While everyone is obsessing over the glorious chaos of Space Marine 2 these days, the allure of Warhammer 40k Darktide remains as strong as ever. While I absolutely love hacking my way through hordes of Tyrannids, tearing Nurgle’s minions apart sounds just as enticing. While the game has taken a while to find its feet, if you’ve been looking for a reason to revisit Tertium, now’s the perfect time. Darktide’s latest DLC, Nightmares and Visions, adds a vicious new Call of Duty Zombies-esque mode, aptly entitled the Mortis Trials, as well as some much-requested changes to Havoc, and it’s out right now.
First up on the agenda is, of course, the Mortis Trials. Devised by the FPS game’s ever-scheming Psyker, Sefoni, you’re tasked with fending off hordes of nightmares in a round-based, almost roguelike system. Unlocked at level 13 in Darktide, you’ll have to survive 12 rounds of horrors and get out alive, with each wave growing progressively more difficult. Every third wave also includes an objective to complete alongside all the slaying. It’s certainly reminiscent of Call of Duty’s iconic Zombies mode, but with some added replayability and the freedom to choose how you tackle this new gauntlet thanks to its lineup of Indulgences.
When things kick off, you’ll be offered one of these Indulgence power-ups, which modify how things pan out. The Pyrokinetic Indulgence focuses on fire damage, Voltaic is all about electric damage, and Fulminator blends both of these elements. Then there’s Death Dealer, which revolves around close-quarters ranged and melee combat, and finally there’s Colossus which helps to boost survivability. These Indulgences shape the way you tackle Mortis Trials, and it gives you a good excuse to run it at least five times to experience each one and the perks they give you.
Despite this update’s focus on a brand new mode, Darktide’s existing Havoc mode is getting some love too. For all you hardcore players obsessed with this end-game experience will now feature Campaigns, which is “a rotation system for mission pools and mutators in Havoc challenges,” according to Fatshark. There’s also been a progression overhaul to make things more rewarding.
Elsewhere, the Ogryn class has had a complete talent tree rework in order to make it less one-dimensional. Instead of being cornered into using heavy attacks all the time, you can now have options to build into light attacks too. Plus, those who want the Ogryn to be more of a tank can now do so thanks to the new options in its talent tree.
The Warhammer 40k Darktide Nightmares and Visions update is out now and is free for all players.
Once you’ve rinsed the Nightmares and Visions update for all it’s worth, why not check out some more great Warhammer 40k games. You’ll probably enjoy many of these brilliant co-op games, too.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.