I admit it! I’m a shill! But not an ordinary one.

As a shill with over a thousand hours on the game, I believe I can accurately present why Vermintide is worth your time, as well as what its most debilitating shortcomings are – and why you should stomach through them. Let’s begin!


I don’t think Vermintide needs much of an introduction at this point. It’s managed to build up a reputation over the years and step, or rather leap, out of the shadow of its inspirations.

Set in the Warhammer universe, Vermintide has you and up to three other friends fighting not against one, but two enemy factions. Gone are the days of merely fighting hordes of zombies, aliens, zombies, or aliens. Both the Skaven (the rat guys) and the Northlanders (Viking-looking green dudes) are completely fledged-out factions, with their own rosters of common enemies, elites, specials, and bosses. Each of these tiers is then further split into several unit types, with differing stats, equipment, and attack patterns. This is only one of the ways in which Vermintide shows off its high skill ceiling. Being able to successfully memorize how to fight each of these enemy types and adapt to it once you’re in the middle of a horde isn’t easy to pull off, but it’s incredibly satisfying once you get into the swing of things.

Of course, an enemy roster alone doesn’t make such a game great. Vermintide’s combat system is similarly layered. You have five characters to choose from, each playing differently from the others. These differences are most apparent when looking at their talent trees, active abilities, and available weapons. However, each character in the base game can swap between three unique classes (called careers in-game), effectively increasing the number of characters to 15. Some of these will be similar in some ways, but figuring out their strengths and weaknesses, the best way to utilize their abilities, and which weapon suits them most, calls for a lot of experimentation and makes each one feel unique from the others.

The gist of the combat is quite straightforward. You press your left mouse button to perform light attacks and hold it for heavier ones, which take longer to execute but deal more damage, as expected. The right mouse button is used for blocking, which alongside dodging is what you use to avoid damage. As for ranged weapons, right-click either swaps to ADS or performs a bash, depending on the weapon you’re using – with some exceptions. You press F to use your career skill, a powerful active ability that’s usually some variation of an empowered attack, a supportive AoE effect, or a dash that buffs you. You won’t be finding any weapons on your missions, aside from some consumable items, as you start them off with a pre-selected loadout. The whole system might seem too simple at first, but the more you increase the difficulty and are forced to get better at the game, the more you start realizing what makes it so great: each weapon has unique attack patterns that can be altered depending on when you decide to do which type of attack, when to block, and when to shove. Essentially, each weapon has unique combos, with each attack having its own damage, armour penetration, and cleave values, as well as coming from a certain direction. It goes beyond just using light attacks for unarmoured and heavy attacks for armoured foes. The visuals, sound effects, and the way enemies get staggered by your strikes, all make it immensely satisfying. On the contrary, ranged weapons can feel underwhelming to use.

Sound is another thing Vermintide has figured out completely. All special enemies have distinct, clearly audible sound cues (the occasional sound bug notwithstanding), while the heroes have callouts for everything. You won’t be feeling lost during a level or unsure of what’s happening. And boy, such wonderful voice acting it is. The characters are quite well written as well, though they may seem a bit one-note if you’re not that willing to dig up their lore or try to get familiarized with the rules of the universe - or read through the weekly lore blogs the developers put up. The enemies are voiced as well, giving them much more character than they’d have if they were limited to just gurgling sounds and screeches.

The soundtrack, done by industry veteran Jesper Kyd, is a perfect fit. It’s this mix of orchestral, chant-heavy songs you’d expect from a fantasy game, complemented with electronic and industrial riffs that give Vermintide’s soundscape its own identity. Action setpieces and horde fights feel exciting and frantic, while for those moments where you're just exploring or passing through a territory ravaged by war, Jesper provides enchanting tracks that have a strong, brooding undertone, further highlighting the desperation of the setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw1FZWbDG-Y&list=PL_8OPzy1Q4QDJLcbCqCPJeTBlR0kR9wtu&index=7&ab_channel=Fatshark



So, in what aspect does Vermintide 2 fail? Well, the onboarding experience for newer players is kind of terrible. The game starts you off on a difficulty that’s way too easy, unless this is literally the first game you’re playing, like, ever. Harder difficulties need to be unlocked, which can feel a bit arbitrary. It also does a bad job of explaining all of its nuanced mechanics, resorting instead to vague terminology that might confuse you even more.

