Warhammer 40,000: Darktide puts in some crafting upgrades and nice new cosmetics

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It'll also let you know when you unlock new stuff.

Tech-Priest Hadron Omega-7-7 from Warhammer 40,000 Darktide
(Image credit: Fatshark)

The pre-order beta for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is in full swing running up to release date on November 30th, with developer Fatshark adding new features and making stability improvements as the big launch approaches. Today's update, 1.0.8, makes a number of balance and stability fixes and adds new cosmetics to the Armoury Exchange.

The update also introduces the first elements of the crafting system. Players can now find Plasteel and Diamantine while out on missions, which can be used to upgrade favorite weapons from one tier to the next, adding a random perk or blessing. Upgrades are handled by Tech-Priest Hadron Omega-7-7 in the hub area, who can be found in the Shrine of the Omnissiah beside the Psykhanium—you know the one.

The other big change is quality-of-life related, with improved end-of-round cards that better show what you've unlocked in the overall progression system. Specifically, it'll indicate what weapons and feats you've unlocked when you level up at mission's end. To support that, the shop where you buy items should now only have pristine and mastercrafted items—no more space gothic bargain sales, thrift models, and grimdark tat for sale at Sire Melk's Requisitorium, in short.

Darktide's pre-order beta has been slowly rolling out features towards the full release, with a patch earlier this week introducing character appearance changes and crash fixes. Fatshark also provided an update on game stability in the new patch notes: "We also said in our earlier update that we were not happy with the game's stability and that we have work left to do. That said, we have made progress in this area since the last patch, and the one deployed today. We hope this translates to a much more stable experience. That isn’t to say we are done, and there are still a few pesky issues out there we will continue to work through as we look to have a stable release."

The 1.0.8 patch also includes this superb patch note, which I would like to submit for whoever's running a Patch Note of the Year competition: "Better Variety of grunts when pushing multiple enemies. We know you love a good grunt."

You can read the full notes on Darktide's Steam page. If you've got questions about the game we're running a whole suite of Darktide guides, which you can find over at pcgamer.com/warhammer-40-000-darktide.

Jonathan Bolding
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Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.