Darktide asked if we want to be scum, and I was the person who said, ‘actually, yes’

Like a lot of Darktide players I was expecting the second DLC class, following the badass arbitrator, to be something exotic drawn from Warhammer 40,000’s deep well of weirdness. A skitarii cyborg maybe, or a ratling, or an arco-flagellant. Instead, we got the hive scum.

If you were hoping for one of those alien orangutans who are also scientific geniuses I can see how a new character who is basically just the gang punk who gets beat up by the hero in act one of an action movie could seem underwhelming. If you wanted to play a Sister of Battle in full power armor and were instead offered a normal drug addict, I sympathize. The way the Darktide subreddit immediately filled their nappies in rage over the hive scum reveal was a bit much, though. The hive scum wasn’t what I expected, but after leveling one up, it’s actually a super fun class to play.

Maybe “dual-wielding” isn’t as big a deal as it was in the Rise of the Triad days, but having a character class who can shoot two pistols at once makes clearing crowds deliciously easy. Especially when paired with the Desperado ability, which lets me reload for free, even when I’m out of ammo, as well as dodge ranged fire, and can be upgraded to reduce its cooldown if I shoot nearby highlighted enemies during its duration. I wipe out one mob of dregs then have to decide if it’s worth racing off to look for more before Desperado runs out, running the risk of getting separated and taken out by a trapper or a hound.

Once, after haring off in search of more goons to shoot, I heard the howls of both a pox hound and a charger. The hound jumped me, but before it could rip me to bits the charger barreled in as well, knocking the hound off and accidentally saving my life. I returned the favor by killing both of them. That wouldn’t have happened if I was playing as cautiously as I do with my veteran.

The hive scum also has a stimm lab, a separate upgrade tree that lets me choose the flavor of buffs I get from my carriable chemistry set. The more effects I pile into the needle and the stronger they are, the higher its viscosity and the longer its cooldown.

I’ve filled mine with toughness-healing and boosts to attack and reload speed, and for a while swapped out Desperado for a power that lets me drop a healing station so everyone in the vicinity enjoys the effects of my stimm as well. Free drugs for all! And then, thanks to another upgrade, when the effect wears off, the station explodes.

This is delightfully silly, and so are the abilities that let you pull a bazooka out of nowhere or throw a chem grenade that contains a toxic acid so powerful even devotees of the plague god explode when they step in the steaming ooze. Chucking around ridiculous gadgets like these I feel like the Joker. Then I switch to a crowbar to batter someone like they’re Jason Todd.

Making the hive scum’s new melee weapons a crowbar, bonesaw, and pair of shivs doesn’t help this DLC get around the accusation of being a bit basic, but I can see the thinking. The hive scum’s not another melee meatshield, it’s a rare glass cannon in a game where most of the other options are tanks.

Only the hive scum and psyker really trade damage potential for fragility, but it means I have an important role even in a squad full of looming ogryns who make me feel like the kid sitting at the adult table. Sure, I’m half your size, but when a monstrosity shows up I’m going to delete it. Three blasts from my pocket-rocket boom-bringer will take down a plague ogryn before anyone else has a chance to hit it, which is balanced by how quickly I drop if I screw up my dodge rhythm.

Additions like new classes are an excuse to check in on the state of Darktide more generally. Right now there’s a new three-mission narrative campaign where the first map has you fight across a train like in Necromunda: Hired Gun, and the last is a sprint through WWI trenches under artillery fire while Melchett from Blackadder shouts at you. So yeah, I feel comfortable saying Darktide is in a good place as the year draws to a close.