Over the last year, Fatshark, the team behind Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, has been expanding the game’s overall story, as seen in the Battle for Tertium Campaign update, which introduced the Arbites class. Following that, the team then released the Hive Scum class, which further showcased how desperate the Imperium has become in its fight for Tertium by teaming up with criminals. Now, the latest update, Beyond the Hive, is looking to expand the story yet again, all while introducing a new way to play the game altogether.
As the name implies, Beyond the Hive finally takes players to the outskirts of the Hiveworld of Tertirum. Up until now, players have been stuck to fighting inside the planet. The only time we’ve come close to leaving was with the No Man’s Land update, which took them to the literal trenches to aid the Astra Militarum in their struggles. The latest update revealed that the planet’s surface was once thought to be a death sentence. With the topside now explorable, the Imperium has discovered ancient technology it can use to aid its ongoing fight. With this newfound information, the Rejects are sent to get their hands on whatever they can while trying not to die in the process.
What caught my eye right away was how quickly you have to be when running an expedition. The second you drop in, a fifteen-minute timer immediately begins, and you’re tasked with finding as much loot as you can. If you stay longer than the allotted time, the toxic air will begin to slowly kill you. The only way to find these items is by using your Auspex to see where you need to go. But the catch is that most points of interest (POI) are spread far apart. So getting to all of them is extremely challenging.
The struggles don’t stop there either. The moment you reach any of these locations, you’ll often have to hold down the area and wait for them to open to you. More often than not, this will include you playing the new hacking mini-game that’ll have you matching a series of icons. Although the new hacking game may not be the toughest, completing it is easier said than done, and this is because every time you need to do this, you’ll usually be rushed by waves of enemies that are trying to kill you.
The thing is, being outnumbered ten to one isn’t new in Darktide, either. As a matter of fact, it’s to be expected. But this becomes an extremely dangerous problem when you consider that in these hordes of enemies are often a handful of special variants that can pack a serious punch, which include random bosses that’ll suddenly appear, and the newly introduced Ogryn Pack Master. As cool as it is to see a new enemy type running into one of these guys while fighting what seems like hundreds of enemies, with a flamethrower trapping me in a corner, something that has happened to me more times than I’d like to admit.
Expeditions aren’t meant to be easy, though. They’re supposed to challenge you. Each one will drop you in a new location to ensure no two games are the same. But they all have similar concepts. You explore the area, and the clock starts ticking. The only way to stop the clock and gain more time is by pushing deeper outside the wall. But doing this can be tricky because loot is extremely limited while on the outside. But you can get around this whenever you visit the shop. In here, you’ll be able to heal up and buy all sorts of supplies, but it’ll cost you some of the materials that you’ve picked up along the way. Even though it is fun to run headfirst into battle, you’ll often have to think twice about doing just that. I always find myself excited to jump back in and put my life on the line in the name of The Emperor all over again. That’s because dying is a core part of this game mode. Although it may hurt to die the second you’re about to get out at the final stage, learning how to avoid that situation becomes a fun game on its own.
There were many little details I appreciated while running around the outskirts of Tertium. One of them is the POI layouts. That’s because I immediately noticed how they mirror much of the terrain used in the game’s tabletop counterpart. The other one is the dialogue moments that can be heard from all the various characters throughout the game. As someone who’s spent a lot of time getting lost in the world of Warhammer 40,000, seeing such attention to detail puts a big smile on my face and enhances the game’s overall immersion.
Although I didn’t know it before it was announced, Beyond the Hive is exactly what I was looking for in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. It expands the story in a new and exciting way, leaving the door open to many more possibilities. It introduces a new and exciting way to play the game while staying true to what Darktide is, and most importantly, gives the game even more replayability. Beyond the Hive is a free update that is scheduled to release on March 17. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is playable on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
