Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is the sequel of survival co-op game Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide, in which you get together with 3 other people to finish objectives in a hardcore, combat filled environment. The first game had received many positive reviews on many websites and Steam. Recently, the second title of the game went into Closed Beta and thanks to Fatshark, we had the chance to test the game before its release date on March 8th. And today, we will talk about the main mechanics of the game and share our first thoughts about it and its future. Do keep in mind that the game was on Closed Beta when we tested it. So we excluded a couple of minor bugs and unimportant known issues about the game. So, let’s begin.
Left 4 Vermintide
First of all, you might ask: “Why do you keep talking about Left 4 Dead, Umut? Do they pay your bills or something?” and I might answer to that: “I wish fellas, I wish…” But seriously, these two games have many common points as well as many differences which make Warhammer: Vermintide 2 a unique experience. In addition, compared to its predecessor, it has improved visuals and mechanics that will satisfy many gamers out there.
The first thing that I would like to point out is the co-op survival aspect of the game since it is the main aspect that you will taste. You have objectives to finish for each different mission and during these missions, you will mostly focus on your own and your teammates’ survival. And to do so, you will choose one of the five heroes of Warhammer: Vermintide 2.
Hear ye, hear ye, heroes of Vermintide!
The five heroes that you can choose are the same ones that you saw in the first game. And for each character you choose, you will get three career paths which will dictate your play style. For example, you can choose Bardin Goreksson (the Dwarf) and play as a Ranger Veteran and focus on ranged combat; Ironbreaker, the tankish Dwarf; or Slayer, the berserker like dwarf with an axe in his each hands. The same principal goes for all other characters which are Kerillian the Elf; Victor Saltzpyre the Witch Hunter; Sienna Fuegonasus the Fire Mage and Markus Kruber the Mercenary. The only catch is that you have to level up the heroes before you can unlock all the playable careers and each hero has a separate pool of experience which means that you will have to level them up individually. Is this a problem? On the contrary mates… on the contrary.
Each one of these characters have three different careers which will change how you play the game. You can choose to be a melee fire mage with Sienna; or you can play as a huntsman with Kruber. Whenever you level up, you will get to choose a branch of the talent tree. And yes fellas, you guessed it right, these talents also effect your play style.
Along with these class features, the weapons you use will also change your attack style drastically, especially if you choose to play as Sienna because her magical abilities are changed based on the weapon she is using. Other than that, both the melee and ranged weapons have their own speed, attack style, range and defensive stances. When you combine all of these features, you will have tons of different ways to play as a hero.
Missions and Locations
When you start the game, you will find yourself in a ‘safe haven’ like place which is called the Keep. This place is your hideout where you can open loot-boxes (we will talk about this later, don’t get angry right away), upgrade your weapons, craft new items and get new talents for your hero. Each hero has their own type of weapons, skills and accessories. You can test out your skills, unique items like potions, bombs and other consumables and also your skills in this keep without harming anybody. Also, apparently you can decorate your keep with your battle trophies though I haven’t had the chance to test it yet.
When you are ready to delve into the unforgiving world of Warhammer: Vermintide 2, you choose a game mode from the mission map. Each one of these modes have different settings as well as different outcomes. You can either start the Quick Play to get better loot with random people and on a randomly chosen map or you can choose the Story Mode and start your own adventure with bots or other players. These modes support different difficulties and each difficulty comes with more risk and better loot. If you want to try something different, you can use the unique Heroic Deed ‘item thingies’ which will allow you to play in a unique setting. These Heroic Deeds are items that you use to modify the next game you will play and make it more challenging or interesting. These are basically the modifications like ‘No healing, faster movement for enemies, only one type of enemy’ etc.
Enemies Everywhere!
During these missions you try to survive against huge waves of enemies. These enemies are either The Warriors of Chaos or The Skaven Horde. The first one is the group of orc-like creatures whereas the latter is the army of rat-man. Each army has their own unique units with unique powers. For example, the Chaos Warrior is a huge tankish dude with a strong attack whereas the Strangler is the ‘hostage taker’ of The Skaven Horde. These units have their own abilities and combat tactics. You cannot expect to kill a Chaos Warrior by attacking his body, you should aim for his head. The list goes like this and each one of these enemies make survival much more harder if you are not careful.
