Vermintide takes place in the Warhammer universe. For those unfamiliar, it is a dark place full of death and disease. Plague rats and their larger cousins the Skaven rule the sewers of the human cities killing anything that goes down there. Vermintide 2 takes you out of the sewers and sometimes into the wildlands around the city. You have choices of up to fifteen heroes in this co-op fighter. Prepare for the darkest foes in any game, you will face chaos, the spawn, Nurgle, and the nastiest beasts you can think of.
Vermintide 2 improves on its game play. The game takes place in first person and right away you are thrust into the action facing down chaos marauders who have been looting a nearby destroyed village. The four player co-op mode makes it fun to group up and fight enemies on somewhat equal terms. The pace is very fast, but the game has added in an improved skill system to help you out. The characters have all the flavor of classic Warhammer. Bardin, the dwarven berserker is ideal and brings new meaning to the fights. You can also play as Imperials, Elves, and the deadly Bright Wizard, get your pyro on with this character. They brought all the original characters back. However, you can now choose a character like Bardin’s pathway taking him into the ranger, iron breaker, or slayer lists. On the flip side, Kerillian can go different elven pathways including the Daughter of Khaine archtype which is more of an assassin character.
You also have access to a host of new weapons in the game. With the first person view the pace of fighting is constantly attacking your senses. Ranged weapons exist as well, but use your ammo wisely. Nothing beats the blunt force of up front attacks. Your gear is the template for your character’s power level. Loot boxes are in the game, but the system is not taxing (like some others). The crafting system exists as well and is fun.
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The enemies are some of the best that Games Workshop has created. Not only will you face the returning Skaven, but chaos has arrived. The dreaded chaos warriors and even worse the unkillable chaos spawn make an appearance in the game, you can kill the spawn by the way.
We found the game to be extremely fast paced which is ideal for this type of style. Using the skill system kept combat simple and allowed you to explore environments looking for loot. Chaos is so abound in the game they come around every corner. It is similar in pace to a zombie fighter which appeals to the co-op play. Cutting down hordes of skaven is always fun, but Vermintide really shines in their boss fights.
If you cannot get together for a night of table top with your friends, Vermintide is the perfect supplement. The team at Fat Shark is hosting dedicated servers for people as well as mod support which is something the community has wanted since Vermintide. Our only downside to the preview is that we wanted more. Fat Shark has a real winner on their hands and Warhammer fans can rejoice at a game that finally captures the fast paced brutal combat in an even better way than the original. The maps and background capture the Warhammer dark world perfectly. We cannot wait for more Vermintide 2 to come to Steam, while this is only an early preview, the team will hopefully provide us with more foes to take down. Chaos may reign for now, but our heroes are ready for much more.
