‘Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide’ Review (PC)
Before I start this review of Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide, I should probably say that I’m not a huge Warhammer fan though it always intrigues me, and I dip into many of its games. What I am though is a fan of trying out new experiences. This is why I took part in the beta, and took the time to play Vermintide for review.
Set in Ubersreik, which is a town overrun by Skaven Verimintide gives you the ability to be one of five champions. All individual with their own styles of battle and abilities. Fighting against hordes of different Skaven their attacks are relentless as you battle to take back the town.
I probably played Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide wrong, I went at it alone for most of the time and decided to test the strength of the bots. While they often don’t provide the support I expect of them, they appear to be learning with each patch that arrives for the game. This of course makes the game more of a challenge as I have to fight to survive more, and not rely on my little team of heroes to save me.
In terms of gameplay, if you’ve played Left 4 Dead or its sequel you’ll feel right at home, and some would argue maybe too at home. There is something to remember here though, how long ago has it been since we had a new Left 4 Dead? The answer is too damn long. This is why Vermintide has a master-stroke, and that is to pull in an easy to handle RPG system into the game.
With each level you complete, the more you’ll rank up. This ranking up will toughen you for the next battle ahead and make you as the player feel like you’ve made progression. Levelling up also provides you with a new weapon for somebody in your party. This can be selected at the start of each level to get you ready for the battle. In terms of opponents the different variety of the Skaven bear some similarity to Left 4 Dead creatures. These include the Pack Master who can drag you away and hold you hostage in enemy territory, Stormvermin who are more armoured than the average rodent, Poison Wind Globadier, Ratling Gunner, Gutter Rutter and the tank like Rat Ogre.
When taking on these special opponents (who in some cases are similar to some of the Left 4 Dead zombies) it is best to have some help. If you are playing using bots as your allies, often you may find yourself in trouble. As said earlier, this is improving though could still be tweaked a bit. In co-op mode though part of the fun is to aid your team in fending off these opponents. This is especially the case when you have to chase after the Pack Master who can travel quite some distance if you don’t act fast.
Vermintide is a good looking game that isn’t too resource hungry for your PC. It feels like this game has arrived at just the right time, that we need something like this. Left 4 Dead was a fun game, and we’ve had a hole in gaming recently made by the fact Evolution didn’t deliver what we wanted. Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide is a good successor to Left 4 Dead, and yes it may be a clone but it’s a damn good clone.
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide is available on PC now.
