The forthcoming reworks for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide are a “reimagining” for the Ogryn, Psyker, Veteran and Zealot character classes that leave no stone unturned.
Talking to PC Gamer, game director Anders De Geer explained why developer Fatshark decided to change course with the four character classes. “We wanted players to get a bit more agency into the classes, a bit more experimentation, support a lot more different play styles,” he said.
“This is our huge update: we’ve expanded the talent trees, added a ton of new options and abilities, passives and actives,” continued De Geer. As such, the new perk at every fifth level system is out and a skill tree is in. Players will recognise a sprinkling of these abilities from the present version of Darktide, but there are a lot of new ones too.
For example, PC Gamer was shown the Ogryn’s new grenade as a second alternative, the new ability to choose taunting or a reload and fire rate buff over focusing on the charge attack, and throwing a “Big Friendly Rock” instead of a grenade box. The latter has the rock on cooldown instead of relying on ammo collection to refresh the ability.
Passives and modifiers are peppered between the major abilities on the four skill trees and Darktide players will be awarded a new point for every level. With 30 points in total, specialising in one of the three branches of the tree will leave points unspent, so Fatshark hopes players find their favourite build out of experimentation.
The skill tree was actually in the works before the launch of Darktide in late 2022 but time got away from the team. “When you launch a game and you have a rocky start, you have to start to reprioritise everything and reassess the situation,” he admitted.
“Some things have been cooking for a long time. We reacted fast, but it takes time to actually do it. And I don’t think players expect this fix, but it’s a good fix,” said De Geer. At the moment, the patch is slated for a release in October.
Recently, Larian Studios has had to apologise for the initial effect of Baldur’s Gate 3′s latest hotfix on players’ saves, adding that there will be a new approach to patches in the future.