Visually, I find the game to be great, but there’s a noticeable lack of polish once you start looking at some of the environments, as they look a bit flimsy and unconvincing, almost as if you're walking through a movie set.

The progression of acquiring new items can feel stingy. Although there’ll never be a situation where you don’t have a good weapon to use, having acquiring new weapons be entirely RNG-based can get frustrating, as they're obtained from loot boxes awarded every time you beat a mission, level up, or complete certain challenges. There is a crafting system in place that lets you mitigate this, but you'll find it quite inconvenient. Just look up a guide for all this stuff, honestly.

Finally, there is the occasional bug. These vary from mild annoyances to potentially game-ruining but don’t happen frequently enough where the game is unplayable. If the mere thought of there being a chance that you might lose one of 100 runs due to someone falling through the floor is enough to make you flip out, well then I guess you won’t be adding Vermintide to your shopping cart any time soon.



Vermintide is a notoriously poorly-optimized game that’s quite CPU reliant, so expect hiccups. Furthermore, the 8 GBs of RAM that is recommended on the store page is straight-up inaccurate. Don’t hope for no drops in framerate unless you have at least 16, regardless of your setup.

I’ve managed to get it running at a somewhat stable 60 FPS while still retaining a good chunk of its visual quality at 1080p, with most of the lighting and post-processing settings turned down to their lowest. Getting there wasn’t easy and required a lot of troubleshooting.


I genuinely hope you’ll try out Vermintide 2. While I understand that the things it gets wrong might be a dealbreaker for some, the things it gets right, it gets better than any other game in its genre. The former can only get improved, while the latter… well, if the developers haven’t messed it up so far, then they probably won’t in the future. I've faith in Fatshark.

C’mon, give the game a shot. Will ya?

A curator helmed by veterans of the review scene, Summit regularly provides you with professional quality reviews for all sorts of games.

