11/15/23 update - The devs don't know what they're doing. They don't know balancing and they ruin the fun in games.

At the time of writing this they updated the vet to make him worse. I feel like a regular Guardsman than a 'Special Agent' now.

The Traitor's Curse is that FatShark betrays it's player base all the time.

tl;dr
The game is in an 'alright' position. The Lore and Story are good, but the game itself is in a weirdly rising position.

As a game, it's sorta in a mixed state, but the most recent updates have allowed the game to have some really good things going for it. If you really want to be invested into the game, just be ready to grind, slay heretics and pray to the God Emperor for good rolls.

I've spent the majority of my hours as a Veteran main with 3 completed builds, and although Vet is kinda nerfed through patch 14, I'm actually making through the high difficulties and carrying the randoms that I'm with. My second main is Ogryn, and I'm slowly almost done with building him (currently level 25).

What got me to get Darktide

As a person who plays Magic the Gathering frequently and has only had an introduction to the 40k franchise through physical cards, Darktide will broaden your horizons. There's a lot of lorebuilding within Darktide that the game does justice to make up for the price if you're ever wanting to get into 40k. I like it and I'm planning on building my own Astra Militarum unit dedicated for the penal rejects that come from this.

If you're a person who enjoys PvE shooters, Pick Zealot or Veteran. They're the most in line with PvE shooters that you can go through with as a starter character. (But don't forget that vet is nerfed in this current play).

Pros:

• Lorebuilding. - Lots of lore tossed around between interactions of the 12 character types (4 classes 3 personalities), the Morningstar cast and the overall world.
  
• Weapons. - The majority of weapons feel satisfying, I mean, the Boltgun is in the game for infantry hands to wield. hehe funi oggi rok go slap
  
• Cosmetics. - It's kinda controversial at the moment to put this one here because most of the 'good' looking cosmetics are behind paywall but I buy them for the drip. They look nice and have some cool effects with them. I wouldn't fully recommend buying ALL the sets though. Just pick and choose what looks nice to your reject. To add, as a person who's gone through multiple games where P2W dlcs always have a balls grip on a game, I'm fine with buying that Kreig drip for my Ogryn and Vet.
  
• Look and Feel. - This game comes close to Cyberpunk 2077 when it comes to the way the setting looks. When you're on the ground in Atoma you really feel like it's a really metalpunk place and that you're just a small cog pushing through a flesh machine.
  
• Replayablility. - With 4 classes with unique skills and styles there's a lot of combinations that you can go with for a build. Although it's only from the most recent update it really does add a lot to the game on how you can run things.
  
• The Sound track is Based. - You'll get in and see why.

Cons:

• Gameplay. - This game is hard to get into. It's not going to be 'Payday 2' or 'Left 4 Dead'. I also hear that FatShark's other game, Vermintide 2, is similar in it's extent (but I've never played that game). There's a lot of in game mechanics that the game doesn't openly present to you when you jump on in. If you want to take the time to understand how the game works go ahead and watch some videos on it. My tip for this is that even though there are guns (even as a Veteran main), you're always going to be using your melee, so don't get mad when you get slammed by a horde for not swapping to your melee.
  
• Crafting System. - Most likely the most hated system in the entirety of the game. Sure, praise the God Emperor for a blessing, but RNG based weapon stats to RNG based perks on weapons force you to grind out crafting materials. If you hear someone as a 'Plasteel Addict' you know they're always grinding out for some on higher difficulties. My tip for anyone that's getting into the game: Don't go rolling for good weapons until you get a character to level 30 and understand how to get the most crafting materials. You can actually do pretty well without 'god weapons' as long as you know the basics of dodging, horde control and how to deal with specials.
  
• The Player Base. - There's actually a big portion of players that don't understand the games mechanics and will always cost you a good run. But, that's not their fault, because the game doesn't teach you enough. Because of this, certain runs just die because of the lack of game knowledge and pacing (ie: Touching a Deamon Host. Don't touch them. They're only for 1 achievement and offer no bonuses, and they'll end your party pretty quickly if you don't know how to manage them). I would recommend playing with friends, but I have none so I always have a laugh when I clutch the team.
  
• The Overarching Story. - Kinda bad and waterwashed ngl, wish there was more to the actual story, but I have some small hopes about it. We'll see what the future holds.

Overall the Game is Alright, but I do have some worries.

The game is good, it provides an experience like no other, and is my PvE escape due to the fact that Payday 3 has been a joke at launch. It's gotten me deeper into the rabbit hole of the 40k franchise and I'm pretty hopeful for what I'm getting myself into.

However, there's a glaring issue with what the devs have planned, and recently, it's been a bunch of wildcard nerfs and buffs to random things. I just hope that they stick to what players can handle and at least attend to the crafting system's mechanics. The game itself is very hard to fully understand unless you put a lot of time into it, but we're all rejects to the God Emperor himself anyways, so I'm sure you'll go out and watch a video or two.

I also pray to the God Emperor that FatShark never goes the route of 'Unlimited DLC works' I'm not willing to go through another Payday 2.

Final note: If you're wondering how to fully understand the deeper mechanics of the game, Darktide is moddable. You can find lots of QoL mods on Nexus Mods as well as the right tutorials to mod your game to tell you what you need to know. Just remember to enable your mods after every update as mods are disabled by default.

