Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (opens in new tab) developer Fatshark has issued an “open letter” to gamers apologizing for the state of the sport and saying that it’ll delay the launch of future content material updates, and the Xbox Sequence X/S launch, to be able to give attention to bettering the sport’s underlying techniques and efficiency.
We gave Darktide an 80% in our December 2022 overview (opens in new tab), calling it “the most effective iteration of Fatshark’s co-op components up to now.” However we additionally famous the very fact, nearly as good because the core gameplay is, Darktide nonetheless wanted work: The crafting system hadn’t been totally carried out, and a few gamers had been reporting severe stability and efficiency issues.
“Certain, you’ll be able to improve weapons, however when that is all you are able to do it actually limits your buildcrafting potential, and so too your means to push into the very best issue content material,” reviewer Sean Martin wrote.
“For some, issue is a development in itself as they attempt to get higher on the recreation, however buildcrafting belongs hand-in-hand with that development, and while not having to attempt to your personal particular improve objectives or supplies, when you get to belief stage 30, you shortly run out of stuff to do.”
Related complaints are mirrored in Steam person opinions (opens in new tab), almost 8,400 of which have been posted up to now 30 days, most of them destructive. The state of affairs is particularly ugly compared to the very optimistic response obtained by Fatshark’s earlier recreation, the co-op shooter Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (opens in new tab).
A number of alternative feedback:
- How can a recreation be launched with a lot UX missing? Story (in case you can name it that) is non-existent, half of the choices for crafting isn’t carried out but (on the time of scripting this overview), merchandise development is time-gated and many of the cool cosmetics are locked behind an actual cash store. Did I pay full value for a freemium monetization mannequin most cellular gacha video games use?
- Let me make it clear – the core gameplay is absolutely enjoyable when the sport works. Fight is meaty and visceral and it feels wonderful to play with your mates. That mentioned… nothing on this recreation is completed or works proper and the builders are extraordinarily dishonest and preserve mendacity to the neighborhood continually.
- I completely cannot suggest this recreation in its present state. It has the potential to be a really excellent recreation however the devs are incompetent so I would not anticipate any kind of main enhancements for some time.
- Actually enjoyable when it really works, and so long as you might be pleased with it being VERY barebones. However my recreation has crashed persistently since December. It actually feels unhealthy when you’re midway by means of a map solely to have the sport freeze, then shut. I really like enjoying this recreation, however I actually can’t.
- The gameplay is ok and would even be nice if efficiency wasn’t horrible. All the pieces else about this recreation is only a poorly thought out mess.
- It is lacking the “Early Entry” tag lol
It is value noting that lots of the destructive opinions have a whole bunch of hours of gameplay on document, which I at all times discover a bit suspect. However that dichotomy displays a broadly held opinion on the state of the sport that traces proper again to our overview: There’s actual potential but it surely wants work, and Fatshark has not achieved an excellent job of speaking with its gamers.
Fatshark acknowledged in at present’s replace that it “fell wanting assembly [player] expectations.”
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“Over the subsequent few months, our sole focus is to handle the suggestions that a lot of you have got [provided],” Fatshark mentioned. “Particularly, we are going to give attention to delivering a whole crafting system, a extra rewarding development loop, and proceed to work on recreation stability and efficiency optimization.
“This additionally means that we’ll delay our seasonal content material rollout and the Xbox Sequence X-S launch. We may also droop the upcoming releases of premium cosmetics. We simply could not proceed down this path, figuring out that we’ve not addressed many suggestions areas within the recreation at present.”
Response to the message in Steam feedback (opens in new tab) is combined: Some customers welcome the obvious change in course, others say it is too late to make a distinction, and naturally the “we’ll imagine it after we see it” contingent is effectively represented too.
The one upside for Fatshark is that for now, Darktide is sustaining respectable participant numbers: In keeping with Steam Charts (opens in new tab), there are presently greater than 7,100 folks enjoying. The less-rosy counterpoint, although, is that the participant depend is not that a lot increased than the five-year-old Vermintide 2, which presently boasts almost 5,800 gamers.