[h1]The best co-op horde game out there[/h1] I admit it! I’m a shill! But not an ordinary one. As a shill with over a thousand hours on the game, I believe I can accurately present why Vermintide is worth your time, as well as what its most debilitating shortcomings are – and why you should stomach through them. Let’s begin! [h2]The good[/h2] I don’t think Vermintide needs much of an introduction at this point. It’s managed to build up a reputation over the years and step, or rather leap, out of the shadow of its inspirations. Set in the Warhammer universe, Vermintide has you and up to three other friends fighting not against one, but two enemy factions. Gone are the days of merely fighting hordes of zombies, aliens, zombies, or aliens. Both the Skaven (the rat guys) and the Northlanders (Viking-looking green dudes) are completely fledged-out factions, with their own rosters of common enemies, elites, specials, and bosses. Each of these tiers is then further split into several unit types, with differing stats, equipment, and attack patterns. This is only one of the ways in which Vermintide shows off its high skill ceiling. Being able to successfully memorize how to fight each of these enemy types and adapt to it once you’re in the middle of a horde isn’t easy to pull off, but it’s incredibly satisfying once you get into the swing of things. Of course, an enemy roster alone doesn’t make such a game great. Vermintide’s combat system is similarly layered. You have five characters to choose from, each playing differently from the others. These differences are most apparent when looking at their talent trees, active abilities, and available weapons. However, each character in the base game can swap between three unique classes (called careers in-game), effectively increasing the number of characters to 15. Some of these will be similar in some ways, but figuring out their strengths and weaknesses, the best way to utilize their abilities, and which weapon suits them most, calls for a lot of experimentation and makes each one feel unique from the others. The gist of the combat is quite straightforward. You press your left mouse button to perform light attacks and hold it for heavier ones, which take longer to execute but deal more damage, as expected. The right mouse button is used for blocking, which alongside dodging is what you use to avoid damage. As for ranged weapons, right-click either swaps to ADS or performs a bash, depending on the weapon you’re using – with some exceptions. You press F to use your career skill, a powerful active ability that’s usually some variation of an empowered attack, a supportive AoE effect, or a dash that buffs you. You won’t be finding any weapons on your missions, aside from some consumable items, as you start them off with a pre-selected loadout. The whole system might seem too simple at first, but the more you increase the difficulty and are forced to get better at the game, the more you start realizing what makes it so great: each weapon has unique attack patterns that can be altered depending on when you decide to do which type of attack, when to block, and when to shove. Essentially, each weapon has unique combos, with each attack having its own damage, armour penetration, and cleave values, as well as coming from a certain direction. It goes beyond just using light attacks for unarmoured and heavy attacks for armoured foes. The visuals, sound effects, and the way enemies get staggered by your strikes, all make it immensely satisfying. On the contrary, ranged weapons can feel underwhelming to use. Sound is another thing Vermintide has figured out completely. All special enemies have distinct, clearly audible sound cues (the occasional sound bug notwithstanding), while the heroes have callouts for everything. You won’t be feeling lost during a level or unsure of what’s happening. And boy, such wonderful voice acting it is. The characters are quite well written as well, though they may seem a bit one-note if you’re not that willing to dig up their lore or try to get familiarized with the rules of the universe - or read through the weekly lore blogs the developers put up. The enemies are voiced as well, giving them much more character than they’d have if they were limited to just gurgling sounds and screeches. The soundtrack, done by industry veteran Jesper Kyd, is a perfect fit. It’s this mix of orchestral, chant-heavy songs you’d expect from a fantasy game, complemented with electronic and industrial riffs that give Vermintide’s soundscape its own identity. Action setpieces and horde fights feel exciting and frantic, while for those moments where you're just exploring or passing through a territory ravaged by war, Jesper provides enchanting tracks that have a strong, brooding undertone, further highlighting the desperation of the setting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw1FZWbDG-Y&list=PL_8OPzy1Q4QDJLcbCqCPJeTBlR0kR9wtu&index=7&ab_channel=Fatshark [h2]The bad[/h2] So, in what aspect does Vermintide 2 fail? Well, the onboarding experience for newer players is kind of terrible. The game starts you off on a difficulty that’s way too easy, unless this is literally the first game you’re playing, like, ever. Harder difficulties need to be unlocked, which can feel a bit arbitrary. It also does a bad job of explaining all of its nuanced mechanics, resorting instead to vague terminology that might confuse you even more. Visually, I find the game to be great, but there’s a noticeable lack of polish once you start looking at some of the environments, as they look a bit flimsy and unconvincing, almost as if you're walking through a movie set. The progression of acquiring new items can feel stingy. Although there’ll never be a situation where you don’t have a good weapon to use, having acquiring new weapons be entirely RNG-based can get frustrating, as they're obtained from loot boxes awarded every time you beat a mission, level up, or complete certain challenges. There is a crafting system in place that lets you mitigate this, but you'll find it quite inconvenient. Just look up a guide for all this stuff, honestly. Finally, there is the occasional bug. These vary from mild annoyances to potentially game-ruining but don’t happen frequently enough where the game is unplayable. If the mere thought of there being a chance that you might lose one of 100 runs due to someone falling through the floor is enough to make you flip out, well then I guess you won’t be adding Vermintide to your shopping cart any time soon. [h3]Reviewed on the following system:[/h3] [table][tr][td]CPU [/td][td]AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz[/td][/tr][tr][td]GPU[/td][td]GeForce GTX 1050Ti[/td][/tr][tr][td]RAM [/td][td]16GB[/td][/tr][/table] Vermintide is a notoriously poorly-optimized game that’s quite CPU reliant, so expect hiccups. Furthermore, the 8 GBs of RAM that is recommended on the store page is straight-up inaccurate. Don’t hope for no drops in framerate unless you have at least 16, regardless of your setup. I’ve managed to get it running at a somewhat stable 60 FPS while still retaining a good chunk of its visual quality at 1080p, with most of the lighting and post-processing settings turned down to their lowest. Getting there wasn’t easy and required a lot of troubleshooting. [h2]Verdict[/h2] I genuinely hope you’ll try out Vermintide 2. While I understand that the things it gets wrong might be a dealbreaker for some, the things it gets right, it gets better than any other game in its genre. The former can only get improved, while the latter… well, if the developers haven’t messed it up so far, then they probably won’t in the future. I've faith in Fatshark. C’mon, give the game a shot. Will ya? [quote] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41449676/]A curator helmed by veterans of the review scene, [b]Summit[/b] regularly provides you with professional quality reviews for all sorts of games. [/url] [/quote]