11/15/23 update - The devs don't know what they're doing. They don't know balancing and they ruin the fun in games. At the time of writing this they updated the vet to make him worse. I feel like a regular Guardsman than a 'Special Agent' now. The Traitor's Curse is that FatShark betrays it's player base all the time. [strike][i]tl;dr[/i] The game is in an 'alright' position. The Lore and Story are good, but the game itself is in a weirdly rising position. As a game, it's sorta in a mixed state, but the most recent updates have allowed the game to have some really good things going for it. If you really want to be invested into the game, just be ready to grind, slay heretics and pray to the God Emperor for good rolls. I've spent the majority of my hours as a Veteran main with 3 completed builds, and although Vet is kinda nerfed through patch 14, I'm actually making through the high difficulties and carrying the randoms that I'm with. My second main is Ogryn, and I'm slowly almost done with building him (currently level 25). [h1]What got me to get Darktide[/h1] As a person who plays Magic the Gathering frequently and has only had an introduction to the 40k franchise through physical cards, Darktide will broaden your horizons. There's a lot of lorebuilding within Darktide that the game does justice to make up for the price if you're ever wanting to get into 40k. I like it and I'm planning on building my own Astra Militarum unit dedicated for the penal rejects that come from this. If you're a person who enjoys PvE shooters, Pick Zealot or Veteran. They're the most in line with PvE shooters that you can go through with as a starter character. (But don't forget that vet is nerfed in this current play). [h2]Pros:[/h2] [list] [*][b]Lorebuilding.[/b] - Lots of lore tossed around between interactions of the 12 character types (4 classes 3 personalities), the Morningstar cast and the overall world. [*][b]Weapons.[/b] - The majority of weapons feel satisfying, I mean, the Boltgun is in the game for infantry hands to wield. [i]hehe funi oggi rok go slap[/i] [*][b]Cosmetics.[/b] - It's kinda controversial at the moment to put this one here because most of the 'good' looking cosmetics are behind paywall but I buy them for the drip. They look nice and have some cool effects with them. I wouldn't fully recommend buying ALL the sets though. Just pick and choose what looks nice to your reject. To add, as a person who's gone through multiple games where P2W dlcs always have a balls grip on a game, I'm fine with buying that Kreig drip for my Ogryn and Vet. [*][b]Look and Feel.[/b] - This game comes close to Cyberpunk 2077 when it comes to the way the setting looks. When you're on the ground in Atoma you really feel like it's a really metalpunk place and that you're just a small cog pushing through a flesh machine. [*][b]Replayablility.[/b] - With 4 classes with unique skills and styles there's a lot of combinations that you can go with for a build. Although it's only from the most recent update it really does add a lot to the game on how you can run things. [*][b]The Sound track is Based.[/b] - You'll get in and see why. [/list] [h2]Cons:[/h2] [list] [*][b]Gameplay.[/b] - This game is hard to get into. It's not going to be 'Payday 2' or 'Left 4 Dead'. I also hear that FatShark's other game, Vermintide 2, is similar in it's extent (but I've never played that game). There's a lot of in game mechanics that the game doesn't openly present to you when you jump on in. If you want to take the time to understand how the game works go ahead and watch some videos on it. My tip for this is that even though there are guns (even as a Veteran main), you're always going to be using your melee, so don't get mad when you get slammed by a horde for not swapping to your melee. [*][b]Crafting System.[/b] - Most likely the most hated system in the entirety of the game. Sure, praise the God Emperor for a blessing, but RNG based weapon stats to RNG based perks on weapons force you to grind out crafting materials. If you hear someone as a 'Plasteel Addict' you know they're always grinding out for some on higher difficulties. [b]My tip for anyone that's getting into the game: Don't go rolling for good weapons until you get a character to level 30 and understand how to get the most crafting materials. You can actually do pretty well without 'god weapons' as long as you know the basics of dodging, horde control and how to deal with specials.[/b] [*][b]The Player Base.[/b] - There's actually a big portion of players that don't understand the games mechanics and will always cost you a good run. But, that's not their fault, because the game doesn't teach you enough. Because of this, certain runs just die because of the lack of game knowledge and pacing (ie: Touching a Deamon Host. Don't touch them. They're only for 1 achievement and offer no bonuses, and they'll end your party pretty quickly if you don't know how to manage them). I would recommend playing with friends, but I have none so I always have a laugh when I clutch the team. [*][b]The Overarching Story.[/b] - Kinda bad and waterwashed ngl, wish there was more to the actual story, but I have some small hopes about it. We'll see what the future holds. [/list] [h1]Overall the Game is Alright, but I do have some worries.[/h1] The game is good, it provides an experience like no other, and is my PvE escape due to the fact that Payday 3 has been a joke at launch. It's gotten me deeper into the rabbit hole of the 40k franchise and I'm pretty hopeful for what I'm getting myself into. However, there's a glaring issue with what the devs have planned, and recently, it's been a bunch of wildcard nerfs and buffs to random things. I just hope that they stick to what players can handle and at least attend to the crafting system's mechanics. The game itself is very hard to fully understand unless you put a lot of time into it, but we're all rejects to the God Emperor himself anyways, so I'm sure you'll go out and watch a video or two. I also pray to the God Emperor that FatShark never goes the route of 'Unlimited DLC works' I'm not willing to go through another Payday 2. Final note: If you're wondering how to fully understand the deeper mechanics of the game, Darktide is moddable. You can find lots of QoL mods on Nexus Mods as well as the right tutorials to mod your game to tell you what you need to know. Just remember to enable your mods after every update as mods are disabled by default.[/strike]