I swing my gore-caked Bretonnian longsword in front of me and lop the heads off four plague-ridden ratmen. To my back, a dwarf warrior wielding a battle axe cleaves another score of the monsters in twain. To my left, a fire mage scorches a whole host of Skaven down to an acrid pile of ash. And to my right, an elven huntress fires a volley of perfectly aimed arrows from her longbow, killing a dangerous hook-wielding Skaven, before he could pick one of us off and drag us into the shadows where we would certainly die alone. Our weapons sliced and cracked in perfect harmony, the four of us conducting a terrible symphony of carnage in our wake. Finally, the tide of gnawing ratmen receded into the darkness, and we found the streets to be now eerily quiet. We hurriedly dressed our wounds, searched for loot and set off. A cacophonous, unnatural bell tolled in the far distance, heralding the End, though there was still plenty more killing to be done.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is the long-running sequel to the 2015 original, Warhammer: The End Times - Vermintide. This second entry in the franchise released in 2018 and is still regularly receiving updates and occasional DLC as of the time of writing this. From what I understand after playing both games, you could really forego playing the original game and just pick up Vermintide 2 and you won't miss much of anything from that initial title. The gameplay is essentially identical between both titles (with both being heavily inspired by Valve's Left 4 Dead series), and the same playable characters are featured in either game. Even some of the fan-favorite levels from the first game have been added to Vermintide 2 as bonus campaigns. In my experience too, from playing the first game on PC, there were no other players to group up with anymore, where I never had that issue in Vermintide 2. I feel confident recommending skipping the first game (though it's still a fine game in its own right) and going straight to the sequel.
While both games are incredibly similar to each other, Vermintide 2 does feature some key enhancements that add additional enjoyment and depth to the overall experience. The biggest change to the core gameplay loop comes in the form of a robust "Career" system, where each character can access a handful of different playstyles, each with their own multi-tiered talent tree. Each characters also has one additional Career locked behind paid DLC. I largely played the original Vermintide as the dwarf character, but in this game, I saw that the Imperial guard character, Markus Kruber, could access a Bretonnian knight Career, called the Grail Knight. For those of you who don't know what a Bretonnian knight is, they're basically paladins and live in an Arthurian-esque realm of honor and chivalry. I really like their lore and their whole aesthetic. Markus has another career, the Huntsman, that turns him into a light armor wearing ranged weapon user, which is a huge departure from his other decidedly heavy and melee-focused specializations.
The talent points, which you accrue at various milestone levels, can then be used to augment a Career's abilities or base stats. I was really intrigued with the intricacies of the Career system and seeing how deeply I could customize the various characters, both visually and from a gameplay approach. This feature was a welcome addition to the otherwise straightforward Left 4 Dead-style gameplay that we've seen nearly twenty years.
Vermintide 2 also has expansive additional game modes that you can enjoy after you've finished the story mode and bonus campaigns. I personally didn't try these out, but I can explain what these other game modes consist of. For more cooperative play, there's a mode called the Chaos Wastes, where you and a party battle through a roguelite long-form expedition of several consecutive stages and try to get as far as you can, collecting new gear, boons and miracles so that your party can get more powerful and last even longer out in the Wastes, and ultimately leading to your party bringing home bigger rewards. I've never been much of a roguelike/roguelite fan, but I know that many people are, and it sounds like you could get a lot of mileage out of this game mode if you found it enjoyable. There's also a Versus game mode, which allows you to play as either the heroes or a number of different Skaven units in exciting PvP action. This reminds me of the awesome PvP game modes that I used to play in Left 4 Dead back in high school. The Vermintide 2 Versus mode also has a progression system that lets you unlock loads of customization options. Lastly, there's a game mode called Weaves. In this mode, you use special, magically-infused weapons to battle through warped, remixed stages where they're tasked to complete myriad creative secondary objectives, as well as eliminating the enemies in that stage in order to beat the overall mission. Personally, I found Weaves to be confusing, but it looks like there's a great deal there to explore and sink your teeth into, if you're hungry for more Vermintide 2.
As far as the story goes, this game suffers from the same massive problem as the first game. The titular "vermintide" comes during the End Times in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, which is the literal end of the Warhammer Fantasy setting. Ultimately, despite the game being undeniably fun, the story doesn't matter. Whether or not our heroes succeed with their mission, the world is ending. Unlike Stacker Pentecost from my beloved Pacific Rim, we are not "cancelling the apocalypse" in Vermintide 2. It's still fun to just experience the Warhammer Fantasy world and explore the beautifully designed stages though. I'll never tire of the awesome, vaguely 1500s era Germanic aesthetic of the Empire's lands and cities.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a fantastic package in 2026. You can frequently get the game on a deep discount (I believe I saw it listed for $3 on Steam recently) and it's loaded with free and paid additional content to give you even more content to enjoy. As usual with these types of games, they really shine brightest when you're playing them with friends, though I never really had any problem with the AI bots. I was also easily able to find additional players via matchmaking every time that I played. If you're still hungry for that Left 4 Dead style action and enjoy the grimdark world of Warhammer Fantasy, you owe it to yourself to try Vermintide 2.
VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on PC
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