Warhammer 40,000: Darktide will feature character customization at launch, publisher and developer Fatshark has confirmed. Moving away from predetermined characters might come as a surprise, given the popularity of Vermintide 2’s gang of popular protagonists, but the decision is meant to provide players more freedom and choices when designing their avatar.
In Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, you play the role of a convict whose sole aim is to rise up through the Inquisition’s ranks by slaughtering hordes of Chaos-corrupted enemies. It’s expected, then, that your first pick in terms of character customization revolves around the reason behind your conviction.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Character Customization
Aside from laying the foundation for your character’s backstory, it seemingly also determines the uniform they wear.
“When creating their first convict, the player can select between predetermined classes, backstory, and personality choices, which affect voice acting, specific customization options, perks, etc,” the developer explains in a dev blog dedicated to Darktide’s character customization.
“Our most crucial visual intent with the customization options is to make sure that they feel like they are part of the world of the 41st millennium while also being connected to the narrative of Darktide. We want the player character faces to look rugged and worn from lack of sleep and food. We want scars to be a brutal reminder of their former life.”
As far as appearance goes, players can alter their characters’ body type, face, eye color, hairstyle, facial hair, face and body tattoos, scars, height, and personality.
Although the game relies on presets rather than giving players the ability to tinker with sliders, the developer aims to offer diversity in terms of facial structure and ethnic descent, as well as incorporate imperfect and asymmetric elements. Some of these include crooked noses, moles, skin conditions, and more.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s character customization also extends to the gear your convict wears. It allows you to mix and match the items in four slots – head gear, upper body, lower body, and accessory –, making for a more flexible system than Vermintide 2’s.
Cosmetics will also not have any impact on gameplay, being there for “purely decorative purposes”.
Closer to launch, the developer confirmed that it plans to allow players to alter their characters’ looks after they leave the character creator.
As of update 1.0.7, a new Barber-Chirurgeon NPC is available on the Mourningstar, eager to help with your cosmetic needs.
You can learn more about Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s character customization and the team’s philosophy for it in the dev blog linked above. The title is set to release on November 30 for the PC, Xbox Series X is coming out later.
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