higher Difficulty - Optional


-------------Overview-------------
Darktide is the third 'tide entry from Fatshark, and the first to be set in the grim and dark future of the 42nd Millennium. Darktide offers a fantastic and overall unique gaming experience and is a sincerely welcome entry to the 40k universe of games.

-------------Missions-------------
Missions vary in length, taking anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. Depending on team makeup, skill, and cohesion, these can either be a breeze or a nightmare. But, even the best team makeup just might not work out. You may get extremely lucky and breeze through a mission, or may get completely eviscerated on entry, it just happens. And in 40k? Its fitting and accurate for the setting.

-------------Mission Mutators-------------
Squad wipes and mission failures aren't uncommon already. However, mutators add an additional layer of complexity to these missions that can make some missions, especially those at higher difficulty levels, seem impossible. Mutators change every so often and include things like endless or fewer hordes, to even High and Low Intensity Engagements, which offer more, or less elites in missions. There is also all sorts of varying degrees of illumination that range from dense fog to complete darkness.

-------------Combat-------------
If you've played a 'tide game before, you may already know what to expect. If you haven't, combat is divided between melee and ranged weapons, with previous games having a greater focus on melee combat.

Previous games offered exceptional melee combat experiences. These are still very prevalent in Darktide, and have even received quite the polish. Though not quite Chivalry 2 levels, it's close. Ranged combat is fantastic and delivers an exceptional FPS experience. The variety of weapons for both types can fit just about any players style. From snipers to gunners, just about every role is well represented.

Classes are unique and interesting enough between them that just about any play style can be facilitated. Weapons can overcome certain things in lower difficulties, but roles become far more important as the difficulty goes up. Class roles generally fall under the traditional makeup of Tank, DPS, Melee Focus, Range Focus.The right team makeup can completely change the outcome of a mission. Though, there are times that wont happen, and you may be the only sharpshooter in a crowd of Ogryn. But even then, it's not a bad experience. With special abilities you can trigger in combat, cohesive teams can overcome just about any mission.

-------------Hordes-------------
This isn't your traditional horde-shooter. In addition to its greater focus on melee combat, Darktide introduces elites. Elites are interspersed throughout hordes and spread about the environment. Depending on your difficulty level, a single elite can derail your mission quite easily. At lower difficulties, they can add a significant challenge to hordes, attacking at inconvenient times, or even at the height of a horde's attack. Thankfully, teamwork and the special abilities can help you deal with most of them pretty easily. However, they are not to be underestimated. Elites become significant game changers at higher difficulty levels, with waves of them becoming more frequent as well.

-------------Difficulty-------------
Difficulty really ramps up in this game, and some may not be prepared for the level of intensity of the engagements. Higher levels require more team play and coordination, for sure. They also require a pretty decent knowledge of the games mechanics, which the prologue does not do a very good job of explaining, unfortunately.

Additionally, while the higher difficulty missions can be accomplished with basic gear, it is a much better idea to stick to lower difficulty settings when learning how to play the game and getting familiar with the weapon types, roles, and enemies/elites. It's also a great time to experiment with the game and find your play style. Lower difficulty isn't a bad thing either, at lower levels Darktide is very much a horde shooter, and a pretty great one at that.

-------------Casual-------------
Darktide is a great horde shooter and a great time to be had with friends. "Matches" generally run between 15 to 45 minutes, and are a pretty decent casual experience. Especially Difficulty 1 and 2. They are a very easy drop-in, drop-out experiences.

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"End Game" Overview
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If this information was useful to you, and you decide to check out the game, feel free to check back to this review for deeper information on the game.

If you would like some tips for trying out your first class/mission, feel free to jump below.
Or, if you're still trying to decide on the game and would like to know some of the deeper game play, including how roles and class become more important, please read on:

-------------"RPG Shooter"-------------
At difficulty 3 and higher, the game becomes more of an "RPG" game, with a larger focus on stats, perks, and places far greater emphasis on role. If you have played just about any Ubisoft RPG (Assassin's Creed, Ghost Recon, etc) in the last few years, you may already be familiar with it's Gear Score system. Darktide's is very similar in the sense that each item has a score, and their overall level combines to make an additional score.

-------------Higher Difficulty Combat-------------
In addition to their gear score, weapons have perks which can greatly modify how your weapons work, generally making them better. Class becomes far more important as each generally falls into specific roles.

Class Roles

Ogryn become more geared toward melee crowd control, and have access to a shield that can completely block enemy attacks, especially ranged. They fit the roles of: Tank, Heavy Weapons Platform

Veterans are still the more versatile role, with their special abilities being able to extend to other members of the team, as well as become more specialized toward spotting various types of enemies. They fit the roles of: Ranged Attacks, Weapon Role is generally more important

Psykers are very good at crowd control and DPS. They have some unique weapons that grant them more/better abilities in addition to their basic "brain burst" attack, which replaces the grenade slot. They fit the roles of: DPS, Crowd Control, Specialty attacks

Preachers are generally the most hard hitting of the classes, specializing in crowd control early on, then focusing down on critical damage attacks with their melee weapon. A Preacher with a revved chainsword doing a heavy attack on a heavily armored Ogryn's head? They will likely take them out in that one hit. Preachers also get access to the flamer, 40k's version of a flame thrower. It is the hands down best weapon for hordes there is.

-------------Beginner Recommedations-------------
If you are interested in getting into the game, and are unsure what class to play:

I, personally, highly recommend the Veteran. Even if you don't end up maining this class, I highly recommend it for new players. At the very least, the special ability that highlights elite enemies is fantastic for beginners to help them identify targets of importance. Learning to spot, identify, and mark these elites is vital. Marking is very useful for your entire team, as worst come to worst, if you cannot put down that enemy yourself, it will be flagged for your teammates to help, as well as warn them if it is a significant enough threat. Doing this is a must at higher difficulty levels.

If you've made it this far, I hope this review and beginner guide has helped you make a decision today. Thank you.

Honestly the most fun ive ever had getting chopped in half ever!
5/10, other half says 5/10 too, so 10/10