Gaming

Depths of the Damned: What’s in Darktide’s Free September 29 Update

A breakdown of the Spillway mission, the Prophet of Decay boss, and the six new weapons coming to Tertium.

A breakdown of the Spillway mission, the Prophet of Decay boss, and the six new weapons coming to Tertium.

Fatshark is sending strike teams under Tertium again. Depths of the Damned is the next free content drop for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, and it wraps a short story campaign around a new level built in the flooded, rotting underside of the Hive. The reveal trailer sets the tone by killing off an entire recon squad before the Rejects ever get deployed.

Quick answer: Depths of the Damned lands September 29 as a free update, adding the Spillway mission, the Depths zone, the Prophet of Decay boss, and six new weapons.

Depths of the Damned release date and platforms

The update arrives on September 29 and costs nothing on top of the base game. No launch time has been confirmed. If you already own Darktide, it will download as a standard patch on whichever platform you play on.

  • PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store on Windows
  • Xbox Series X|S, including Xbox Game Pass
  • PlayStation 5
  • GeForce Now
A four-person squad advancing through a dark industrial corridor in the Hive
A recon squad pushes into the lower levels of the Hive in the Depths of the Damned reveal. Image: Fatshark

What the Depths of the Damned reveal trailer shows

The trailer is framed as a failed reconnaissance run rather than a gameplay showcase. A blast hatch grinds open, four armed operatives move into a misty corridor with weapons up, and their leader radios the Mourningstar to report that something is brewing down in the depths.

Back aboard the ship, a hooded handler watches the squad’s body-cam feed on a green CRT monitor while a servo-skull drifts past the team. The exchange is pure Darktide gallows humor, right up until the squad lights up a lone twitching figure standing in the dark and drops it with a single shot.

Green tactical monitor showing the squad's live surveillance feed with a scan progress bar
The handler’s tactical monitor runs a scan while the squad’s camera feed streams in. Image: Fatshark

Then the floor starts pooling with glowing green liquid and gas. One operative steps into it and the acid immediately eats through his boot and leg. The rest fire blindly into the mist.

Green Data Feed monitor showing live surveillance imagery during a transfer process
The Data Feed panel keeps transmitting as conditions in the tunnel turn. Image: Fatshark

The feed glitches, a skull icon fills the screen, and the transmission cuts out over the sound of the squad dying. The handler writes the mission off and calls it in. The payoff line is the whole pitch for the update: send in the Rejects.

Surveillance monitor showing a crouching figure in the dark above a three-step progress bar
A crouching figure appears on the feed moments before the squad is overrun. Image: Fatshark

Spillway mission and the Depths zone

Depths of the Damned adds a mini story campaign that builds toward its finale in a new level called Spillway. The mission drops strike teams into the Depths, a sprawl of tunnels, waterways, and abandoned passages that sits under the rest of Tertium. It is run by the Water Cartel, and it is thick with chaos and decay.

The route through Spillway is not fixed. Teams pick their own path, and some of those paths are more dangerous than others. Whichever branch you take, the mission funnels toward the same confrontation at the end.


Prophet of Decay boss encounter

The new boss is the Prophet of Decay, a powerful Psyker that has claimed the deep reaches of the Torrent as its own territory. Fatshark has said only that it is no ordinary spawn of Chaos, and is holding back the specifics of how the fight actually plays out.

More detail on the encounter is planned ahead of release, so mechanics, phases, and counters are still unannounced.


Six new weapons and weapon marks

The arsenal grows by six new weapons, split between entirely new weapon families and new marks of existing ones, spread across a range of classes.

WeaponCategory
Ogryn CruncherNew family
Huntsman’s ShotgunNew family
Ogryn ThugshotNew family
Crusher Krourk MK VIINew mark
Double-Barrelled Shotgun Krouk Mk IVNew mark
Gromm Mk I Battle MaulNew mark
Mk V Slab ShieldNew mark

Ogryn players get the heaviest share of the additions, with two of the three new families built for them plus a new Slab Shield mark. Stats, blessings, and per-class availability are due in a Feature Highlight before the update goes live.

The four Reject archetypes standing at the entrance to the Depths zone
The Rejects gear up at the mouth of the Depths in the update’s title card. Image: Fatshark

Live event, store rotation, and quality of life changes

Beyond the mission and the weapons, the patch carries a new live event, a store rotation, and a batch of quality of life improvements. Those changes have not been itemized yet, and the finer points are expected closer to launch.

It follows a steady run of free additions this year, including the Skitarii class in June and the Shambling Horrors live event in August. If you have been away from the Mourningstar for a while, September 29 is a reasonable date to come back.