HomeNewsWarhammer: Vermintide 2
Left 4 Dead’s ratty cousin Vermintide 2 is finally getting a Versus mode, with alpha tests in the “near future"A tail worth telling
A tail worth telling
Image credit:Fatshark
Image credit:Fatshark
Wake up, mayflies! FatShark have detailed the closed alpha forWarhammer: Vermintide 2’s long-awaited Versus mode, in which the doughty Ubersreik Five go up against four player-controlled Skaven Pactsworn (translation: ratty supervillains) in addition to the rank-and-file AI-controlled rodent hordes. The alpha will launch in the “near future”, and sounds like just the dollop of rancid PvP shenanigans this lapsed Elven ranger needs to re-install one of the all-time great Warhammer adaptations, which unaccountably isn’t on our list of thebest co-op gamesorthebest multiplayer gameson PC. You got something against horrible giant rats, Ed Thorn?
It’s all very redolent ofLeft 4 Dead, which is nothing new for Vermintide and Fatshark action games in general. “The Versus game mode is definitely something that players familiar with the genre will recognize,” the post adds. “We want to honor our predecessor in this space while adding our own unique melee-oriented flair to it that most of our players recognize us for.”
The developers are hoping to “provide a fun, casual team experience but still scratch that competitive itch.” They’re also hoping to learn a lot from the closed alpha, for which they are targeting a mix of new and veteran players. While playtest slots are limited, Fatshark aim to enlist “a large majority” of those who sign up. The post strikes the obligatory note of caution on the tech front, commenting that “this is our first time testing Versus with a larger number of players, so things aren’t completely final, and some things may be a bit unstable”.
If you don’t make the cut this time round, there will be additional playtests down the road. “The closed alpha test is just one step in a multi-stage process to get both the team and our players feeling good about the game mode and how it plays,” the post concludes. There’s still no final launch date for Versus at the time of writing. Hopefully it won’t take another four years.
The first question that came to my mind on catching wind of the alpha was: are they recording any additional rat bantz (rantz?) for the Pactsworn, and if so, can they do anotherdrunken voice actor updatefor the game’s next anniversary? I don’t know what drunk Skaven sound like, but I’d love to find out.
If the above leaves you yearning to plumb the viscous depths of a Fatshark dungeon, Alice0 recentlyrevisited Warhammer 40,000: Darktideand found it much-improved after aslightly disorganised showingat launch.
