Warhammer 40,000: Darktide official artwork showing Sharpshooter and Zealot classes

[Update #2]: My review for Darktide is now live and, long story short, it's as rough and fascinating as the world it takes place in!

[Update]: After playing for about 50 hours now I've decided to create a beginner's guide covering some of the basic concepts and combat strategies. So if you'd like your first run through Darktide to be a nice and pleasant one, I'd welcome you to give it a look.

After going through a bit of a delay, the co-op focused Warhammer 40,000: Darktide will finally be launching in a couple of weeks, on November 30th. If you would like to dive in ahead of time, however, you'll be pleased to hear that Fatshark has just recently launched the pre-order beta.

Before you get too excited, it's important to mention that the pre-order beta is not the fully finished game as it's still missing a good chunk of content, as well as some polish. So if you are planning to start early, I'd recommend treating the beta as more of a appetizer rather than the main course.

That said, the beta will be slowly expanded over the next two weeks, so we thankfully won't have to repeat the same few missions over and over again. While plans might still change, here's what you can expect to see as we approach the launch date:

Week two (November 21 - 27)

Up to 8 missions across 4 zones
In-Game Events, other surprise additions we do not want to spoil right now

Week three (November 28 to 30)

Up to 10 missions across 4 zones
Downtime to get the game ready for wide release: Tuesday Nov 29, 2022 19:00 UTC

Launch (November 30)

13 missions across 5 zones
1 New Zone (We do not want to share its name yet)

I'll do a proper review once Warhammer 40,000: Darktide launches as a fully finished game, but as it stands right now I'd say that it's an immensely enjoyable experience that's unfortunately plagued by some technical problems and a couple of strange design choices when it comes to player progression. Basically, if you've played Vermintide 1 or 2 in their early days, Darktide is pretty much the same story. And much like them, I have no doubt that Fatshark will eventually manage to get everything sorted out, though it will most likely take a couple of post-launch patches for us to get there.

Whatever the case may be, I'll make sure to let you know once the full version of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide arrives. Until then, have fun with the beta!

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide co-op focused shooter screenshot of nurgle zombies attacking

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide co-op focused shooter screenshot of chaos ogryn swinging at the player

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide co-op focused shooter screenshot of the psyker character from the trailer