Warhammer 40,000: Darktide News

Last week we delved into the reinvention of the penance system. Today we’ll take a closer look with the devs that worked on some of the features that are coming with Path of Redemption: the Pox Gas condition, the Dreg Tox Bomber and the Personality Scourge. Without further ado, let’s start with the new condition!
[h2]Pox Gas[/h2]


One interesting challenge we have in level design is to ensure that the content already released into the game not only feels fun to play, but most importantly feels relevant. After all, you are exploring a massive and sprawling Hive City, which is active and constantly changing. This is something we want our missions to reflect as much as possible.

With this in mind, the Pox Gas condition (together with the Dreg Tox Bomber) felt like a good fit, as it allows us to achieve a few things from a design standpoint:

• It adds a new type of environmental hazard not seen before.
  
• It changes the gameplay space players are used to traversing by blocking off shortcuts or popular camping spots.
  
• It puts players under duress inside Pox Gas areas, fostering the need for quick thinking and coordination.
  
• It gives players the ability to decide whether to push through the gas or wait it out in key locations.
  

To accomplish this, we started by hand-picking missions we believed would be good candidates for the condition, in order to provide a great first playthrough experience. We populated these missions with Pox Gas, and then proceeded with playtests and gathering feedback.

The core idea behind how Pox Gas would manifest itself in these selected missions was to have it appear on the “obvious” path, but also where players tended to linger during events. At first, Pox Gas was very much static with a set randomized seed upon starting a mission. Though this achieved much of what we set out to do, playtest feedback showed that it was a bit too static.

We iterated on the condition, giving it a more dynamic setup. We tuned it to ensure it would switch at regular intervals during gameplay, making it feel much less static. In addition, we added more to the initial design. For example,how it affects the gameplay space for players and enemies (the latter get a buff inside the swaths of gas).

A fun design challenge we had to wrestle with was – how can you tell where the gas will appear and when? What cues would we be giving players? To solve this challenge, we further tweaked the condition by:

• Making Pox Gas appear/disappear in sequence with lower gas as a warning.
  
• Populating any Pox Gas areas with Nurgle corals - as they are often seen on Nurgle miniatures in Warhammer: 40,000 - and have them “spew” it out.
  
• Adding various sound cues to hint at affected areas and provide a warning to players.
  
• Fading out the Pox Gas once it is done (and not just quickly fading in).
  

This leads us to where we are today and the current version of Pox Gas: a new dynamic challenge for some of our missions that is sure to change up how you play! We can’t wait to see how the most valiant of players will handle it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this section of the dev blog!

Kristoffer, Senior Level Designer on Darktide

[h2]Dreg Tox Bomber [/h2]


Keep your eyes peeled, Rejects. Reports of cult activity are on the rise. Whispers of Admonition echo in dark corners and empty vox channels. We've just lost three strike teams in the Hourglass. Comms were confusing, but we have reports of rolling clouds of noxious fog and, what's worse, they seem to have weaponized it. If you thought one of these nuts chucking incendiary bombs around was bad, wait till the Tox Gas chokes your lungs. I'd steer clear if I was you.

Following the theme of noxious fumes, the Drex Tox Bomber throws Blight Grenades that explode into a cloud of gas. These grenades cover a big area, limit visibility and the gas stays for a long time, but deals less damage less frequently compared to the Scab Bomber fire grenade. Players standing in the gas will lose Toughness and eventually gain Corruption, while their toughness regeneration will be severely limited. The gas also applies a buff on enemies which makes them tougher to kill and harder to cleave through.

Similarly to the Scab Bomber, it affects the gameplay by forcing players to move away from wherever the Blight Grenade lands and explodes. Additionally, it affects players visibility in order to create more chaos, but in a less kill-focused way (more of a nurgle-love kind of way) compared to the Scab Bomber. The Blight Grenade also bounces more than the Scab Bomber Fire Grenade, making it a bit more unpredictable. Since its effect is a bit more impactful than the Scab Bomber, it will not drop its grenade if killed/staggered during its throw animation, and the far throw animation is longer in time.

Daniel, Gameplay Programmer on Darktide

[h2]Personality Scourge[/h2]


With the Personality Scourge we saw an opportunity to provide additional agency to players over their character customization. We noticed that changing personality (i.e. voice) and height was a common community request and the Barber-Chirurgeon Krall felt like a natural candidate to dispense additional character customization features.

To this end, Krall will establish a joint venture with Sefoni! This will let players head over to Krall, where he and Sefoni will set to work, remodeling whatever aspects of their minds or body that they would like to alter. Undergoing a Personality Scourge will give players the option to change all aspects of their operative from the character creator, except from class. Players will get to modify their background, body type, personality, and their name alongside all the elements available for change previously in the Barber-Chirurgeon. Players will be able to change their height both through the Personality Scourge and the regular appearance modification at the Barber-Chirurgeon.

Since this operation requires valuable Prismata Crystals, players won't be offered this service free of charge and will have to part with their hard earned Ordo Dockets. They will occasionally be joined by Krall and Sefoni via Comm-Link during the Ascension Riser mission to ensure the smooth interception of the consignment of crystals… Just don’t tell Morrow!

In other words, we wanted to expand the customization tools available to players beyond height and personality. In addition to these two elements, players will be able to change every element of their character’s backstory, their name, the full set of physical options including body type. As an example this means that if a player wants to swap the crime their reject is convicted for, they will also get to change and replace their prison suit.

Tim, Developer on Darktide
Ola, VO Designer on Darktide

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.

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[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.
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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.