Warhammer End Times: Vermintide [official site] is an enjoyable fantasy throwdown, easy to describe as Left 4 Dead with Skaven, but with a loot and upgrade system that brings some RPG trappings to the four-player cooperative vermin extermination. One of the main complaints that I heard repeatedly when playing the game prior to my review related to the game’s indiscriminate loot drops. Play as a bright wizard and you might find equipment that only a dwarf ranger can use, or vice versa. The free Sigmar’s Blessing update, released today, allows you to tip the odds in favour of your chosen class, as well as adding an entire new tier of veteran loot.

… [visit site to read more]

“Left 4 Dead with ratmen” is how I summarised Warhammer: End Times Vermintide [official site] when we first heard from it, though after reading Wot Adam Thinks I’d upgrade that to “Left 4 Dead with ratmen and persistent progression and loot.” If the last part of that is causing you grief, good news: free ‘DLC’ next month will bring new items and more control over getting which loot you want. Developers Fatshark say this is the star of their plan to alternate free and paid additions, and they’re working on a survival mode too.

… [visit site to read more]

Left 4 Dead with Skaven. That was surely the elevator pitch for Fatshark’s Warhammer: End Times Vermintide [official site] and the game, now released, hews fairly close to that mash-up. Four players, each taking on the role of a specific character, must fight their way through swarms of Skaven, including special variants, to achieve objectives that vary from one level to the next.

At first glance it’s all very familiar. At second and third glance there’s little to change that initial judgement. I’ve been glancing for days though and can report that Vermintide does have its own identity. Here’s wot I think.

… [visit site to read more]

Here’s a trailer you may have missed among the bigger news of E3 2015, but fans of anthropomorphised rat slaughter will nevertheless want to check out. This short Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide [official site] trailer shows off the variety of environments you’ll be trudging through with friends once the co-op FPS releases this autumn.

… [visit site to read more]