It’s a challenge unlike the official high difficulty levels, which lean towards drowning you in special enemies.
She’s quite bad, and that’s quite fun.
As you climb through Darktide’s formal difficulty levels, it increases challenge by doing more.
More hordes, more special enemies, more modifiers that add complications like reduced visibility or extra minibosses.
It’s non-stop megamurder.
And that’s fun.
But I do miss the challenge you only find as a fresh-out-of-jail varlet.
You don’t face many foes at once but you’re able to’t handle many either.
You must consciously fight the instincts you’ve developed on stronger characters.
Having bad gear creates a fun cascade of problems.
You’re rarely comfortable.
So I’ve created Caterina, a Zealot named after the patron saint of people ridiculed for their piety.
All of her weapons are terrible, received as the starter loadout and random victory rewards.
She equips no Trinkets.
She mostly runs in Uprising difficulty because I want to be challenged without burdening my team.
While I certainly don’t always want to play Caterina, she’s a novel change of pace.
Embracing terrible weapons is also a way to escape Darktide’s woefully tedious loot grind.
While developers Fatshark recentlyannounced plans to reduce random grind, I still thinkthey should rip it out.
Trash only for me, thanks.
I think it’s important to tailor this to your own skill and enjoyment.
A little self-flagellation is always appropriate but I find this style more fun as self-discipline.
If you want or need to use better weapons or a trinket, go for it.
Sure, buy a rubbish roll of a desired weapon archetype if you might’t live without one.
Even add a couple skill points if you desperately want a different ability (especially as a Psyker).
I do miss my favourite weapons and I miss the different playstyles that talent trees enable.
