Our full Warhammer 40k Darktide review will have to wait until we’ve had more time with the latest build (or until the Omnissiah wills it), but I’ve seen a lot of the horde shooter these past two weeks through the pre-launch beta. I’ve been purging daemonic growths from smelter facilities, hijacking ammunition shipments, and summarily executing arch-heretics in abandoned underground train stations. Nonetheless, developer Fatshark has insisted that we not use this build as the basis for scored reviews, so to be clear: my impressions so far are based on an incomplete beta build of Darktide.

Normally, such a disclaimer might be a red flag, but by all appearances Fatshark has simply been doing exactly what it claimed to be doing and using the pre-launch beta to stress-test its multiplayer infrastructure, identify bugs, and gradually roll out more content for its latest co-op game. On which note, it’s important to say right upfront that I’ve had a rough ride on the technical end of things.

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