Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Releases it’s NEW DLC on PC

By: GeekyGamerGirl87

Developed and published by Fatshark, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is an action role playing game in which you and three other people will go into battle against hoards of rat people as well as the dark pact, a group of decaying soldiers. Before writing this review, I had saw others play the game and thought that the game looked quite interesting. Mainly because it included fantasy characters such as the dwarves and elves, which I have always been fond of when it comes to playing fantasy type games. The game looked very intriguing and look like something that I could really get into. Personally, I thought the game was great and lots of fun, and with the downloadable content just recently releasing, now is a good time to enjoy the game. Although there were somethings that could have been tweaked; I still felt that the game is solid. As I have never played the first Warhammer: Vermintide I can say that the game did take some getting use to, but once I got use to it I enjoyed it. Before I embark on this journey known as my review, I would like to take the time to thank Fatshark for providing me with a free copy of the steam version of the game.

The game starts off with you playing as one of the five capture heroes from the last game. Again, as I had not played the first game I will say that I did visit the game’s website to obtain the information (http://www.vermintide.com/ .) What made me look into the information was not only because this was Warhammer: Vermintide 2 but because the way that the characters speak with one another, it feels like they are all acquainted with one another.
It is during this opening sequence that you learn the controls of the game. You can play with either keyboard/mouse or gamepad. I started off by playing the game with the keyboard/mouse. This was due to mainly other games like Warhammer: Vermintide 2; the keyboard/mouse worked well for me. However, later during the gameplay; I ended up switching  to the gamepad as the game felt a lot better control wise for me with the gamepad. I’m not saying that keyboard/mouse were bad, but the game felt more natural with me when I played with the gamepad and felt like this game was meant to be played with gamepad.

You do get to choose again from the five heroes of the last game. Each of the heroes have new classes that they can choose at levels one, seven and twelve and this is per individual character. Meaning that you must take the time to level each of your characters if you want to play the other roles. The characters you can select from and the roles they par take in order of level are  Markus Kruber, a knight who can take on the roles of Mercenary, Huntsman, or the Foot Knight. Then there is Bardin Goreksson, a dwarf who can take on the role of the Ranger Veteran, Ironbreaker, or Slayer. Next is  Kerillian, who I assumed was an elf due to Bardin always referring to her as an elf but from research it appears that she is a Shade – which I now assume could also be an elven race— that can take on the role of the Waystalker, Handmaiden, or the Shade. Then you have Victor Saltzpyre – who happens to be my personal favorite – a witch hunter who can take on the roles of Witch Hunter Captain, Bounty Hunter, and Zealot. Then lastly you can select Sienna Fuegonasus, who is a battle wizard who can take on the roles of Battle Wizard, Pyromancer, and Unchained. Each of the roles have their own set of skills and talents as well.

In terms of gameplay,  this game is all about the co-op and you are going to want to co-op this with others. I will say this that the game is brutal, and you do need to stick together. Straying too far ahead or falling too far behind can result in a brutal death as the game attacks you in hoards. The better you play the more aggressive the games A.I. becomes which for me makes me enjoy the game, because I love a good challenge. I really appreciate that the game for providing a challenge like that and not making the enemies squishy. Now granted this is me playing on the recruit mode which seems to be the casual mode out of the games four modes. The first mode Recruit Mode is the starter difficulty which allows for your character to get to a hero power of 100. The next mode which is Veteran Mode, allows for your character to achieve a hero power of 300 but to play this mode your hero must have a hero power of 115 or above. The next mode that the game offers is Champion Mode which also allows for your character to reach a power of 300, but you must have a hero power of 215 to play this mode. The last mode and probably the most brutal of the modes is  the game’s  Legend Mode which allows for your character to reach a power of 300, but to play this mode your character must have a hero power of 415.

One thing I would like to point out is  the steam store page mentions that the game can be played in single-player mode. However, I was unable to find this mode through my gameplay of the game. I think that even if you tried to play single-player the game will add three bots to your game – at least from what I have heard, as again I was not able to find a way to play single-player mode. — Long story short the game is meant to play in a co-op environment. The community isn’t all that bad either, so you won’t run into people being rude at all. In fact, since I started playing the game, I have yet to run into anyone who has been rude. Therefore, this is a game for those who enjoy to co-op with others and if the single player is just going to add three bots to the game, then you are better off just playing with others online. Although, I understand if you are someone who wants to play alone. I will say that if you are somehow able to manage to get the game to play in single player mode and the game adds bots, you will be all right.

