I'm excited about every part of Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy. It's my favorite game genre (CRPG), in my favorite fictional setting (Games Workshop's horrific far future). I'm gonna be in heaven whatever happens. But one aspect of this upcoming whopper of a Warhammer 40k game delights me in particular, and it's one we've seen suspiciously little trace of so far: this is a detective story. And the fresh screenie above, while rad, does not scream 'detective'.
This time around, we as players are not a mighty Space Marine, nor even a merchant venturing Rogue Trader; we're an acolyte of the Warhammer 40,000 Inquisition, out to solve mysteries and catch 'bad guys'. It's taken a while, but that side of this Very Important Game is finally starting to shine through.
Only last week we got our first real glance at this side of the game, as a dev diary pencilled in how the "Investigation System" would work. And now, a new bundle of in game screenshots, revealed Tuesday, December 9, gives us (per the accompanying announcement) "a first look at a mind map from the detective system". Here it is, in all its glory:
This might be the most excited I've ever been by a pre-release videogame screenshot that literally only shows a quest journal, and that's for two reasons. First, the detective work side of the game is, in my view at least, the most complex and compelling difference between Dark Heresy and its excellent predecessor Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader.
Owlcat's other tasty new screens do indeed "[showcase] party members, detailed environments, [and] grisly combat scenes" as promised. I'm as jazzed as the next guy about Ogryn and Aeldari Warlock companions, a V.A.T.S. style aiming mechanic, and so on. But those parts are evolutions from Rogue Trader. The detective gameplay is completely new, and for me it'll be the game's make or break.
Why? Well, that's my second reason for being excited about a bland photo of a mind map: detective stories are some of the absolute best bits of Warhammer 40,000, period, and I'm desperate for this game to bring them to life.
Screw transhuman superheroes and their big stompy wars. Some of the best 40k takes place in grimy backwaters and downtrodden slums, following morally questionable imperial agents as they hunt conspiracies and threats among the trillions of ordinary people you don't see on the model boxes.
Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn, Ravenor, and Bequin detective novels are frequently praised as some of the most accessible and best Warhammer 40k books ever printed, and I wholeheartedly agree. These books break the mold by being great detective novels first, and fan pleasing Warhammer novels second; they succeed in their genre, rather than relying entirely on the 40k setting.
I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that to recreate that in videogame form would be the ultimate triumph for Dark Heresy: to be a supremely successful detective CRPG first, and a brilliant 40k videogame second.
Owlcat's latest dev diary, from December 2, offers much cause for optimism on this front. The short video above peeks at the in-development investigation system, showing the player exploring a crime scene and gathering clues with the help of a floodlight-bearing servo-skull.
But the real gold, for me, is the way this diary talks about the intended experience of doing these investigations. "Analyse the information, examine the crime scene, and study the witness statements," it says. "It is your duty to spot the pattern where others see nothing. And remember - an incorrect conclusion is still a conclusion."
Once you've gathered up every clue you can, compared and found links between them in the journal, enlisted companions for help and intel, and come to some conclusions, that's not job done, ding, collect XP, move on. You've got to make a judgement, and report to your boss the inquisitor on who's guilty and what's to be done.
"You may decide to deliberately accuse someone as punishment for their actions or simply out of personal animosity," Owlcat's diary says. "The choice is yours: you render the verdict, whether fair or not, and so too will you face the consequences."
To all that, I say: freaking yes. Do you want meaningful in game moral decisions? Because this is how you get meaningful in game moral decisions. Which brings us full circle, back to that new photo of the "Inquisitorial Journal" screen and its full-on serial killer wall; a grimy sci-fi equivalent of a corkboard covered with pinned strings, crime scene polaroids, and scribbled notes on napkins. I haven't played the game, and I haven't clicked around that mind map - but it symbolizes what I want from the final version.
This new wave of detail on Dark Heresy's investigative heart gives me hope it'll be just that: the heart of it, not merely a well intentioned but half baked appendage stitched onto a very good tactical combat game. My dream version of this game is 50% Rogue Trader, 50% terrifying hybrid of Disco Elysium and Papers, Please. I'm not going to get that exactly, but I've got more reason to hope than ever.
The next pin in the corkboard is the exclusive playable Alpha, which goes live next week, on Tuesday, December 16. And I cannot wait. What about you? Have you pre-ordered to get access to this Alpha? If so, are you with me on the gumshoe stuff, or are you really just in it for more delicious tactical fights? Come join the free Wargamer Discord community and let us know! We completely, almost certainly promise we're probably definitely not the Inquisition.