After pulling off a Darktide redemption arc last year, Fatshark's not resting on its inquisitorial laurels. Secrets of the Machine God, Darktide's latest update, arrived earlier today, bringing a new mission to revive an abandoned Adeptus Mechanicus foundry and a set of new weapon types. If you're not already thrilled, you should be: It's never a bad time when the tech-priests are around.
The new mission, Clandestium Gloriana, will have strike teams descend into a derelict "Foundryplex"—a massive production facility where the AdMech tech-priests once worked their fabled wonders, which the Inquisition hopes to reawaken for its war effort. The mission will feature some new tech from Fatshark, like a mission-giver who will accompany the players and a variable end-of-mission encounter that aims to improve replayability. And it's an arctic mission! Everyone loves an arctic mission.
As a reward for their efforts, conscripts will be able to enjoy the spoils of the Foundryplex in the form of new weapon types. For Ogryn characters, new two-handed pickaxes can puncture skulls and sweep crowds, depending on the variety. It'll be like you're playing Deep Rock Galactic, but big instead of dwarf-sized. Meanwhile, Veterans, Zealots, and Psykers will share three new weapon types to work with: shock mauls that can stun enemies and apply damage over time, double-barreled shotguns for "very close range" combat, and bolt pistols for mobile—if inaccurate—gunplay.
Secrets of the Machine God also brings quality-of-life updates and additions, like overhauled crosshairs that better reflect shot spreads and provide a better sense of when you are and aren't hacking into a heretic's weakspot with a combat axe. Existing weapons and class skill trees have gotten a balance tuning pass, and Fatshark's implemented a slew of tweaks to improve missions based on player feedback. Combat encounters have gotten reworked enemy spawns, layout changes, cover placement—it's an exciting time for would-be inquisitors.
Not having played much Darktide since launch, this update's giving me just the excuse I need to thaw out my Inquisition conscripts for a long-overdue revisit. And it looks like I'm not alone—since the update hit overnight, Darktide's gotten a sizable bump in player counts. If you want to join us in the thrashing pile of bolters, shovels, and knives, Secrets of the Machine God is out now.
