The grim darkness of the future is back today with version 1.0.20, a new patch (opens in new tab) for Warhammer 40K: Darktide (opens in new tab) that brings new weapons, an updated crafting system, and someone is sure to really piss off! The long-awaited nerf was brought to the market in the form of a new patch.

First up in the patch's additions are two new weapons: Zealot and Ogryn each get a shiny new power maul: the two-handed Indignatus Mk IVe Crusher for the former and the one-handed Akris Mk I Power Maul for the latter. In other words, a big sci-fi hammer for a big sci-fi person, who needs to "go to the rooftop of HL-19-24 Archivum and send a message to our allies in the Imperium.

But what Fat Shark gives with one hand, it takes with the other; the Munitorum Mk III Power Sword was powerful enough to turn Darktide's shooting-focused Veteran class into melee masters, but was nerfed. Both its attack cleave and "damage depression against third and higher targets in heavily triggered sweeps" have been adjusted. This is for the best: the community has been bemoaning the veteran's melee aptitude (open in new tab) for a while now. This should make it a little fairer.

Finally, in an update not so directly related to Stone Cold Murder, you can now refine perks in Shrine of the Omnissiah. Refining one weapon perk will lock in other perks and reduce the resource cost for each refinement action. In addition, perks now display a tier (from 1 to 4) in the item card view.Darktide's crafting system was a bit unfinished when the game was first released, but Fatshark recently spoke with PCG, who will be enhancing it in stages (open in new tab). plans, he said. With the addition of refining, that plan is now about halfway complete.

There are more tweaks and additions in this patch, including a new private play mode and new conditions. It's good to see that the necessary changes are getting the attention they need. We gave Darktide an 80% score in our review of Warhammer 40K: Darktide (open in new tab), noting that it was a "solid foundation" that could "blossom into a really great game" if Fatshark put in the effort. That seems to be exactly what the studio intends to do.

The full, voluminous patch notes are here. Get ready to scroll.