izigame.me

I love this game, I really do. I'm a huge 40k nerd and love the setting, hell I even played VT2 and loved that. But there is no excuse for the game to be in the state its in, and you should wait for it to go on sale or avoid it entirely for 6 months - a year. Even at 40$ it's not worth the money, and here's why:
Terrible optimization
- Many players are incapable of running this game at acceptable frames if they're able to at all. It's not uncommon to see complaints of rigs capable of running much more graphically intensive games at well over a hundred FPS struggle to maintain 60 after decreasing resolutions and lowering settings. This isn't even mentioning how inconsistent it can be on lower end machines, from running better than several thousand dollar rigs, to locking up one's system entirely. Memory leaks, random client-side crashes, and inconsistent at best servers which have a nasty habit of disconnecting people at random times in matches or preventing people from even logging into the game to attempt to play. While its better than it was in the beta, it's still common enough to be a reoccurring complaint.
Missing Content and Micro-transactions
- While the game has released in a half finished state, not even having a fully functional crafting system which was a selling point of the game, one which has been walked back and clumsily so by the CM's from what was promised in marketing and hype vs what is being delivered (over the course of December if the updates are to be believed), the game has a fully functioning Micro transaction store which is several steps back from vermintide's system of buying cosmetics direct for cash. This one uses a premium currency, and had until very recently employed FOMO tactics by placing the MTX store on a weekly timer (the timer is no longer in the MTX store, though the stock has failed to refresh for some reason). I personally don't mind a MTX store, or premium currency, though I preferred VT's implementation. But having one implemented in the "Full Release" before the crafting system, full arsenal of promised weapons (some of which are in promotional trailers and on the box art and aren't in the game) and supposedly the other 3/4 of the game is a slap in the face.
Anti-Player Tactics:
- While many are split on the implementation of the Coherency mechanic present in Darktide, many of the "achievements" (penances) for character progression are designed in such a way that it encourages players to either completely subvert or nearly actively troll matches to accomplish them. Some can't be completed without a full stack of coordinated players, and while there should be rewards for difficult things, they should be for all those who participate in a difficult challenge, not a moderately interesting T-Shirt for one team member. There are many more balance, design, and account issues which contribute to this beyond in game achievements, and I suggest you peruse the forums for a more varied series of accounts on this like the lack of either any or commensurate reward for completing challenges, beating optional bosses, or completing secondary objectives and the absurdly designed loot/shop systems with completely RNG weapon selection and weapon stat/blessing rolls.
Balance and Jank
- The game's servers have severe issues with hit-reg, spawns are janky and inconsistent, dodges don't dodge they temporarily break tracking so even if you're far enough away from an enemy to watch them whiff their strike you'll take damage, dodging with a ranged weapon doesn't break tracking so you'll get hit regardless, key combat components don't function consistently (suppression, melee challenging shooters, dodging disablers, the "you're about to be hit from behind so you need to turn around/spidey sense" noise not triggering consistently, etc), the game will spawn enemies directly behind you after clearing areas allowing enemies to get free hits, weapons are under powered across the board which makes the few properly tuned weapons stand out like they're op juggernauts, many talents (perks/skills) are broken/worded poorly/don't function at all/ or are severely underwhelming, the Veteran class dominates the game as it is one of the most optimally tuned classes with a solid answer to everything despite being marketed as a back line "sharp shooter", Zealot and Psyker have been significantly nerfed since the Closed Beta Test, stagger from incoming toughness damage often puts players in a death spiral on higher difficulties due to it staggering your movement and preventing you from getting out of fire, **as of 12/15/20 zealot's ultimate has been fixed**, every class in the game barring ogryn can nuke elite enemies faster than the dedicated elite hunter (psyker), blessings and perks on weapons can be counter intuitive and useless (like a reload speed bonus on weapons that don't use ammo), and many many many more issues. I again suggest looking on the forums for a more complete understanding.
Zero Endgame or Story
- One of the game's marketing tactics was to advertise that Dan Abnett, writer of the critically acclaimed Gaunt's Ghost's and Eisenhorn 40k Book Series wrote the story for this game. Much like the rest of the game, most of the story is missing as well. While I won't spoil the little that is provided, it's fair to say that the development team got confused between implementing the story and implementing the story board, as (and I say this without hyperbole) have read sparknotes with more detail and complexity. If Dan Abnett wrote this, they must've stolen the basic outline he wrote on a coffee shop napkin and ran with it. Additionally, there is no reason to max level your character other than to unlock the whole talent tree. You get no higher drop chance for better weapons, there are no incentives other than money (which is plentiful) to complete more difficult missions, you get no special missions or new modifiers. The best you get are decorative cosmetics and some changed voicelines among ambient NPCs in the HUB area. Everything is designed around artificial player retention, and a level 30 player with 30 hours on a character, due to the RNG, may have the same gameplay benefits as a level 30 player with 300 hours, personal skill not withstanding. There are 5 difficulties and 13 maps (supposedly), many are thematically identical, and while 40k is supposed to be grim dark, the series has a wealth of environments to choose from, even in a hive city which could've been implemented to introduce meaningful variety.
The End
- I could keep writing reasons why you shouldn't buy this game, but I will not as many have done so before me already. The core gameplay loop is amazing, despite its flaws, and here in a year or so i'm sure it will polish out. But you shouldn't buy this game. Fat Shark already made two tide games, the second entry in the series being a prime example of a phenomenal change from bad to good as the team polished the game up significantly over the years. But all of that progress is gone, all of the strides they'd made with QOL and gameplay, balance, combat, communication, transparency, etc have all been washed away. Somehow being the third Tide title, they've taken 2 steps backwards and none forwards. The entire community is very confused as to how the game has turned out as it has, and the fumbling of the Community Managers with regard to responding to these questions and criticisms has done nothing but evaporate goodwill and seed doubt. Despite what Hedge (a prominent community manager) will tell you, this game is in Early Access, and if you've played it you know it, regardless of how fun and enjoyable it may be. The game is not finished, and even with it being as fun as it is, it's not worth 40$ by any stretch of the imagination. Buy it if you like fun early access games or being a beta tester, but if you want a polished product you'll be left wanting. I suggest checking back in a year.