Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a co-op FPS from the makers of Vermintide
Grimdark co-op lark
They've gone and done it, team. Warhammer: Vermintide 2 developers Fatshark went and put their rat-smasher in space, announcing Warhammer 40,000: Darktide at today's Xbox Games Showcase. Frankly, it's about damn time someone made a rock-solid FPS in the 41st Millenium - and who better than the folks who turned a stodgy old fantasy wargame into a stellar Left 4 Dead successor?
Fatshark revealed Darktide with a short cinematic earlier today. Crack out your 40K bingo cards, readers - we've got needlessly stoic brits, poorly lit corridors and existential dread aplenty.
Darktide looks to be following the Vermintide format closely, offering a four-player co-op romp through the dampest, foulest pits of a grim world, fending off hordes of rats zombies, mutant cultists and demons. So far, we've only seen a group of faceless Imperial Guardsmen, but the real strength of Ratpunch was its characters - as mechanically varied as they were delightfully bitter.
The grimdark future has some proper weirdos in it, so I'm quietly hoping Darktide can really pull through on that front. Vermintide's very good melee combat is said to be returning as a focus, too, so I'm hoping for chainsaw-wielding battle nuns and drill-tentacled Mechanicus servitors thrown in alongside yer bog-standard bloke-with-a-flashlight Guardsman. Please?
Yes, there are altogether too many 40K games out there, but I don't think anyone's had a proper crack at an FPS in that world since 2003's unbelievably naff Fire Warrior. But then, I'm proudly on record in thinking Vermintide blew zombie-smashing fave Left 4 Dead 2 out of the water, and reckon Fatshark can bring those co-op romps into the underhive.
Warhammer: 40,000: Darktide will launch on Steam next year.
Whatever you call it, hit our E3 2020 tag for more from this summer's blast of gaming announcements, trailers, and miscellaneous marketing. Check out the PC games at the PlayStation 5 show, everything at the PC Gaming Show, and all the trailers from the Xbox showcase, for starters.