Warhammer: Vermintide 2 | Xbox One | Review

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Having had the distinct pleasure of exclusively revealing the first glimpse of Warhammer: Vermintide 2 gameplay last October, the long wait for the first-person-shooter-come-brawler to arrive on console has been especially gruelling. Now that we’ve gotten our hands on it: was it worth the wait?

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam

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Developer: Fatshark
Publisher: Fatshark
Platforms: Xbox One,
PS4, PC
Players: 1 - 4

Opening with a prologue that (re)introduces the apocalyptic End Times period in Warhammer lore, a gruff narrator conveys that the Skaven - a race of humanoid rats - have corralled and bolstered their forces after being repelled in the first game. Now allied with the Chaos - a clan of brutish barbarians - you’ll face twice the opposition this time around.

Incoming swarms of standard enemy fodder help to maintain a consistently frenetic pace, while a wide range of hulking boss creatures and middle-ground baddies inject a significant element of challenge, as is customary for Left 4 Dead and its ilk in their venture to nail down replay value. You’ll need to juggle priority targets and manage choke points as tidal waves of fetid flesh rage your way, but that isn’t often something you can do effectively by yourself, which is where the game’s co-op focus becomes evident.

Whilst it is playable on your lonesome (the party of four fills out with bots that do a very serviceable job), Vermintide 2 is at its best when you head online and communicate with a group of players. Having a human (dwarf, or elf) to watch your back is invaluable when teamwork is so integral to mission success, due to enemies utilising an array of devious tricks both old and new. Whether dragging players from the pack or pinning stragglers to the ground, different foes can place heroes into helpless states that require a swift helping hand, while, perhaps more intuitively, a shield-wielding neerdowell can be distracted and flanked by a perceptive pairing.

On the topic of heroes, your choice here significantly impacts the gameplay experience, opposing the interchangeable approach seen in the likes of L4D and, more recently, Earthfall. Choosing between twists on familiar archetypes encompassing warrior, mage, ranger and rogue - further class variants being unlocked as you level each individual character - will dictate your abilities and loadout, as well as your distinct look, stature and personality.

You’ll need to juggle priority targets and manage choke points as tidal waves of fetid flesh rage your way.

The level of customisation on offer gets altogether extensive when you also account for Vermintide 2’s loot and crafting systems. Taal’s Horn Keep serves as a sizeable hub area from which to launch your choice of the thirteen main missions, throughout which you can work towards satisfying daily challenges and career quests; completing these tasks awards the game’s strictly non-premium loot boxes, which rain a random array of weapons and gear that can be equipped to improve applicable characters, or, if you unbox a stinker, salvaged into materials used to craft new items and upgrades.

Refreshing a loadout can significantly impact how any given character plays, overhauling attributes and movesets, perhaps not always to your exact liking, but never compromising the viscerally satisfying core combat mechanics. Melee skirmishes can feel either hefty or agile, depending on your chosen armament, though always brutal as you gorily pop heads and lop limbs with each light or (particularly satisfying) charged heavy swing.

While mixing it up at close range you’ll need to be mindful to dodge and block incoming attacks from big bads, though opting for a character with more of a ranged combat style should keep you relatively out of harm's way to begin with. While letting loose with arrows, fireballs, bolts and bullets is good fun in itself, it’s almost a shame to snub one of the best first-person brawling systems around in favour of comparatively bog-standard blasting.

Still, variety is the spice of life, so mixing up your choice of hero whilst tackling repeat playthroughs of Vermintide 2’s semi-open levels - which accommodate multiple paths towards their culminating set-piece encounters, also randomising enemy and item spawns along the way - ensures things remain engaging. Throw in the lure of greater rewards when progressing to higher difficulty levels, as well as unobtrusive storytelling that allows players to easily consume their desired dose of action, and you have a package that’ll keep you busy for a good length of time.

Vermintide 2 is more in-depth than its peers in many ways, but retains the central simplicity that makes this brand of onslaught adventure so frantic and exciting. Doing so at native 4K resolution on Xbox One X, while mostly maintaining a solid frame rate, at no additional cost to Game Pass subscribers, makes for an experience that you (and preferably some friends) shouldn’t hesitate to get stuck into.

Pros

• Immensely satisfying melee bouts
• Exciting, large-scale encounters
• Rewarding co-op mechanics
• Additional enemy race
• Lots of customisable character classes to combat them with

Cons

• Not really one for solo players
• Can suffer performance dips during busier moments

8/10