Trapped in a sprawling town overrun by skaven, the mad-science obsessed, pestilence spreading, ninja rat-men of the Warhammer franchise, you and your companions must strive to thwart the invaders and not end up as lunch.

Good: This is an action-packed game that doesn’t pull punches – stop paying attention and you’ll find yourself being choked, stabbed or caught in a hail of bullets, all the while trying to fend off the horde of crazed rat-men swarming from the sewers, rooftops and side streets.

The setting and general tone of the game is great as well, capturing the grim aesthetic of the Warhammer franchise really well. The skaven look dirty and fevered as they rush through the battered streets in a chittering horde – as the tell-tail wheezing of a poison wind globadier or lighting fast movements of a gutter runner warn you of impending doom. Furthermore, each mission map has a distinct theme, from the docks to the cemeteries or even the skaven burrows beneath the town – all with their own unique objectives.

There are five characters each with a different collection of weapons to pick from (incidentally, new loot is the core way you advance – magical properties and/or different uses, such as a blunderbuss v.s. a musket) and each handles differently. Each has a ranged and a melee option, and conserving ammunition is a major concern for everyone except the wizard, who has to manage heat levels… or explode. This does allow for a decent variety of play-styles depending on how you select your equipment though.

Bad: it’s hard to avoid comparing this to the Left 4 Dead franchise – it has the same ‘campaign’ style set up, the same aggravating ‘must be saved by your teammate’ enemies and the same inept bots. It does depart from the L4D series in one way though – your equipment. Rather than finding weapons during a mission, you’re stuck with what you have – and that, in turn, is determined by what loot you receive for mission completions, leaving you at the mercy of RNG.

Opinion: It’s not a bad game, but I didn’t really enjoy it when I wasn’t playing with friends. Solo or with random match-making leaves you frustrated with teammates or the bots, whereas all the bad things that can happen are funny when a bunch of friends are failing together.