L4D but rats! And chaos warriors! And elves!!
So yeah, that's the laconic review of Vermintide 2. I bought this game several years ago (around when it released maybe?) and played through about half of it but eventually dropped it because reasons I can't recall. However after playing and loving Total Warhammer TO DEATH I was like yeahhh gimme some more of that Warhammer goodness! Redownloaded Vermintide because I do enjoy the basics of L4D style games and figured it would be fun to run through with a bit more knowledge of the Warhammer universe.
The basics of the game are essentially L4D - 4 main characters make their way through winding levels while fighting off hordes of easily killable foes interspersed with 'special' enemies that must be handled as a team. Sorcerers that pull up enemies in a whirlwind, rats who 'hook' your necks and make you helpless, or might Chaos beasts who are just too strong for one PC alone to take them down. This focus on cooperation naturally is meant to push you to multiplayer modes but UGGGHHHH I just can't be assed with that shit so I did all of the campaigns solo. Vermintide is MUCH more melee focused however than L4D and the combat in this game feels very good - hits are thwacky, the gore is chunky, enemies react to even light blows, and your weapons often are stopped short in their animations if they bounce off of a particularly tough enemy. Many hours in and cutting through hordes of bad guys or doing a weaving dance with stronger foes still felt damn damn good.
There are three "campaigns" that once they are all completed will lead up to the final battle to end the story. The story itself is pretty barebones, the ratmen Skaven have opened a portal to the far north letting armies of chaos warriors in underneath the new settlement the story takes place in (I honestly don't remember despite having just finished it) and you guys need to figure out a way to slow down the armies + shut down the gate for good to cut off reinforcements. It's a bit of a nothing plot and we get basically no characterization at all for our bad guys or even for the places we're trying to defend. Everything is basically 'fantasy name - the place'. There's a strong Germanic/Bavarian/Austrian theme which mixes it up nicely instead of Merry Old England but because the game is very much focused on its gameplay of - get in the levels, run through them for set pieces battles, get out again to the next one - there's not much here to build up the character of the place with the writing.
However the game does excel at something beyond its combat: the STELLAR art direction. The sweeping veeestas you will come across in each level provide at minimum two "Hot damn this looks awesome" as you come across them, often far more than 2. Gothic architecture and skaven contraptions abound that give off an unearthly light that give off an incredible mood of 'shit's fucked yo' or 'this place was beautiful before these bad guys showed up' which at least does help reinforce why we should give a shit about these places at all. Almost every enemy also has a strong direction that gives you a clear vision for how they fit in this world - nearly hairless and small skavenslaves, the bulky chaos warriors and their enormous greataxes, Skaven knights or the nurglehordes of chaos.
So while Vermintide 2 might seem like it has some serious weaknesses with its poorly told story and threadbare plot, the pieces that DO work, work incredibly well. The melee combat is chunky and often exhilerating, the music does a fantastic job of setting the mood and pace, while the superb art direction frequently gives you something awe inspiring or loathsome to look at and admire. The characters are all strongly vocal about their opinions and I liked all of them (even if my main character elf lady was a GIANT dick) unfortunately even without finishing the entire campaign I heard MANY MANY repeats in dialogue already. Vermintide may have its issues but the strength of its combat and level design leave very little to be desired in its moment-to-moment action beats which is very much what they were seemingly aiming for. Warhammer is a brutal world and it was fun to get to tear it up for a little while - on the ground this time with a grunt's poleaxe rather than from a commander's eye!
So yeah, that's the laconic review of Vermintide 2. I bought this game several years ago (around when it released maybe?) and played through about half of it but eventually dropped it because reasons I can't recall. However after playing and loving Total Warhammer TO DEATH I was like yeahhh gimme some more of that Warhammer goodness! Redownloaded Vermintide because I do enjoy the basics of L4D style games and figured it would be fun to run through with a bit more knowledge of the Warhammer universe.
The basics of the game are essentially L4D - 4 main characters make their way through winding levels while fighting off hordes of easily killable foes interspersed with 'special' enemies that must be handled as a team. Sorcerers that pull up enemies in a whirlwind, rats who 'hook' your necks and make you helpless, or might Chaos beasts who are just too strong for one PC alone to take them down. This focus on cooperation naturally is meant to push you to multiplayer modes but UGGGHHHH I just can't be assed with that shit so I did all of the campaigns solo. Vermintide is MUCH more melee focused however than L4D and the combat in this game feels very good - hits are thwacky, the gore is chunky, enemies react to even light blows, and your weapons often are stopped short in their animations if they bounce off of a particularly tough enemy. Many hours in and cutting through hordes of bad guys or doing a weaving dance with stronger foes still felt damn damn good.
There are three "campaigns" that once they are all completed will lead up to the final battle to end the story. The story itself is pretty barebones, the ratmen Skaven have opened a portal to the far north letting armies of chaos warriors in underneath the new settlement the story takes place in (I honestly don't remember despite having just finished it) and you guys need to figure out a way to slow down the armies + shut down the gate for good to cut off reinforcements. It's a bit of a nothing plot and we get basically no characterization at all for our bad guys or even for the places we're trying to defend. Everything is basically 'fantasy name - the place'. There's a strong Germanic/Bavarian/Austrian theme which mixes it up nicely instead of Merry Old England but because the game is very much focused on its gameplay of - get in the levels, run through them for set pieces battles, get out again to the next one - there's not much here to build up the character of the place with the writing.
However the game does excel at something beyond its combat: the STELLAR art direction. The sweeping veeestas you will come across in each level provide at minimum two "Hot damn this looks awesome" as you come across them, often far more than 2. Gothic architecture and skaven contraptions abound that give off an unearthly light that give off an incredible mood of 'shit's fucked yo' or 'this place was beautiful before these bad guys showed up' which at least does help reinforce why we should give a shit about these places at all. Almost every enemy also has a strong direction that gives you a clear vision for how they fit in this world - nearly hairless and small skavenslaves, the bulky chaos warriors and their enormous greataxes, Skaven knights or the nurglehordes of chaos.
So while Vermintide 2 might seem like it has some serious weaknesses with its poorly told story and threadbare plot, the pieces that DO work, work incredibly well. The melee combat is chunky and often exhilerating, the music does a fantastic job of setting the mood and pace, while the superb art direction frequently gives you something awe inspiring or loathsome to look at and admire. The characters are all strongly vocal about their opinions and I liked all of them (even if my main character elf lady was a GIANT dick) unfortunately even without finishing the entire campaign I heard MANY MANY repeats in dialogue already. Vermintide may have its issues but the strength of its combat and level design leave very little to be desired in its moment-to-moment action beats which is very much what they were seemingly aiming for. Warhammer is a brutal world and it was fun to get to tear it up for a little while - on the ground this time with a grunt's poleaxe rather than from a commander's eye!