Is Vermintide 2 Still Worth Playing In 2023?

Jul 04, 2023

Has slaughtering Skaven lost its spark?

Vermintide 2 easily keeps its place as one of the best hack-and-slash games around. The sheer spectacle of plowing through a Skaven horde still thrills, and the RPG mechanics tie it all together beautifully. Some minor flaws around the loot system are all but forgotten the moment you dive back into battle.

I've only ever really been a casual fan of Warhammer. I went through a brief phase of collecting the figures, but for the most part I've stuck to the videogames, which have been of varying quality to say the least. You've got the uninspiring likes of Necromunda: Hive Wars and Eisenhorn: Xenos on the one hand, but on the other you've got games like Total War: Warhammer 3, the recently released Boltgun, and, the game we're looking at today, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, by Fatshark.

Before we continue. I want to say that for those of you new to Warhammer, don't worry too much about not knowing the lore or the rules of the game before going into this one. Vermintide 2 requires no prior knowledge and is nowhere near as difficult to learn as a lot of other games bearing the Warhammer brand. With that out of the way, on with the re-review!

The Verminitide series (including its 40K variant Darktide) are co-op-focused, first-person action games in a Left 4 Dead mould. It's a tried and true formula. You play through a series of levels that are basically about getting from one end of the map to the other, fighting off hordes of Skaven (a race of evil rat-men) as you do so. There's a surprisingly solid RPG progression system here too, based around levelling up, picking careers, and earning loot after each successful mission.

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Taking place during the "End Times," Verminitide's story follows on from the events of the first game, with a group of five playable heroes facing off against the evil Clan Fester, who have now combined forces with Bödvarr Ribspreader, a chaos champion with an army of Rotbloods at his beck and call. The plot charts Clan Fester's efforts to open the Skittergate, through which Ribspreader's army would gain access to the city of Helmgart. The game begins in medias res with the heroes imprisoned by the evil Skaven overlord Grey Seer Rasknitt. From there they must make their escape, reunite at Taal's Horn Keep, and take the fight to the forces of darkness.

The story could so easily have been an afterthought, but the obvious love and care with which the world and the characters were crafted is impressive, and in fact remains a big part of why Vermintide 2 is still superior to Darktide, in my book. Each of the five playable heroes has a distinct personality, which they consistently bring across via their interactions with one another and the many vocal barks they throw out during combat. Should no-nonsense knight Markus Kruber accidentally deal damage to the fire wizard Sienna Fuegonasus, she will take the time to pointedly remind him that she is "not a necromancer!"

My personal favourite character, Victor Saltzpyre, is a delightfully deranged zealot and witch hunter, whose obsession with the destruction of the Skaven appears to have driven him to the edge of reason, as evidenced by the fervor and zeal with which he goes about his work. Listening to him rant about how the righteous feel no pain and attempting to refuse healing when offered is a joy.

The heroes aren't the only stars of the show. The various Skaven, Beastmen, and Chaos monsters you encounter make for a fantastic rogues' gallery. From the lowliest foot-soldier right through to the end-of-act bosses, each enemy brings something interesting to the table. The skittering Skaven hordes, punctuated by the odd Rat Ogre or Stormfiend, are an intimidating sight, and the major villains all have enough dark charisma to make them foes you love to hate. The battles against the major antagonists like Burblespue Halescourge and Skarrik Spinemanglr are lent a certain charm by the cartoonishly evil quips the villains throw out, screaming about how they're invincible and are going to turn you and your friends into a "muculent broth."

The art design (as you'd expect from a Warhammer property) is also top-notch. Part of what kept me playing was waiting to see what twisted monstrosity or stunning vista the game was going to present me with next. From the imposing stone walls of Fort Brachsenbrücke to the mysterious ruins of Athel Yenlui, Vermintide 2 has some seriously stunning environments. These levels may essentially be glorified corridors and arenas, but man are they glorious.

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On the gameplay front, Vermintide 2 keeps things fairly simple but has enough flair and imagination to keep things interesting. There are five playable characters, each with their own playstyle, or rather playstyles. Every character has a number of "careers" you can unlock, which vastly alter how they play, Markus starts out as a hard-hitting Mercenary utilising a variety of two-handed weapons, but later down the line you can unlock his Huntsman career, which turns him into a long-range marksman. His ability to stagger enemies and grant allies bonus HP as a Mercenary is replaced with a skill called Hunter's prowl, which turns Markus invisible and boosts his ranged damage, opening up entirely new tactical dimensions.

