Vermintide 2 is a cooperative horde survival game, much in the vein of Left 4 Dead 2, but with a far more melee focused gameplay loop. Available on PC, Xbox, and Playstation, this review is for the PC version but the overall experience is the same throughout. The setting of Vermintide is the Warhammer Fantasy universe, which much like its grimdark science fiction counterpart Warhammer 40,000, is a dark and gritty world. Vermintide in fact, takes place during what is canonically accepted as the end of the world.
There are five different characters to choose from, each one comes with three different “careers” to choose from which allows even the ranged wizard Sienna to have a melee focused build. Additionally, customizable loadouts allow for one to find and choose their favorite weapons to bring to bear against the endless hordes of the game.
The enemies in this game are threefold: the first, Skaven, or ratmen as they are sometimes called are human sized rats who have banded together all across the world and seek to overwhelm the surface world. Norsca, are humans who worship the Chaos gods, the specific group encountered in game are the Rotblood tribe who worship Nurgle the god of disease. Finally, the Beastment, who as the name suggests are a race of cursed humans who have turned into goatlike beasts and slaughter in the name of the Chaos gods and their own beastly rage.
The first two factions you fight are included in the base game, though the Beastmen faction is part of the DLC pack “Winds of Magic”. There are also DLC packs for new weapons and a new career for each character, currently except Sienna who is getting her new career in 2023.
Personally, I love this game. The melee and ranged combat is engaging and challenging, and the many options for customization keep the game feeling fresh. The Chaos Wastes Rogue-like gamemode is also a favorite of my group. If you’re playing on PC there is also a modding community to add additional flare and fun to the experience such as a “True Solo” experience which removes the AI bots which help you along a mission when there are missing players.
The game’s asking price of about $40 is as of writing not an issue to do an anniversary sale making the game free till November 7th, along with all DLC having noticable markdowns on prices. Even at full price this game is absolutely worth the investment if you have a group of friends and a love of coop games. Matchmaking is also fully viable, but I cannot recommend playing with friends enough.