Warhammer 40,000: Darktide News

Our first update for the year, Path of Redemption, will be released late April 2024.


This update will introduce a new version of the penance system, but it’ll also come with additional supporting content. Here is a list of what is coming to you in April:

• A new free way to collect rewards: penance points will now count towards a progression track composed of 40+ tiers, allowing players to unlock earnable rewards.
  
• A new home for penances in the Mourningstar: Hestia will be in charge of keeping a record of the rejects’ penances and will join the rest of the Mourningstar crew in voice-overs during missions.
  
• 200+ new penances: a slew of new penances will be added to the game for players to complete. These will be divided into new categories.
  
• 100+ new earnable rewards: these will include new insignias, portrait frames, emotes, poses, weapon trinkets, and cosmetics such as the loyalist Moebian 6th outfits.
  
• New reward type - Titles: allowing players to brag about their most impressive achievements.
  
• Improved penance UI and menu: allowing players to better track penances and progress toward rewards.
  
• New puzzles, challenges, and collectibles: we are adding several puzzles across Tertium Hive for players to discover and solve.
  
• New enemy: the Dreg Tox Bomber will join the ranks of the heretics, hurling Blight Grenades filled with toxic fumes.
  
• New condition: Pox Gas will join the roster of conditions that can spread across Tertium. Recommendation: don’t breathe too deeply.
  
• The Personality Scourge: players will have the option to change additional aspects of your operative (background, height, name, and voice) in exchange for ordo dockets.

Continue reading below for a deep dive into the reinvented penance system.

—
[h2]Let Thy Deeds Be Known[/h2]

Hello everyone!

Today, you’ll have two writers for this dev blog: Björn - Team Lead in charge of coordinating efforts for the Path of Redemption Update, and Victor - Design Director on Darktide. In this blog, we’ll tell you more about the reinvention of the penance system, why we have chosen to focus our efforts on them, and what players can expect from this update. Let’s delve into it!

There was one main driver behind reimagining the whole penance system: giving players more agency in Darktide. We wanted to add fun and meaningful ways for players to earn more cosmetics, and give them new ways to challenge themselves. This update adds new and diversified goals to achieve, with a slew of rewards matching their investment in the game - whether they just started playing or are a returning player.

We looked at giving penance points a more center stage position and put them to good use. These points will now be counted on a progression track, the ‘Path of Redemption’ (cue title), which will allow players to unlock new rewards. For those of you who worry about your hard-earned penance points: fret not! They will remain untouched. We will be raising the ceiling of maximum penance points, and adding 40+ tiers of rewards in between. To make players’ life easier we’ve also added a section in the overlay during missions to track their penance progress (and yes, it will also track Sire Melk’s contracts).

The team spent a good amount of time designing new penances, more player-driven and less focused on the grind, making them more engaging. Penances will be divided into different categories: combat, mission, class, talent, and ability. We’ve also created penances tied to new puzzles, challenges, and collectibles that we have sprinkled throughout all missions for players to find.


As you saw in the announcement, we will be adding lots of new exciting rewards. In essence, you can expect rewards of every kind: frames, insignias, trinkets, emotes, end of round poses, character cosmetics, and weapon skins. Regarding cosmetics, we’ll be adding a full Moebian 6th set for players to unlock (pre-heresy of course, lest the Inquisition hunt you down), as well as the cosmetics worn by the four rejects on the official art of Darktide. One thing that is not mentioned in the announcement - and that we greedily kept here - is that we will also have new backpacks as rewards! All of these rewards can be unlocked either through the progress track, or through individual penances.

We will also be adding titles, a new type of reward, that will grant players the ability to show off their accomplishments. Titles will be visible to other players both in the Mourningstar and in missions, and will have a few variations in colors depending on rarity.

Now, where are players going to find penances in the Mourningstar? We’re giving them a prime location, straight across from Sire Melk’s Requisitorium. This corner of the ship will be managed by Hestia, who was hiding behind her lectern until now. She will be taking care of all players’ penances, and guide them on their ‘Path of Redemption’ (cue title, again) track. When interacting with Hestia, players will be able to access an overview of all the penances they have collected harkening back to sticker-book collecting. Players will also be able to check their penance progress, the penances they’re close to completing, and claim the penances they’ve completed.


We hope that you’ve enjoyed this dev blog and we look forward to hearing the stories our players will build around unlocking the craziest and most challenging of penances.

– Björn and Victor, on behalf of the Warhammer 40,000: Darktide team.
—
Make sure to follow us on our social channels to get the latest news on this upcoming update.

Here are the patch notes for Hotfix #35, which is live on Steam and will shortly be live on our other platforms.

• Fixed a crash that could occur when aiming the Psyker Blitzes “Brain Burst” or “Brain Rupture”.

