Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has the oppressive environment of 40K useless to rights, with its darkish metropolis overwhelmed by a baleful sense of coming doom. We have spent hours and hours being tormented within the tunnels of Tertium Hive and but for some cause nonetheless need extra of that individual gloomy vibe in all its types, so we have been on much more of a 40K kick than regular. We have been plowing by way of the 40K books (in textual content and audio kind) and watching the reveals, in addition to branching out into different works of science fiction that give us the identical sense that every little thing may be very mistaken with the universe.
Which means Astartes (opens in new tab), films like Aliens and Occasion Horizon, and likewise that one episode of Cowboy Bebop with the factor on board their ship (episode 11, Toys within the Attic). It additionally means some belongings you may not have watched or learn but. Be a part of us in a descent into unhealthily baroque cityscapes and battlefields with these options for issues to learn and watch after taking part in Darktide.
Learn: Gaunt’s Ghosts – Necropolis
The place to get: Amazon (opens in new tab), Black Library (opens in new tab), Audible (opens in new tab)
Sean Martin, Guides Author: If spending time in Hive Tertium has piqued your curiosity in 40K’s planet-sized mega cities, why not learn a few of the greatest hive-related fiction from the person who created Tertium itself? Necropolis is one among my favourite Dan Abnett novels, and looks like the purpose the place the Gaunt’s Ghosts collection hit its stride.
Colonel-Commissar Gaunt is tasked with defending the town of Vervunhive in opposition to a cultist invasion (sounds acquainted), however what Necropolis does greatest is to discover characters at each strata of the town, from manufacturing facility employees to the planetary protection drive to the ruling class itself. Because the battle rages, you get to see how their lives are modified, and it helps set up this concept of hives as residing entities which can be nothing with out their folks
Learn: Titanicus
The place to get: Amazon (opens in new tab), Black Library (opens in new tab), Audible (opens in new tab)
Sean: For those who’d favor your hive novel with a splash of massive robots capturing one another, then Titanicus is one other strong decide. In an identical vein to Necropolis, it follows numerous hive-dwellers on the forge world of Orestes and reveals how the arrival of a titan battle fairly actually shakes their lives.
It is also a enjoyable exploration of the ideological fractures between the Imperium and the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the political scheming that goes on behind the scenes. All advised, simply an excellent ebook about how cool titan warfare is.
Learn: Ravenor
The place to get: Amazon (opens in new tab), Black Library (opens in new tab), Audible (opens in new tab)
Jody Macgregor, Weekend/AU Editor: Inquisitors get a lot leeway in how they pursue their targets it is laborious to make generalizations about them, but it surely appears fairly uncommon for one to unravel an issue the best way Inquisitor Grendyl does in Darkide: by assembling a military you might most likely invade Belgium with. Normally they work with a smaller warband of trusted acolytes. Abnett’s written a number of collection of interconnected novels about Inquisitors and acolytes, starting with the Eisenhorn collection (opens in new tab), however for a take a look at how an Inquisitor’s retinue features I like to recommend the Ravenor books, which comply with on from them however work effectively sufficient as a place to begin.
Inquisitor Ravenor does his inquiring by way of brokers just like the knife-throwing psyker Persistence and bounty hunter Harlon. Ravenor’s a psyker himself, and coordinates his workforce from the 40K equal of a wheelchair like he is Professor X. His workforce spends plenty of time in grubby cyberpunk cities, investigating daemonic medicine and getting within the type of fights that lead to arterial spray as a result of that is 40K in any case. Wolverine would match proper in, actually. In Ravenor’s brokers you’ll be able to see the archetypes of Grendyl’s warband. Inquisitors want pilots, medicaes, and individuals who look good in a bodyglove.
For those who’re an audiobook listener then the audio variations of each the Ravenor and Eisenhorn collection are learn by Toby Longworth, who does a superb job. All of the Warhammer audiobooks I’ve listened to are high quality recordings, however Longworth specifically provides each voice a persona, and generally a enjoyable accent.
Learn: Fifteen Hours
The place to get: Amazon (opens in new tab), Black Library (opens in new tab)
Jody: If I can sneak in a single final 40K ebook whilst you’re right here, Fifteen Hours follows an bizarre soldier of the Imperial Guard as he tries to not die on a war-torn world the place the common lifespan for a guard is, yep, 15 hours. Half the precise hazard comes from bureaucratic stuff-ups and officers who don’t know what they’re doing. It is principally Catch-22 within the forty first millennium.
Watch: Dredd
The place to look at: 4K HDR Blu-ray (opens in new tab) or streaming (opens in new tab)
Wes Fenlon, Senior Editor: Exterior of different Warhammer enterprise, that is most likely the obvious advice I may make, however I do not care. This grungy, dirty masterpiece set in a single condo block in Mega-Metropolis One is an ideal chaser to a weekend spent exploring the bowels of Tertium. There appears to continually be information tales a couple of sequel probably arriving, and I am holding out hope for it—Karl City was born for this function.
For those who’ve seen Dredd 5 instances already, watch it once more anyway. And if you happen to’ve by no means seen it in 4K HDR, belief me, it is well worth the Blu-ray buy or the high-quality rental from Apple or Amazon. The slo-mo drug scenes are dazzling, and you have by no means seen chin appearing this good in such excessive definition.
Watch: Interrogator and Cadia Stands
The place to look at: Warhammer TV (opens in new tab)
Jody: Probably the greatest animations made by Warhammer TV is Interrogator (opens in new tab), a narrative about what occurs to an Inquisitor’s warband when that Inquisitor falls. Reduce free on a squalid hiveworld and turning to drink, their seek for absolution or revenge is advised solely in black-and-white, filled with movie noir touches and lots of people dying within the rain.
Whereas we’re on Warhammer TV, the anthology collection Hammer and Bolter has an episode that gamers of Veteran Sharpshooters will recognize. Hammer and Bolter 8: Cadia Stands (opens in new tab) follows a messenger and a soldier as they race by way of the trenches to ship a communique whereas alien tyranids hurl themselves in opposition to the defenses. It is actual “battle is hell” stuff.
Watch: {Hardware}
The place to look at: DVD (opens in new tab), Blu-ray (opens in new tab)
Wes: This cult sci-fi horror B-movie is a few mighty positive cyberpunk. Born for the fuzziness of a VHS tape, {Hardware} is a couple of post-apocalyptic scavenger (performed by prettyboy Dylan McDermott earlier than his TV run on The Apply) who brings dwelling a busted-up robotic head as a Christmas current. The robotic seems to be a high-end navy homicide machine, and naturally it is out to kill whoever it sees. This can be a messier, nastier tackle The Terminator however set virtually solely in a single condo—a cat-and-mouse sport if Itchy & Scratchy was “oh fuck” violent as an alternative of “ha ha” violent.
{Hardware} is a pulpy B-movie—it is shallow and never significantly authentic, clearly made on a tiny funds. Regardless of that, it will probably actually get beneath your pores and skin; there is a rawness to it that you just simply do not get in additional polished films. Aesthetically I am unable to consider a greater companion to Darktide, the place each character is scarred, imply, and surrounded by darkish and imposing equipment.
Learn extra: The perfect Warhammer 40,000 novels