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The more you play, the more careers you unlock, with each character having three in the base game, and an extra one each as relatively cheap $4 DLC. New gameplay are, to me, one of the most satisfying rewards for progressing through a game, and the careers system offers exactly that. A new career can completely change the way you play the game, and it's always exciting to unlock a new one. This combined with the way every weapon is fun and feels unique means there's plenty of room for experimentation and the satisfaction of crafting a build that you really like.

Some of the game's other progression systems leave a bit more to be desired. There's a fantastic selection of weapons on offer, but almost everything else you can equip - necklaces charms, and trinkets - only really exists to increase your overall Power Level, which you need to increase to access the higher difficulties. Finding and equipping new equipment that serves only to make what is a pretty arbitrary number slightly bigger just isn't that satisfying, and the irritation is only compounded by the randomised loot drops.

Verminitde 2 never introduced any kind of pay-to-win microtransactions (you can buy a few hats if you feel like it), but that doesn't make the loot box system any less annoying. You win loot boxes for completing missions, and each one contains three pieces of gear. After a certain point, once you've got most of the weapons, the best you can hope for is a slightly stronger variant of what you already have, which will increase your overall Power Level. It's all a bit too numbers-based for the more casual player, and the randomness saps the fun out of the hunt for new loot.

The moment-to-moment gameplay is solid, and the feedback in combat is incredible. Crushing a rat-man's skull with one swing of your mighty hammer feels exactly as satisfying as it should, and the gore effects are just delightful. Things can get a little frantic with the sheer number of enemies the game throws at you, but that's all part of the fun. There are moments where you'll almost completely zone out, lost in a maelstrom of thrashing limbs, mesmerized by the sheer spectacle.

The Skaven are an excellent choice as the villains of the piece. The blend of cannon fodder Clanrats and Skavenslaves, and tougher enemies like the aforementioned Rat Ogres, suits the pacing of a game like this perfectly. Battles go from the catharsis of mowing down horde after horde, to a life-or-death struggle that will have you on the edge of your seat. There are very few games, if any, that to this day can match the sheer visceral intensity of Vermintide 2's combat. It's still top of the class in that respect.

After a while though, the combat's lack of depth or strategy starts to become increasingly apparent. The vast majority of the enemies you fight never really evolve their tactics in any meaningful way, and all you ever need to do is strafe around them and swing or shoot at their heads. Even on higher difficulties, which raise enemy numbers and damage output, you rarely have to worry about team composition or battlefield strategy, and even then you'll only have to do it very occasionally. Enemies like the Ratling gunner or the Globadiers can force you to adapt by throwing out big damaging area-of-effect attacks that you'll have to work your way around, but most of the time you won't need to do much lateral thinking. This isn't a huge problem though because the basic feel of the combat is just so satisfying.

Whether you're swinging at the Skaven with a broadsword or prefer to take them on at a distance with a revolver, the hits all have just the right sense of impact, so much so that you probably won't mind the fact that the combat doesn't have a lot going on upstairs.

Related: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Review

The boss fights, on the other hand, do shake things up in a good way. Each act (a string of levels with its own narrative arc) culminates in a battle against a Skaven or Chaos lord with their own unique mechanics. Some can summon plague clouds, others can parry your attacks and summon Skaven underlings to help them fight, while others still can use powerful pyromancies. The boss fights are the perfect way to end each act and every single one is a thrilling encounter in its own right.

For those of you wondering whether it's worth jumping into Vermintide 2 now, years after release (and a future-based successor in the recently released Darktide), let me assure you it is absolutely still a game worth playing. The game has had incredibly strong support since launch, with a number of free and paid expansions adding new levels, enemies, and loot. Just a few months, the free Tower of Treachery DLC completed the Treacherous Adventure Saga, while Karak Azgaraz is due out June 13, and will add remastered versions of three fan-favourite maps from the first Vermintide game. If you were worried that Vermintide 2 is past its best, rest assured it certainly isn't there yet.

As long as you go in with the right mindset, Vermintide 2 is hard to beat for sheer mindless fun. Splattering Skaven never loses its appeal, even if there isn't that much depth to it. As long as you aren't expecting highly refined, or technical combat systems, you'll have an absolute blast.

The sheer personality and the way the game lets you experiment with different playstyles are the twin cherries on top that push the game into the upper echelons of what an action game can be. I'm still here busting Skaven skulls five years later, and that's really all you need to know.

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Robert (He/Him) has been playing games all his life and will talk your ear off about them if you give him half a chance. His favourite games are Bloodborne, Nier Automata, and Disco Elysium. If he's not gaming, he's either playing guitar or reading about elephants.