After ufa888 pulling off a 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 riches777 "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 g2g1bet 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 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.