Dev Note: This is partially reverting a fix from 1.2.33 that was intended to fix a crash that occurred when aiming a Stimm at a teammate at the same time as aiming the Zealot Abilities “Chastise the Wicked” or “Fury of the Faithful”. This crash is fixed, but has the known issue of not being able to target enemies by aiming “Chastise the Wicked”/“Fury of the Faithful” at one while aiming a Stimm at a teammate.

• Fixed a crash which could happen if every player left the Mourningstar during the mission voting phase.
• Fixed an issue where approaching wounded Poxwalker enemies would make their wounds visually disappear.
• Fixed an issue where facial hair was incorrectly displayed when wearing the Zealot “Incantata Mk IVa Obedience Helm” head gear cosmetic.
• Fixed typos in the descriptions of the “Bargus”, “Calumny Fall” cosmetic bundles and the “Shadow Sanctum Crusader Garb”, “Incantata Mk IVa Obedience Helm” cosmetics.

Here are the patch notes for Hotfix #34, which is live on Steam and will shortly be live on our other platforms.

• Fixed an issue in the Warren 6-19 mission where the interaction prompt to start the final hacking event read “Press” instead of “Plant.”
• Fixed a crash which could happen when rapidly switching weapons in the Loadout menus.
• Fixed a crash which could happen when using the Zealot “Chastise the Wicked / Fury of the Faithful” ability while aiming a stimm syringe.
• Fixed some stability issues related to running out of memory during loading.
• Fixed an issue where the pauldrons of the “Moebian 135th Recon (Blackplate)” Ogryn upper body cosmetic could appear in the camera in first person view while holding specific weapons.
• Fixed an issue where the pauldrons of the “Moebian 135th Recon (Blackplate)” Ogryn upper body cosmetic would appear in an incorrect position in Loadout menus.
• Fixed an issue where the right arm vambrace of the “Shrine Keeper’s Shrift” Psyker upper body cosmetic was clipping with the tunic underneath.

[h2]What’s coming up in Darktide? [/h2]

Our first update will focus on a comprehensive revamp and expansion of the penance system, including adding many additional rewards and a completely new way to earn them. We will be sharing more information on this update by the end of the month along with a dev blog, so keep your eyes peeled on our Communication channels to learn more.

Following this, we are working on an overhaul of our current itemisation process. With the new system we want to remove a lot of the unpredictable grind that came from an RNG heavy system whilst giving players more agency and a steady manner to progress toward specific loadouts, blessings, and stats refinement.

Although these are significant portions of each update, this is not our full plan for 2024. We will be adding new elements to Darktide throughout the year as well including (but not limited to) new missions, new enemies, new weapons, new conditions, and new features alongside balance updates, quality of life additions, along with some other surprises which we will share in due time.

We thank you for all your feedback you’ve given so far, and look forward to sharing these changes and new content with you in the near future and seeing what you think!

Here are the patch notes for Hotfix #33, which is live on Steam and will shortly be live on our other platforms.

• Fixed an issue where the amount of enemies spawning during missions was lower than intended.
• Fixed an issue where the Karnak Twins secret hard mode could fail to be triggered after resolving the puzzle.
• Fixed a crash which could happen after extracting a weapon Blessing in the Shrine of the Omnissiah under specific circumstances while using a controller.
• Fixed an issue where the pushback from enemy Shooters and Gunners was still applied when being hit while aiming down sights with specific weapons.

Dev note: Affected weapons were Lasguns, Laspistols, Boltgun, Plasma Gun, Kickback, Rumbler, Grenadier Gauntlet.

• Fixed an issue where enemy Scab Snipers could still shoot through Veteran Smoke Grenades if they were fully inside the smoke cloud area.
• Fixed an issue where the Lucky Bullet effect from the Ogryn “Burst Limiter Override” keystone talent could still trigger when ammo was completely depleted.
• Fixed an issue where the Veteran “On Your Toes” talent replenished less Toughness than intended (10% instead of 20%).
• Fixed a crash which could happen when the game tried to remove a buff effect which didn’t exist anymore.
• Fixed an issue where the background for subtitles could fail to match the text when secondary subtitles were displayed.
• Fixed an issue where the buffs from the Zealot “Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude” and Veteran “Duty and Honour” talents would prevent non-melee health damage while active even when the player was at zero Toughness.
• Fixed a crash which could happen if a Veteran Smoke Grenade affected an enemy Scab or Dreg Flamer just as they were about to shoot.
• Fixed an issue where the transparency effect for the M3 Magnacore Mk II Plasma Gun coils was missing.
• Fixed clipping and deformation issues for the Ogryn “XXXL Chem-safe Rebreather” head cosmetic.
• Fixed an issue where the collar for Psyker upper body cosmetics could appear as deformed for female characters.
• Fixed an issue where the Ogryn “Grimmer’s Hood (Red Stinger Camo)” head cosmetic would clip with some necks.
• Fixed an issue where parts of the straps on the Ogryn “MKII Nog-Shield” head cosmetic would not display properly.