Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a cooperative PvE action shooter from Fatshark, the studio behind the Vermintide series. Up to four players form an Inquisition strike team and fight their way through the megalopolis Tertium, where Chaos forces infiltrate entire districts.

Darktide combines heavy melee with firearms and class builds. The game is designed around repeatable missions, teamwork, different difficulty levels, changing mission conditions and long-term development of gear and character.

Darktide launched on Nov 30, 2022 for PC first. The Xbox Series version followed on Oct 4, 2023; PlayStation 5 was added on Dec 3, 2024. Since then, Fatshark has continuously expanded the game with classes, missions, system overhauls and larger free content updates.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is natively available for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. The PC version is sold on Steam, among others. Xbox supports cross-platform multiplayer and co-op; on PS5, Darktide is also available as a native current-gen version.

Darktide builds on Fatshark's Vermintide experience, but mixes the heavy melee combat much more strongly with firearms. Chainswords, axes and hammers sit alongside lasguns, bolters, shotguns and other 40K weapons. Positioning and target priority therefore keep switching between melee and ranged combat.

Co-op is built into the mechanics: certain enemies can pin down individual players, while a Reject's resilience regenerates better when near the strike team. Anyone who strays too far from the group becomes more vulnerable on purpose.

On PC, Darktide requires at least Windows 10 or 11 64-bit, an Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 2400G, 8 GB RAM and a GeForce GTX 970 or Radeon RX 570. Steam lists 72 GB of free storage.

Recommended: a Core i7-9700K or Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB RAM and a GeForce RTX 3060/RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 5700 XT. For the recommended configuration, Fatshark also advises an SSD.

Missions take you through different zones of the Hive City Tertium, from industrial facilities to derelict maintenance and water areas. Mission objectives are supplemented by changing conditions and modifiers that can alter enemy pressure, visibility, resources or other parameters.

The mission model is built for repeat runs: teams adjust their roles, weapons and tactics to the task at hand and the active mission conditions.

The free Depths of the Damned update has added a new mini story campaign to Darktide since Sep 29, 2026. Its highlight is the Spillway mission, which leads deep into the Water Cartel's territory and offers alternative routes of varying risk through tunnels, waterways and forgotten passages.

The update also brings six new weapons or Weapon Marks. The new weapon families include Ogryn Cruncher, Huntsman's Shotgun and Ogryn Thugshot. The Prophet of Decay appears as a new central enemy, a powerful psyker in the depths of the Torrent.