The indicators are pretty important in this game. Whenever a special unit spawns, it makes a noise. You have to follow it in order to kill that unit before it gets you first. And, as it is indicated in the trailer of the game, walking around solo is not a wise decision.
When your health bar reaches to zero, you get downed and you stay like that until your team mates get you up. Imagine it as a kind of revival mechanic. But if they can’t reach you in time, enemies take you as a prisoner and you stay out of the fight until your team mates rescue you. So, you have to stay with your team and play as a team member.
Other Mechanics
The “Spawn Director” system ensures that every single mission you play feels unique. With this system, enemy spawn points and formations are always unpredictable. So you can’t expect to have the same amount of enemies on the same point of the map. Wherever you go, you will have to keep your eyes and ears open as the enemy might come from anywhere you go.
Along with that, new loot system looks pretty satisfying too if you ask me. You get loot-boxes whenever you finish a mission and it gets better according to the difficulty, game mode, the unique items that you can find in the maps and your score. Also, you get a different box whenever you level up. There are a couple of good parts about these boxes.
First of all, they are not paid boxes. You can’t buy them and you will only get them if you keep playing and grinding. This is both a good and a bad decision if you ask me. If you are a tireless grinder, then you’ll have no problem. But if you get bored real quick when you play the same map over and over again, you might get disappointed. However, the fact that they are not ‘for sale’ makes me smile, to be honest.
The second good part about these boxes is that they give class-based items for the class that you’re playing. You can’t get Sienna’s items when you play as Kruger. This system ensures that you always get a useful item. And if you have weaker items, you can always salvage crafting items out of them. I should also say that the crafting system is simplistic and pretty good enough for an action game like Warhammer: Vermintide 2. Last but not least, the game comes with a Mod Support.
Get to the Point!
Ok, ok! I get to the important part, geez. When it comes to the technical part of the game, I will be honest and direct. The visuals are awesome mates. The atmosphere and the level design are both impressive. These beautiful graphics are delicious when they are mixed with astonishing lighting and shadow effects. The only thing I was concerned about was the small but weird animation glitches which can be pretty funny sometimes. Seeing the Dwarf looking at his back turned around 180 degrees was a funny sight to witness. But other than that, the game looks beautiful and the animations are satisfying.
When it comes to the sounds though, I will not be able to say the same. Yes, they are good. Especially during the fight, hearing heroes talking, joking around and picking on each other go pretty well with the atmosphere. Weapons and items has good sound effects and the enemies share the same quality. But the music is another subject… When it comes to the music, I think Vermintide 2 fails a little bit. It is not disturbing or it is not irrelevant to the atmosphere but they are pretty weak especially when they are compared with other qualities of the game. The music chosen for the levels are good on their own. But when things get hot in the battlefield, you can’t get in the mood of dismembering rat-man with your huge two-handed greatsword. Fatshark might add a couple of more tracks in the future, maybe; this, I don’t know but I do hope.
The performance is one of the better parts about this game. It doesn’t ask you to buy a PC for which you have to sell your house and your children. On the contrary, if you are ok with playing on the medium or low settings, your 5 years old dusty laptop should be able to run it. And believe me, even on the lowest settings, this game is still beautiful, like the sun shining on a clear lake…(Sigh…I miss travelling…)
My Last Words… About this Game…
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 tries to be a better successor of the previous title. And it definitely succeeds. With its beautiful mechanics, visuals, atmosphere and the improved core features, this game stands on a strong position. The co-op action survival aspect of the game is stunning and captivating. You start the game telling yourself to stop after an hour or so, but find yourself saying hello to the next day.
The only bad part about it is the musics and its linear gameplay which can be boring for some people out there. But if you like the genre and want to try a game in which you can have real challenge and if you don’t mind grinding a lot, this is your game. Do keep in mind, however, that it was on beta when we had the chance to play it. So before March 8th, the official release date, expect more improvements and don’t forget that the game is on 10% discount until that date; it is $26.99 for a short time.
You can pre-order it now on Steam if you are interested.
