To start off: If I could put this as a neutral review, I would.
Also seeing that I have 500+ hours as of the time writing this review, I have had a lot of fun with the game so expect some bias in what I say in my review.

Let's start with some Pros:
- One of (in my opinion) the meatiest and satisfying melee- and gunplay out there
- The visual design is a treat for 40k lovers, it hits just right, especially the newest map where we get to fight in trenches with artillery blasting in the beginning.
- The sound design is amazing, from the epic music made by Jesper Kyd, the barking of autoguns, the punchy-ness of lasguns, roars and screams from enemies, this game delivers on a auditory treat
- The customizability of your own character feels great, albeit somewhat shallow in some regards; it helps get in to that "Rejects fighting for their lives in the hive-slums" mood

Now then, with that said, let's get to some Neutral Points:
- MTX + DLC, they did mention early on in development that if the mtx does well that new gameplay updates will be free, there's been people angry and frustrated with that statement since the new classes are paid dlc (Quite a bit more expensive than Vermintide 2s dlc classes at that). While I do understand Fatshark being a company and needing money for expenses, both the classes and mtx in-game can end up being a bit pricy.
- Personalities and banter in-game, especially compared to Vermintide 2, can be a very hit or miss moment, since Darktide allows multiple of the same class in the same lobby, it can happen that you end up with multiple of the same personality and repetitive banter between characters. Seeing as this is a game that focuses on replayability, it can get a bit boring after multiple runs of the same mission.

Now, let's get to the Cons:
- Darktide has had rough patches throughout the years where the optimization of the game has been quite bad, especially playing on a less than optimal machine. I highly recommend anyone who wants to play the game to look up ways to increase performance. While I don't personally think people should be required to look up on the internet to get their games to run smoothly, that is unfortunately the best option for the people who do want to play the game.
- Balancing in Darktide is and always has been a fickle thing, depending on the difficulty you enjoy playing, many weapons can end up being performing significantly worse than others, classes have been overpowered, underpowered and it can end up being a dealbreaker if your favorite class ends up getting hit with the nerf hammer.
- Storytelling in Darktide has been.. lackluster. The addition of Campaigns to transitions more smoothly between missions and tell the story was added later on, and you can really tell. The storytelling was not made to be a linear cohesive story, but has progressed to attempt a more linear cohesive narrative. One point that is unfortunately hurting the storytelling is amount that has been told to you through loading screens, which could lead to players being distracted while waiting and not paying attention to it; Another one is the voice-lines that attempt storytelling during missions, some of them appear in the thick of battle where you could easily get distracted trying to survive a horde of enemies heading your way.

As a small addition to this review I want to add my own personal gripes with Darktide:
- Missing weapons/classes, in the grand universe that is 40k, unique and exciting cultures of humans and weapons is something that can get quite crazy (in a good way) and the characters and weapons that is in Darktide does leave some gaps in what could be desired from a 40k fps experience. I want to make a note that it has been getter better and can get better still.
- The lack of depth and progression and storytelling is something that was felt since release, I fully understand multiple points of keeping things vague and telling the story over time but at points it felt unsatisfying when the narrative ended abruptly or is a weak attempt at a cliffhanger. Operations being added as a side storytelling device is a good addition but the main "story" took a long time to reach the point it has gotten to now and unfortunately it ended it a unsatisfactory way, quite abruptly at that as well. As someone who adores the 40k universe and the Black Library, I want to see further development on the story (Especially since they advertised Dan Abnett working with the Darktide team), and preferably without needing to wait years.

CONCLUSION:
While I might not have elaborated much on the pros compared to the cons in my review, I still feel like Darktide is a fun experience and can definitely be enjoyed by 40k enjoyers and horde shooters alike. Alas, like most games in our day and age, it does come with some flaws and requires them to not be dealbreakers.

Ye

XD

It's alright.