Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Review

We just saved the freaking day.  We cleansed a Medieval town of a mutated vermin army, kept our party alive against insurmountable odds, sounded the famed Horn of Magnus to warn the neighboring countryside of the rat invasion, and escaped just barely with our lives. And yet the only thing that matters is a simple dice roll that occurs between missions. If they roll in your favor, you’ll get a great new weapon or trinket.   Not this time, as I inevitably get a bad roll and thus a low level club or something. “Wanna go again?” I ask already knowing what my teammate is going to say.

Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide is arguably the best cooperative experience we’ve had this this (it also is a horrible title for a game so I’m just calling it Vermintide for the rest of this review). On paper and in description, the game is basically Left 4 Dead 3. They’ve added functionally distinct characters and a level up system based on your arsenal but sadly can’t replicate Valve’s knack for witty banter and meticulously play-tested levels. If you, like us, were letdown by Evolve and are finding it harder to run another raid in Destiny to just play a PvE game, well, Vermintide is your answer.

Humanoid rats are just as much fun to kill as zombies or Nazis. Who knew?

Developed by Fatshark (the same folks behind Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 and the lackluster Escape Dead Island), the game is another entry into the long running Warhammer franchise owned by Games Workshop though you don’t need to be familiar with the other games to enjoy this one. The game actually launched last year on PC and won Co-Optimus’s game of year award then but finally reached consoles in the past month.

You pick one of five fairly stereotypical Medieval archetypes: wizard, dwarf, warrior, etc. and then are dumped into a game lobby which here is a quiet inn. You can then recruit fellow players to join your squad or jump into a random game to take on one of 17 levels. If things are going well, sessions will take somewhere between 15 to 30 minutes so it’s a casual experience (unlike the multi-hour raids of Destiny). Unlike Left 4 Dead, you do level up in the form of finding new loot that stays with your characters which typically comes after a round when a random roll of dice nets you some new item. You can find tokens or additional dice within levels to boost your chances of a better roll but some of those come at a cost taking up a much needed item slot for your character or reducing the overall health for your entire crew for the remainder of the level so there is an interesting risk vs. reward element that plays out in each level you have to consider on the fly.

Your fruits of your heroic work boils down to this simple dice roll between rounds – and luck is never in your favor.

Unlike L4D’s fairly boilerplate mission structure of 4 stages that culminate in a final standoff, the levels of Vermintide can vary quite a bit presenting some unique elements along the way. The Catacombs include dark passage ways forcing at least one player to take the torch to illuminate the path for the team but preventing them from attacking the swarms of rats. Levels are broken up more often by things like destroying chains holding parts of the rat armies infrastructure together or grabbing barrels of gunpowder to open up sections. It’s not a revolutionary step from L4D we need, but the change of pace is a welcome addition.

The game presents a solid first impression, especially for those seeking a coop experience, but the façade starts to fall apart the more you play. The loot system is paltry so expect significant grinding before you find game changing gear. The special enemy types are lifted almost exactly from L4D that, in time, you’ll start to just miss playing L4D instead. And after killing thousands of rats, you’ll start to wonder just what in the hell is happening but the writing isn’t strong enough to present a compelling or coherent story.

Everything goes to hell the rat tanks show up – eh, I mean rat… ogres. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

What Works Well

If you enjoyed Left 4 Dead at all, you’ll be very comfortable here plus the promise of a character progression system gives meaning to replaying levels over and over. Plus, there’s a drought of coop games this holiday season so this a solid option.

What Doesn’t Work

The game nears greatness but could benefit from a more rewarding loot system that offers incrementally better weapons at a faster pace and a story that matters. And it does feel a bit dirty to be playing a L4D clone that features its own version of smokers, hunters, and tanks.

Overall – Rent It

I’m mixed on this as I could easily recommend buying it for any gamer eager for a coop game this holiday. You won’t be disappointed even at $40. But for those under a budget, the first impression is much better than hour 10 or 20 since the loot system isn’t as deep as it needs to be so we’d advise renting it first.

Vermintide: The game we need, but not the game we deserve right now. Likely your best bet for coop gaming this holiday season.