Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a four-player co-op shooter from Fatshark, set in a decaying hive city on the edge of the Imperium. It’s the studio’s follow-up to the Vermintide games, trading fantasy ratmen for cultists, poxwalkers, and a lot of lasgun fire.
What kind of game is it
Darktide is a first-person action game built around four-player squads. You drop into missions, push through waves of AI enemies, and try to reach the exit before everything falls apart. It follows the same basic formula Fatshark used in Vermintide 2, just transplanted into the 41st millennium.
The twist is that there aren’t fixed heroes this time. You build your own character, picking a class, appearance, and gender. Every class has a regenerating shield, so staying alive is partly about managing that buffer rather than pure health.
Missions can share the same zone, and some throw in optional side objectives. Clear those and you’ll usually walk away with better loot. Difficulty splits into two dials: one changes how many enemies show up, the other changes how hard they hit.
The classes
Darktide launched with four classes: Veteran (sharpshooter and support), Zealot (melee damage), Ogryn (tank), and Psyker (ranged damage). The first four are convicts pressed into Inquisitorial service, which is a nice excuse for why they’re all a bit rough around the edges.
Fatshark has kept adding more since. The Arbitrator arrived in June 2025 as an active-duty Imperial law enforcer, complete with a Cyber-Mastiff support pet and riot shield options. The Hive Scum followed in December 2025, representing Atoma Prime’s criminal cartels and bringing dual-wielding and custom combat stims. The Skitarii landed in June 2026, a cyborg soldier of the Adeptus Mechanicus with Mechanicus weaponry and a Servo-Skull companion.
| Class | Role | Released |
|---|---|---|
| Veteran | Sharpshooter / support | Launch |
| Zealot | Melee DPS | Launch |
| Ogryn | Tank | Launch |
| Psyker | Ranged DPS | Launch |
| Arbitrator | Law enforcer, Cyber-Mastiff | June 2025 |
| Hive Scum | Dual-wielder, stims | December 2025 |
| Skitarii | Mechanicus cyborg, Servo-Skull | June 2026 |
Where it sits in the 40k universe
The game is set on Atoma Prime, specifically in and around Hive Tertium. You’re a conscript working for the Inquisition, sent in to deal with a Chaos cult problem that’s gotten well out of hand. That framing matters, because it explains why your squad is disposable and why nobody upstairs is especially worried about your survival.
It’s not a story about Space Marines saving the day. Darktide is about the grimy bottom rungs of the Imperium: hive gangs, Arbites, tech-priests, and ordinary people caught between heresy and the Lex Imperialis. If you want a sense of what daily life in a hive city actually looks like, this is one of the better places to see it.
Release and platforms
Darktide came out on PC first, on 30 November 2022. Xbox Series X/S got it on 4 October 2023, and PlayStation 5 followed on 3 December 2024. It’s developed and published by Fatshark, with Jesper Kyd on the soundtrack and Dan Abnett and Matt Ward among the writers.
It runs on Autodesk Stingray, the engine behind Vermintide 2. Fatshark has kept it updated with free content drops, including the Depths of the Damned update.
Key facts
- Developed and published by Fatshark, the studio behind the Vermintide games.
- Released on PC 30 November 2022, Xbox Series X/S 4 October 2023, and PS5 3 December 2024.
- Four-player co-op first-person shooter with customisable classes.
- Set on Atoma Prime in Hive Tertium, with players as Inquisition conscripts.
- Seven classes now available, the most recent being the Skitarii.
- Soundtrack by Jesper Kyd; writing credits include Dan Abnett and Matt Ward.
FAQ
Is Darktide a sequel to Vermintide?
Not exactly. It’s a spiritual successor, meaning it shares the four-player co-op structure but moves to a whole new setting and lets you build your own character instead of picking from fixed heroes.
Do you need to know Warhammer 40k to enjoy it?
No. The game explains enough of its own context to follow along, and the setting details are a bonus rather than a barrier. That said, fans of the lore will get more out of the hive city and Inquisition framing.
How many classes are there?
Seven as of the Skitarii release in June 2026: Veteran, Zealot, Ogryn, Psyker, Arbitrator, Hive Scum, and Skitarii.