Warhammer review: Vermintide 2

Welcome to Ubersriek

Tested version PC - Steam

When the first chapter of the franchise Vermintide appeared on the shelves, now more than three years ago, was able in a very short time to meet the interest and enthusiasm of critics and audiences, thanks to the ability to mix the magnificent settings of Warhammer with a gameplay halfway between an FPS and an RPG. However, the substantial repetitiveness of the gameplay and the stage set (environments and variety of enemies reduced to the bone) which, on the whole, seemed to us a bit low budget, had made us conclude for a final judgment only partially positive, in which however a certain disappointment was evident for not being able to fully exploit the great potential of the title.

As we said, however, the title, especially from a commercial point of view, was very appreciated by the public and this pushed the developer Fatshark to propose a second chapter that, we anticipate it immediately, stripped from the elements that we had least liked of the first chapter and enriched by new game mechanics that make it much deeper, acquires new vital lymph presenting itself as one of the most interesting titles of the season.

The fall of Ubersriek

As for the previous chapter, the narrative base is more of a pretext to smash heads than a real qualifying element of the game, which makes frenzy and combat its main feature.

The setting is once again Ubersriek. Gray Seer Rasknitt managed to capture the five heroes protagonists of the first chapter and the city without their protection fell into the hands of the Skaven. Rasknitt has meanwhile ordered the construction of a dimensional portal to allow his allies to pass through. Taking advantage of the malfunction of the portal itself, however, our alter ego will be able to free himself and free his four friends. As one of the five heroes, the mercenary Markus Kruber, the elf Kerillian, the dwarf Bardin Goreksson, the priestess of fire Sienna Fuegonasos and the witch hunter Victor Saltzpyre, you will have to make your way between hordes of Skaven and a new formidable enemy represented give her forces of Chaos and their champion Bödvarr Ribspreader, with which the Skaven made the blood pact.

Precisely the alliance with the forces of Chaos gives way to the title to overcome the greatest limitation of the first chapter, namely the absence of a variegated bestiary of enemies. In Vermintide 2 you will find yourself facing in addition to new humanoid enemies, also numerous new bosses such as the Stormfiend that spits toxic gas, the Bile Troll that spits poisonous bile and the Spawn of Chaos, shapeless monsters whose only desire is to chew you with their huge mouth that practically occupies the whole head. The presence of these new enemies, the northern hordes of the Norsca tribe, is made possible by the Skittergate, a portal that allows the hordes of chaos to teleport on your path.

gameplay

Il new rich bestiary is accompanied by a renewed combat system. Each hero is equipped as before with a ranged weapon and a melee weapon. There are also three other slots, with which it will be possible to equip the new accessories collected from time to time during the game. Each character then has a passive skill and a career skill. During the game you will have the possibility, increasing in level (level 7 and then level 12), to unlock a total of three subclasses (specializations) for each hero, each of them able to enhance your arsenal with unique weapons and bonuses. Each subclass has an additional passive ability and a career. Another new feature of the game is the ability to unlock talents, every time you level up by 5 points (up to the level cap of 30): each talent allows you to choose 3 different additional skills, which you can still alternate during the game in the lobby. Each talent is specific to the chosen hero and will give you the possibility, for example, to carry more ammo, to attack faster in melee, to increase your stamina and so on.

The depth of gameplay guaranteed by the subclasses is further expanded by the possibility of looting and the variety of accessories such as amulets and exotic weapons, released in an absolutely random way during the game. The accessories that can be earned from the fights belong in three different categories and are distinguished by level of rarity. Some will allow you to increase your health, others will enhance your attacks, and still others will allow you to speed up your movements for a certain period of time. Furthermore, your loot will differ depending on the difficulty of the map and the level of your character. Ultimately it is a further element that offers incredible possibilities for customizing your character.

Precisely this extreme personalization and specialization of the characters makes it necessary for the completion of the levels extreme attention to cooperation and battle planning. We mean that throwing yourself into the fray with a character whose specializations are ranged combat or magical arts is tantamount to certain death. This leads us to talk about the longevity of the title. Vermintide 2, at the highest difficulty levels (four in total), offers a good level of challenge that will satisfy even the most savvy players. In addition, the ability to create different builds and to obtain always different rewards by facing the levels with different "layout" of customization, offers a fair replay value to the title.

From a command point of view, Vermintide 2 is one of those titles in which you will actually feel the weight of the weapon used. Not all weapons respond in the same way and, as a result, each character will have a different feel and it will take some learning time to master their skills. Since there are so many weapons that you can use, it is a long learning path.

Sometimes, however, the game goes to great lengths to become more complicated than necessary and in some situations, when the game confronts you with hordes of Skaven, the tendency to “ignorant smashbutton” is very strong. The same goes for the RPG and crafting part that is not always very clear, as, for example, a list of the characteristics of the weapons is missing that would certainly have been very convenient.

Technology

From a technical point of view, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 does not disappoint at all, offering us a rich and detailed scenario and the typical atmosphere of the Warhammer series. The game environments, extremely detailed and made even more suggestive by an excellent lighting system, shine in a particular way. Furthermore, from the point of view of level design, the thirteen maps available they offer always different situations and a fair variety of elements that can be exploited to continue.

The polygonal detail of the characters and the characterization of the enemies are always very high and, despite the high number of enemies on the screen, moreover, the engine Bitsquid he is rarely troubled. We tested the game on two different configurations: with the first High End (Intel i7 7820X, 16GB of RAM, GTX 1080 Ti), the game was also smooth in 4K at 60 fps and details on Extreme. In the second, mid range (Ryzen 2200G, 16GB of RAM, GTX 1070 Ti), we were able to get the same performance in 2K and Extreme details. The game is therefore very well optimized, also offering the possibility of using DirectX 12 instead of 11, with a small performance improvement.

Multiplayer and community mods

Players have the ability to invite other companions to their lobby and face the hordes of Skaven together. The coop is well managed thanks also to a well thought out voice chat, whose only flaw lies in the impossibility of identifying the character who is speaking. Definitely interesting then the community that is developing around the title, which has been able to provide some against really interesting useful to further improve the gaming experience.

Conclusions and judgment

The first chapter of the game, despite some interesting ideas, did not thrill us that much. With Vermintide 2, however, we are faced with an incredibly interesting title that manages to overcome all the defects of the first and to offer one of the funniest FPS around. With a bloody and frenetic gameplay, a good charisma of the characters, the extreme customization and a good technical sector, we can only recommend it not only to those who enjoyed the first chapter, but also to all those who are looking for an FPS fresh and brutal.