Darktide Spillway Penances currently contain misleading difficulty text, and Fatshark has confirmed the wording problem as a known issue. Some new objectives mention completing missions on Damnation on the Auric board when the intended requirement is Auric difficulty, while other text still refers to Sedition even though that difficulty no longer exists.
The result is exactly the kind of objective that can look impossible even when the game is working. For Darktide Spillway Penances, follow the corrected difficulty intent from Fatshark rather than treating the outdated words in the Penance description as a hidden requirement.
Darktide Spillway Penances Auric requirement explained
Hotfix 1.13.1 says the new Spillway Penances incorrectly mention finishing missions on Damnation on the Auric mission board. Fatshark’s correction is that the objective should refer to completing them on Auric difficulty.
Patch 1.13.0 used even more specific wording and said the intended text should mention Auric on the Maelstrom mission board. Because Fatshark later simplified the known issue to Auric difficulty, the safest current rule is to satisfy the live Auric requirement rather than trusting the visible Damnation label.
Why do some Spillway Penances mention Sedition?
That is another confirmed text error. Sedition has been removed, but some Darktide Spillway Penances still reference it. The mention does not mean Fatshark secretly restored the old difficulty or that you need an unavailable playlist to complete the objective.
Players should treat the Sedition reference as stale wording until the Penance text is corrected. If a requirement looks impossible solely because the named difficulty no longer exists, the known-issues note is the explanation.
Do you need Damnation or Auric?
For the affected Darktide Spillway Penances, Fatshark says the text that currently points to Damnation on the Auric board is wrong and should refer to Auric difficulty. That is the current official clarification.
This matters because Damnation and Auric are not interchangeable labels. A player repeatedly clearing ordinary Damnation can waste time if the Penance is actually tracking an Auric requirement behind the incorrect text.
Is the Penance itself broken?
Fatshark identifies the problem as incorrect wording rather than saying the entire tracking system is non-functional. That suggests players should first complete the corrected requirement before assuming the Penance cannot progress at all.
If Darktide Spillway Penances still fail to register after a proper Auric completion on the current build, that is when a new bug report becomes useful. Include the exact Penance name, difficulty, mission board and completion time so support can separate tracking failure from the known description error.
Does Hotfix 1.13.1 fix the text?
No. The wording remains in the known-issues section of the hotfix notes, which means Fatshark is acknowledging it rather than claiming the description has already been corrected.
Installing 1.13.1 is still important because the patch changes the Prophet of Decay fight and fixes other bugs, but players should expect the affected Penance text to remain confusing until a later update changes it.
What else changed in Hotfix 1.13.1?
The same patch increases the Prophet of Decay phase-two tooth-pillar minimum from two to three on Damnation and above, adjusts exhausted health thresholds for more melee damage, fixes missing Mortis Trials crafting materials and fixes a Meat Grinder crash.
Those fixes are separate from Darktide Spillway Penances, but they matter when reading older guides because several parts of Depths of the Damned changed within days of release.
Best way to avoid wasting a run
Before starting a difficult Penance attempt, compare the visible objective with Fatshark’s current known-issues note. If the game says Damnation on the Auric board for one of the affected Darktide Spillway Penances, plan for Auric instead.
Do the same with any Sedition reference. An obsolete difficulty name is not a secret challenge requirement, and chasing it will only waste time until the UI text is corrected.
Darktide Spillway Penances should be read against Fatshark
