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Gamescom has always been a treasure trove regarding game reveals and new trailers for known upcoming games, and this year is no exception. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, the newest installment in the longstanding Warhammer 40k franchise, developed by Fatshark, previously known for their work on the Warhammer: Vermintide series, made its grand debut on the virtual Gamescom floor yesterday evening. For those looking for big guns, sharpened blades, and explosions galore, this new Warhammer 40,000: Darktide trailer will likely fulfill all your destructive desires and then some. While there were a few cinematic shots (likely taken from the game’s campaign cutscenes) to get the ball rolling, Fatshark makes it clear their focus remains on the two elements that have always defined their previous Warhammer 40k titles: Immersion and gunplay.
The Darktide trailer presents grim premise
An unspoken narrator welcomes the viewer to the dystopian world of Tertium, referred to as “a sprawling hive city on the brink of destruction.” Players take on the role of rejects, convicts recruited by the Inquisition, a paramilitary shadow organization secretly operating under the control of the Imperium of Man, a theocratic human empire with a reach that extends throughout over a million occupied planets. The rejects are tasked with undergoing tactical operations deemed too high-risk for normal task forces. If the rejects survive, they gain time off their sentences. For those noticing parallels to a certain DC Comics property, you’re not mistaken.
Picking Your Class
The trailer also offers brief glimpses of at least four playable classes. These include The Ogryn, described as “massive, powerful units” that prioritize strength and durability over other attributes. The Zealot, meanwhile, acts as a mid-to-long range generalist, intent on cleansing “the world with their holy rage.” Psykers, meanwhile, favor mind over metal and aim to “achieve great things with their mind alone.” Finally, there is the Veteran, a unit indicated to be a “seasoned warrior for the Emperor of Mankind.”
Players will be free to heavily customize their own character within the confines of their class and, from there, master the use of both melee weapons and ranged weapons alike. Footage showing character leveling and a corresponding unlock system indicate that replayability will be at the center of Darktide, as it was with Vermintide.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide will release on November 30th, 2022.