Rats for days!

Vermintide is one of the many new Warhammer games releasing this year. It released on the Xbox One on October 4th and is known for it’s “Left 4 Dead” like formula in terms of its gameplay… It’s better than that.

Vermintide features a hub world in the form of an inn that you select one of the 5 main characters that you want to take into your mission. It features 3 acts as well as the DLC campaign free on Xbox One. Each mission is a linear level similar to Left 4 Dead in their mechanical layout, you start off in a little safe area and the end of the level will have a “survive the hoard” area where you fight until your escape has arrived/route to the escape has opened. The main features though that change it from Left 4 Dead are that the Skaven have a variety of armours and weapons so even the armoured grunts can murder you. There are the “special infected” type rats in the form of a gutter runner (hunter) pack master (smoker/jockey) and the rat ogre (tank) The inspiration is clearly there.

The art for Vermintide is stunning, for someone who loves the Warhammer universe it genuinely feels like you’re in The End Times era of Warhammer the detail in the cities and the ruins that the scatter the woodlands feels and looks beautiful, the weapon models feel and look like something from the tabletop as do the characters themselves.

What I think is the main feature of this game that puts it above something like Left 4 Dead is it’s progression system, at the end of each mission you are given a bunch of loot dices that you roll to determine what piece of loot you get as a reward. The loot can be weapons or trinkets. The only problem with it is that you get 1 item after a level and a level can take a while so getting a good collection of items is a slow process, although there are ways to get better loot dice such as picking up and taking tomes to the end of the level, tomes are books that are hidden in the levels that reward you with better quality loot dices. I love this system.

The 5 main characters are very Warhammer, if you’re a Warhammer fan you will know what I mean. If you have never played a Warhammer game then to put it in perspective would be that the characters are teaming up to take down the Vermintide and they have put their morals aside so when you have a Soldier, dwarf, elf, wizard and a witch hunter it leads to a lot of insults and Britishness in the way they talk to each other. Warhammer is very metal and I love this too!

There is also the Last Stand mode in Vermintide that is a survival mode if you didn’t guess from the name, the first 2 difficulties involve you completing 13 waves and the 3rd difficulty is an endless mode. This game mode is a fun and interesting way to earn shards, the currency of the game. It is also really fun. It does suck when the community isn’t as big on Xbox One (I don’t know what it’s like on PC) so public games can take a while to get into.

Warhammer games are very hit and miss, with a maybe 70% of them not living up to the popular tabletop game. But there are the ones that surpass it, with amazing gameplay and great overall mechanics. Vermintide is in the 30% it is a great game and the best way for me to compare it is that Overwatch is one of the most popular FPS games because it is well made but took inspiration from Team Fortress 2. Vermintide is the same but took it’s inspiration with from Left 4 Dead and surpassed it by making a very fun title.