Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a cooperative fps set in the dark fantasy world of Warhammer.  Just like the first game, The End Times are upon the world, and vast hordes of rat-like Skaven are invading the strongholds of humanity; but this time, they are joined by the ferocious chaos warriors of the Rotblood tribe.  Five heroes stand amid the ruin of humanity’s Empire to stem the Vermintide.

Similar to the Left 4 Dead series, Vermintide 2 is a cooperative game that pitches four players against the Skaven and Rotbloods in thirteen story missions.  Across each mission, the players will face both basic and specialized foes that will stop at nothing to kill them when they are at their most vulnerable.  Unlike Left 4 Dead, however, Vermintide 2 awards loot at the end of each mission and features RPG elements to give a better sense of progression.  The combat is much more melee-based, with limited ammo capacity for ranged weapons, and the game excels at visceral, satisfying melee battles.

The graphics are excellent, providing a well-styled and detailed world, and the environments are very well-designed.  It’s always a delight to explore the crowded cities of the Empire or traverse the tall, open forests surrounding them.  The levels are more open than the first game’s, and some locations can easily get players turned around in a fight, but claustrophobic spaces are still present.  Different environments can either help or hinder the players; open spaces allow the enemies easier maneuverability to surround the heroes, while close spaces can be both restricting and useful for the players to hold their foes at bay.

The melee-based gameplay is compelling, providing a sense of power with every strike.  It is immensely satisfying to send several slave rats flying with a single sweep from a great-hammer, and even when pitched against boss monsters, the weapons did not feel too insignificant or weak.  If you play this game, be prepared for gore.  Any limb can be severed from your ratmen foes, and blood sprays with every strike.  Ranged weapons, while a bit more limited, are also well-implemented.  Scoring the perfect headshot with a crossbow or musket can be very rewarding, and I always enjoy immolating rats with fire from the Bright Wizard’s staff.

The new loot system is good, rewarding players with a chest of items after every victory, and all the characters have their own unique weapons to experiment with.  Vermintide 2 also features a new RPG progression system, where each of the five playable characters gets three specialized classes, each with an active ability, intrinsic passives, and unlockable talent passives.  A new Heroic Deeds system has also been added; Deeds drop randomly and offer extra rewards for completing a mission with difficult modifiers, such as constant damage over time or reduced health and ammo pickups.

There are also many new enemy types to fight, including the entire Rotblood faction and new specialized enemies.  The fearsome Rat Ogre from the first game has been upgraded to a boss-tier monster and is joined by three new boss-type monsters, and there are several unique boss fights in the story missions.

The game has no true drawbacks for me, but it does have some potential improvements that could be made.  I am still not sure how I feel about the new progression system, which is reminiscent of Destiny’s Light system.  Each item has a power level, and item power plus character level determines how powerful you are.  It does not affect the game as much as it could, but high power is very necessary to have a chance in the toughest difficulties.  Also, I like the idea of Heroic Deeds, but I wish the game could keep the Contracts system that the first game had in addition to Deeds.

All in all, Vermintide 2 is an excellent sequel that improves on almost everything the first game had to offer, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a challenging coop experience.

-Cuthalion42

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