How Will Darktide's Combat Compare to Vermintide 2?

Developer Fatshark has gained a lot of plaudits for the outstanding melee co-op combat it created in Warhammer: Vermintide 2. 

With its next big project, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide set for release on November 30th this year, players will be wondering if Fatshark can replicate this kind of quality in a setting where futuristic guns are more prevalent, meaning a natural shift to more ranged combat. 

This article will examine what we know so far about Darktide's combat, and how it compares to Vermintide. 

In a development blog, one of the combat designers from Fatshark shared the developers' intentions to create something that is not just another first person shooter with seldom-used melee weapons on backup, but rather a hybrid between ranged and melee combat, where players need to make adequate use of both in order to survive. 

"40K has never been about running around with rifles. 40K has never been swordsmen clashing shields. 40K, in its essence, is Bolter in one hand and Chainsword in the other, facing a tsunami of enemies."

However, this does not mean that there has been no expansion of the ranged combat since Vermintide 2. After creating and testing out a prototype for Darktide, Fatshark came to the conclusion that more work was needed to improve the ranged combat. 

In essence, while it does not aim to be a first person shooter as such, Darktide will have all of the usual "bells and whistles" that you would expect from a first person shooter integrated into its ranged combat. And added onto that, the satisfying melee combat of Vermintide 2 will also be reimagined for the new 40K setting.

With the expansion of ranged combat in Darktide, some new concepts have been introduced to the combat. One that was mentioned by Fatshark was the idea of combat ranges - in other words, enemies will have different behavior depending on their range from players, rather than always trying to perform the same moves regardless of their range. 

At far range, enemies will perform the usual hiding, peeking and shooting that you would expect in a typical first person shooter. At close range, they may switch to shotguns and submachine guns, and in melee range this threat may be replaced by that of a chain axe. 

Fatshark is trying to make conscious decision making about positioning and range an important part of gameplay loop for the more coordinated groups in Darktide. To aid with this, players will have new moves at their disposal. You will finally have a sprint button, for starters, and you will also be able to vault over objects and slide-dodge to reduce the risk when closing to melee range against enemies armed with powerful short-range weapons.

It seems like, even moreso than in Vermintide 2, an important part of successful gameplay in Darktide will be keeping on top of your own movement, and finding ways to control or suppress enemy movement to ensure that you seize and maintain the upper-hand in engagements. 

To make sure all of this holds true when you are being assaulted by lots of ranged enemies, there is a new mechanic added to the game - Toughness. This basically allows players to soak up a few ranged hits before they begin taking damage or getting stunned. 

The enemy types in Darktide will follow a similar recipe to those in Vermintide - you will have your hordes and roaming enemies, populating the ambient area of a level during quiet moments and pinning you down with their sheer numbers when things kick up a gear. There will be heavy-hitting elites and monsters that require teamwork to bring down, and new types of special enemies capable of area denial or disabling players who strayed too far from their team. 

In summary, according to what we have heard and seen so far from Fatshark about Darktide, players who loved the melee combat in Vermintide 2 but aren't sure if this will translate into the 40,000 setting of Darktide shouldn't have too much to fear. Melee is still an important part of the game and the core combat framework remains largely the same, but it has been improved and expanded upon to suit the needs of Darktide.