Darktide Gets a Cooperative Card Game Bringing Hive Combat to the Table

Hive Tertium is a city ablaze with heresy and teetering on the brink of damnation, and Cubicle 7 brought the full weight of that setting to the card table on January 21, 2026. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, The Card Game is a cooperative caper for one to four players, published by Cubicle 7, the studio behind tabletop RPG Imperium Maledictum. It is based directly on the Darktide video game developed by Fatshark and retails at $39.99.

Players take on the role of a Reject, a condemned and entirely expendable warrior conscripted by the Inquisition and sent first into the fray. What waits for them are Chaos horrors and corrupted Guardsmen across six missions decreed by their merciless Inquisitor. The framing is carried straight from the videogame's premise: you are not a hero, you are expendable, and the mission comes before your survival.

Four playable archetypes shape team composition: the Ogryn Skullbreaker, Psyker Psykinetic, Veteran Sharpshooter, and Zealot Preacher. Each runs off its own dedicated player board with a distinct ability profile, keeping roles mechanically separate and rewarding coordination over improvisation. The design blends tactical card play with escalating threat, pushing squads to decide collectively which sectors to push into, which to abandon, and how to allocate a finite pool of resources against a mounting tide.

Progress through the six-mission campaign is earned through the Inquisitor's trust, which unlocks stronger gear and vital upgrades. Fall short, and the hive burns. The box also includes rules for solo and single-mission game modes, broadening replay value past the campaign and making it viable for players who can't always field a full squad of four.

The set includes over 260 cards alongside six player boards plus all the tokens and rules needed to play, keeping the package self-contained. At 14+, with no painting or assembly required, it functions as a natural demo product for stores and community nights, a lower friction entry than a Kill Team warband while still sitting firmly inside 40k's lore and visual language.

The larger signal here is what Darktide: The Card Game represents for GW's licensing strategy. Fatshark's video game pulled in players with no existing ties to Citadel miniatures. A physical card adaptation built around the same setting and the same four character classes creates a direct on-ramp for that audience into the broader 40k ecosystem. Cubicle 7 has already proven it can operate across multiple Warhammer formats; if this title sells through, expect the video-to-tabletop pipeline to keep moving.