Updated review: just as the Fatshark Cycle foretold, most stuff I complained about in my original review below has been taken care of, tweaked and improved. It only took 2 years after launch, again. The latest update that changed the itemization system was my last real gripe with the game.

About the only thing I still have complaints about is the bland level design (I genuinely cannot tell maps apart besides their finales). That one's a bit better in the last few maps added at least.
And the premium cosmetics store mostly full of recolors of existing assets that still treats me like an idiot who can't do math. But this point is barely relevant to the actual fun parts.

At this stage and point in time I think Darktide is worth buying and playing. I also still think Vermintide 2 did a bunch of things better and it's weird it wasn't used as a foundation and instead they're slowly porting things over. One of the updates this year basically added VT2's potions and healing draught (called Stimms in Darktide).

Fatshark still leaves me jaded at times, so just be wary the live-service ride might be a bit rough. Right now we're at the good part.

Original review from January 2023 below.

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Great and fun core in-mission gameplay with faithful high quality visual and sound direction surrounded by horrid mismanagement, general designer stubbornness, and continuous disrespect for a player's time in everything else. Not a single lesson learned in previous games has been carried over to Darktide.

Over-reliance on RNG and FOMO makes this game a chore when doing everything except actually playing a mission.
Horrible anti-teamwork account-bound challenges attached to cosmetic rewards makes public quick play an obnoxious experience where most players you meet throw the game to fulfil silly objectives like "spend all your ammo and never miss" or "blow yourself up and kill 3 high HP enemies at the same time" because they want some pants to wear.
Management really wanted their holiday bucks so they dumped an unfinished product shortly before sending the entire studio on holidays for a few weeks, leaving the players with a janky mess.
Community Managers are constantly being held on a tight leash and are only allowed to respond in the most vague statements possible. Zero transparency, just being kept in the dark all the time because apparently the players are too stupid to understand anything. "Immeasurably complex to add a new made up premium currency bundle to sell", "This isn't COD so we have no weapon attachments", "We feel that unlimited store pages are likely to create confusion and a bad user experience.".
Weird technical choices like server side hit registration with what appears to be a low tickrate in a PvE game in which milliseconds matter makes for a displeasing experience. Dedicated servers themselves aren't up to par and packets get dropped frequently.
Optimisation isn't the best and drops below 60 frames per second are frequent.
Mod support like in VT2 completely dropped to be in absolute control of the player experience and not allow them to tweak things or express their passion.
For some reason did not launch with crossplay with the Microsoft Store version. People playing there get patches even slower than usual due to Microsoft's certification process and also dead matchmaking due to an absent playerbase.

I really want to like this game, and I loved Vermintide 1 and 2 after Fatshark finally got their stuff together and fixed both games up about 2 years post-launch and in VT2's case - unmade the mess that was the Winds of Magic DLC, but even playing a single mission in Darktide is very tiring and doing anything in the hub seems like it was designed just to waste my time to pad player retention stats. Multiple technical issues surrounding nearly every aspect just results in a generally frustrating experience. The fact nothing quality-of-life related that was added to VT2 was brought over here is genuinely mind-boggling and it makes me have nothing but negative words aimed at the studio's leads.

At the moment I cannot recommend Darktide even though its core gameplay is very fun and satisfying. Interaction with the developers and the speed at which they address issues aren't satisfactory and it seems like I have to wait another 2 years before the game gets good at all fronts (again).

Updated review: just as the Fatshark Cycle foretold, most stuff I complained about in my original review below has been taken care of, tweaked and improved. It only took 2 years after launch, again. The latest update that changed the itemization system was my last real gripe with the game. About the only thing I still have complaints about is the bland level design (I genuinely cannot tell maps apart besides their finales). That one's a bit better in the last few maps added at least. And the premium cosmetics store mostly full of recolors of existing assets that still treats me like an idiot who can't do math. But this point is barely relevant to the actual fun parts. At this stage and point in time I think Darktide is worth buying and playing. I also still think Vermintide 2 did a bunch of things better and it's weird it wasn't used as a foundation and instead they're slowly porting things over. One of the updates this year basically added VT2's potions and healing draught (called Stimms in Darktide). Fatshark still leaves me jaded at times, so just be wary the live-service ride might be a bit rough. Right now we're at the good part. Original review from January 2023 below. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great and fun core in-mission gameplay with faithful high quality visual and sound direction surrounded by horrid mismanagement, general designer stubbornness, and continuous disrespect for a player's time in everything else. Not a single lesson learned in previous games has been carried over to Darktide. Over-reliance on RNG and FOMO makes this game a chore when doing everything except actually playing a mission. Horrible anti-teamwork account-bound challenges attached to cosmetic rewards makes public quick play an obnoxious experience where most players you meet throw the game to fulfil silly objectives like "spend all your ammo and never miss" or "blow yourself up and kill 3 high HP enemies at the same time" because they want some pants to wear. Management really wanted their holiday bucks so they dumped an unfinished product shortly before sending the entire studio on holidays for a few weeks, leaving the players with a janky mess. Community Managers are constantly being held on a tight leash and are only allowed to respond in the most vague statements possible. Zero transparency, just being kept in the dark all the time because apparently the players are too stupid to understand anything. "Immeasurably complex to add a new made up premium currency bundle to sell", "This isn't COD so we have no weapon attachments", "We feel that unlimited store pages are likely to create confusion and a bad user experience.". Weird technical choices like server side hit registration with what appears to be a low tickrate in a PvE game in which milliseconds matter makes for a displeasing experience. Dedicated servers themselves aren't up to par and packets get dropped frequently. Optimisation isn't the best and drops below 60 frames per second are frequent. Mod support like in VT2 completely dropped to be in absolute control of the player experience and not allow them to tweak things or express their passion. For some reason did not launch with crossplay with the Microsoft Store version. People playing there get patches even slower than usual due to Microsoft's certification process and also dead matchmaking due to an absent playerbase. I really want to like this game, and I loved Vermintide 1 and 2 after Fatshark finally got their stuff together and fixed both games up about 2 years post-launch and in VT2's case - unmade the mess that was the Winds of Magic DLC, but even playing a single mission in Darktide is very tiring and doing anything in the hub seems like it was designed just to waste my time to pad player retention stats. Multiple technical issues surrounding nearly every aspect just results in a generally frustrating experience. The fact nothing quality-of-life related that was added to VT2 was brought over here is genuinely mind-boggling and it makes me have nothing but negative words aimed at the studio's leads. At the moment I cannot recommend Darktide even though its core gameplay is very fun and satisfying. Interaction with the developers and the speed at which they address issues aren't satisfactory and it seems like I have to wait another 2 years before the game gets good at all fronts (again).