Warhammer 40K: Darktide, the upcoming co-op shooter from developer Fatshark, has been gradually stepping up its marketing campaign. The new title will take the four-player action of Fatshark's previous title Warhammer: Vermintide and transport it to the series' sci-fi sibling. Darktide will be set in the depths of a hive city, a vast metropolis crammed with billions of Imperial citizens, wealthy nobles, and underhive gangers.

Unfortunately for the people of Hive Tertium, a cult dedicated to the Chaos God Nurgle has taken root and is in the process of converting its populace to diseased cultists or brainwashed zombies. The Imperium of Man has dispatched its Inquisition to deal with the corrupted uprising, but it has to rely on convict soldiers. It's these desperate souls who Darktide players will guide into the depths of Tertium in the hope of stopping Nurgle's plans.

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Who is Nurgle in Warhammer 40K: Darktide

plaguefather nurgle triumphant

Nurgle is the oldest of the Chaos Gods, four immensely powerful entities spawned by the emotions of living creatures in the hellish Warp. As the avatar of death, decay, and disease, Nurgle is most often depicted as a vast, rotting daemon with rolls of decaying flesh, weeping sores, and flies swarming around his broken antlers.

Despite his horrifying appearance, Nurgle is one of the most cheerful and good-natured of the Chaos Gods, and his followers often refer to him as Grandfather Nurgle. He takes great pleasure in spreading the "gifts" of his plagues across the galaxy, and freeing mortals from their empty lives through pain, suffering, and death.

The cults and daemons dedicated to Nurgle often inherit this "giving" personality, and have trouble understanding why their enemies so violently resist the spread of Nurgle's plagues. New converts are often lured by the promise of an escape from suffering. Although Nurgle's followers are just as susceptible to his diseases as any other mortal, they are only strengthened by the corruption and feel nothing despite their bodies decaying. These implacable enemies will give the talkative convicts of Darktide the fight of their lives.

The Followers of Nurgle in Warhammer 40K: Darktide

Warhammer 40K: Darktide Nurgle Corrupted Ogryn

The particular cult of Nurgle that has infected Tertium in Warhammer 40K: Darktide is known as the Admonition. The lowest of Nurgle's forces in Darktide will be plague zombies, human victims who have died to Nurgle's plagues and been resurrected to serve as cannon fodder. These enemies often come in vast hordes, but lack the fortitude of Nurgle's other minions.

One step up from the plague zombies are the Chaos cultists, consisting of the men and women who decided to willingly devote themselves to Nurgle. Although their bodies are riddled with diseases and tumors, the cultists retain their minds and skills, and will be among the most well-armed. These zealots can range from former construction workers wielding industrial axes and hammers to defectors from the Imperial Guard or Planetary Defense Forces armed with lasguns and stubbers. These cultists may also include corrupted Ogryn, towering human mutants bred to survive on high-gravity worlds across the Imperium.

However, Nurgle's most dangerous forces are his daemonic servants, which players can expect to face as elites and mini-bosses. These include Plaguebearers, the foot soldiers of Nurgle's daemonic armies. Plaguebearers are lesser daemons crafted from the tormented souls of those who've died from Nurgle's plagues, and wield rusty, diseased knives and bile-spewing guns in combat. Finally, players are almost certain to run into the Chaos Spawn of Nurgle, beings so corrupted by the Lord of Decay that they're nothing more than tangles of mutated flesh and diseased tentacles. These instruments of Nurgle are sure to be a serious challenge for any party in Warhammer 40K: Darktide.

Warhammer 40K: Darktide releases on September 13, 2022, for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

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