izigame.me

Edit as of 12/12/24 - added some more thoughts due to new content that was dropped.
If you enjoy co-op skills-based horde shooters, this is a great game overall and the gameplay really shines. The combat can be exhilarating and is in many ways tighter than Vermintide 2, and it really fits the 40k theme so well. The ranged options are very excellent, but the melee is one of the most satisfying combat I have felt in a FPS game. Getting skillful enough to do auric damnation is a fun challenge, going from "how can I even survive this?" to mastering it with the right build and skills. I personally enjoy the unfair spawns and waves the AI director can throw out at times, but be aware there is some real hard spikes in difficulty sometime. For example, often the game will spawn a difficult boss after two players go down (on top of a wave of specialists and other mobs).
When this game came out it was not in a good place and was very dissapointing, especially to the amount of content and quality of life things that were in Vermintide 2. Since the game has come out they have added the following:
- multiple new maps. The newer ones have more interesting layouts, my personal favorite being the timed train mission.
- In-depth skill trees for the classes. This was a huge and welcome change, and added a ton of depth. Most builds are very viable even in harder missions.
- Crafting. This was an immense quality of life change, moving from RNG chance that drained resources to an overall great system that allows for trying out different weapons and builds. Some of the blessings and perks on specific weapons are scratch-your-head weird, and it feels like half of the choices are not worth it (ymmv) but overall the choices feel fun and dynamic.
- The Story and dialogue. Initially they touted having a writer help develop the game, and overall I found it underwhelming. There are characters in the hub world and that talk to you during missions, but for the first year or two it felt bland and not engaging. They recently dropped a mission that seems to have a connected story developing and it is starting to coalesce into an interesting plot at least, so I am hopeful. The dialogue writing is also spot on, your character can have some funny lines (ogryn and psyker stand out for me).
- Matchmaking. It kind of sucks. It's necessary for the endgame Havoc mode as well, but it's not that well implemented and not that popular.
- Havoc mode. It's been out for a week so I may update this later on as I have more time invested. I initially hated this mode due to the increased ranged damage and frequency making it feel impossible, especially for some builds. But after some time I am really enjoying the new changes these challenges force you to adapt to and I can see some potential in this mode. The main frustration I have, which I'll cover more in-depth below, is Fatshark's difficulty with communicating ideas to the player being commonly opaque and confusing. Some modifiers are discussed but they do not often define what they mean, and there are hidden modifiers they don't even talk about (decreased health and ammo pickups, for example).
Now that I've praised the game, here are my main and current issues with it. The loading times can long and disconnects and other issues are still somewhat common. The hub area seems tedious too, having to run around and do stuff loses appeal quickly. The menus are a little challenging to use at times, and there are some customization options for skill tree tabs and weapon management but its barebones. The itemization shop only has cosmetics which is good but is often, and rightly so, criticized for having the cooler stuff locked behind real world money, often having duplicates with different names, and artificially increasing demand through time-limited access which means some items will likely not be seen for a while and no guarantee of when they will return. To be honest I have not purchased a single cosmetic, but that's my personal preference.
The major complaint I have towards this game really centers around the developer itself, Fatshark. Being a fan and constant consumer of Fatshark games, you really notice both their infrequency in updates and obtuse communication. The former isn't as relevant given the recent amount of attention and updates the game has gotten. That being said, this game is not user friendly and Fatshark does little to mitigate that. Llittle explanation is given to systems and concepts used in this game, but that doesn't stop them from using confusing terms. You see this mainly in the weapon perks and blessings. What is cleave? How does it compare to rending? What enemies use what armor? Which enemies are unyielding? Fatshark will use those terms and do nothing to explain them, in game and outside of it.
The community for this game is mostly great. Outside of Havoc, most missions do not have communication from the playerbase which is hit or miss. You can definitely have moments of frustration with randos who make stupid decisions that lead to teamwipes, but in contrast I always see "gg" at the end of every game. I also really appreciate the building community of content creators (mister E, tanner lindberg, etc.) who provide information on builds and especially concepts and terms that are really helpful to know (that again, Fatshark does nothing to address or help with.)
Message me if you have any questions, happy to discuss them. But if you like WH40K, horde shooters, coop games, and especially engaging combat flow with a challenge this game has a lot for you.