The bots are surprisingly very good in this game which I am going to take the time and say that I am thankful for. In most games ,the A.I. makes you want to rage and then you quietly must remind yourself that this is a bot and it can’t help not being useful. The bots in the game play so well that for me a few times I forgot that I was playing with a bot. I was really impressed when I was on my dying leg and the bot revived me and I was like, “See now this is how I imagine A.I. would play in a video game.” So, thank you Fatshark for making your bots useful instead of useless.

The core game of Warhammer: Vermintide 2 has four different acts. Acts one through three has four chapters and Act four has one chapter which each of the chapters having their own unique maps and scenarios. Recently Warhammer: Vermintide 2 released its downloadable content Warhammer: Vermintide 2: Shadows over Bogenhafen which from my findings is only available on PC. The DLC adds two more maps to the game, as well as extra cosmetics, weapon skins (illusions for those who are veterans of the game)  and portrait frames . One of the biggest differences I noticed about the maps where in the core game the maps although challenging had plenty of ammo replenishments. In the newer maps they weren’t as plentiful which again made you think twice about using your ammo weapons.

One thing that was good about the DLC was if you do not own it but are playing a quick play game  or if your friend or someone you are playing with has the DLC and is playing you can tag along with them. In addition, You do get the loot from the DLC, but the downside to that is you are unable to claim any additional rewards from the DLC unless you own the DLC. I am hoping that if you purchase the DLC those chests then do become available for you to open.

Speaking of the loot system, one of the things that I would have liked to seen in the game was the ability to collect all your rewards at one time. Sometimes, I forget to scroll through all the additional rewards, which has cost me to miss out on certain rewards. In addition to that, I would have liked if there was an easy system as far as opening the loot. It’s not a big issue, but it would have been less time consuming just to be able to continuously open the loot, as oppose to backing out of the loot screen to open another box.

Another thing I thought would have been helpful, because the game is face paced would have been some type of indication on where your team members are. This could have been done with a mini-map or indicators just because when the hoards storm you, it’s kind of hard to see where your teammates are. There were times in the game where  I was attacked by a swarm of enemies because I hadn’t realized my teammates had went ahead on the map until I saw their outlines ahead. Again, this isn’t a deal breaker just something I wish could have been added or tweaked a little more.

There were two things that I also thought was quite interesting when it came to Warhammer: Vermintide 2. I found it interesting that although the game is on both PC and XBOX One. There is no cross-platform play. I also see that the PC version had mods, but the XBOX One version does not offer those mods. Therefore, after seeing this I thought that may be this is the reason they aren’t cross-platform. The second thing I notice is that there was talk about the game coming to Playstation 4 but as of this moment, I haven’t heard anything else about it coming to Playstation 4. I thought this to be a little strange, as the first game was offered on Playstation 4 and upon my findings seems that the Playstation Community is looking forward to the game. I did see a beta sign-up but nothing else confirming whether the game will be gracing the Playstation 4 anytime soon, except for it supposedly coming out sometime in 2018. As the year is ending, I am hoping that it will be available within the next remaining months.

For those of you who do enjoy collecting achievements you will be glad to know that Warhammer: Vermintide 2 does offer achievements. The game has a total of twenty-six achievements. Also, if you are a trading card collector; you will be happy to know that the game does offer trading cards. There is a total of fifteen trading cards that you can collect for the game and turn into a badge.

Overall, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a very fun and exciting game. Even though the game at times can be difficult, it is still fun to play even if you are playing with random people from the community. I highly recommend the game, especially if you are going to be playing with a group of friends. If you would like to play Warhammer: Vermintide 2 you can do so by purchasing the core game for PC  on Steam, Fanatical, HumbleBundle  or on  XBOX ONE for $29.99 USD. If you are on Playstation 4 and are interested in the Beta for the game, you can visit the following link to sign up for the BETA Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Playstation 4 BETA