It seems like you can’t keep a good rat-man down, as the skaven return with a vengeance in Vermintide 2 – and this time, they’ve brought friends…

Good: As in the first Vermintide, this game is a frantic fast-paced shooter/brawler, as you attempt to complete objectives without being overrun by the Pact-Sworn, a loose alliance of the rodent-like skaven and the plague-carrying berserkers of the far north. The broadening array of foes brings new special units, from teleporting sorcerers to ravenous chaos spawn or even rat-ogres with flamethrowers strapped to their arms!

The missions maintain the dark, atmospheric ambience of the first game, with the addition of all kinds of plagued flesh courtesy of their pact-sworn allies. In addition, the characters themselves have quite a bit more in terms of cosmetics, many of which are freebies.

The five companions of the original Vermintide return (controlled by players or AI bots) but now with three (or more with DLC) possible careers. Each career grants you a special ability and passive effects, along with a costume and talent tree that allows you to tailor the playstyle of each character:

• Bardin begins as a Ranger Veteran, using guns and crossbows to deal death from afar, finding extra ammo and using smoke bombs to buy breathing space. Switching to the Ironbreaker turns him into a tough front-liner that can shrug off damage while blasting away with a flamethrower, while becoming a Trollslayer will turn you into a frothing berserk maniac that leaps into the fray.
• Saltzpyre returns as a Witch Hunter Captain, wielding rapier and pistol against those he marks as condemned. A more cynical path leads to the Bounty Hunter, causing carnage with ranged weapons and a modified shotgun-pistol, while the unhinged Zealot, rushes into close-quarters to repay pain with savage flail blows.
• Sienna burns her way through the opposition as a Battle Wizard, launching measured blasts of flame at distant foes or flashing forwards in a burst of flame. As sanity wavers she can become the Pyromancer, launching flaming skulls and risking self immolation for more power… or instead she may become the Unchained, a close-range living-bomb sustained by her burning blood.
• Kerrillian picks off foes as the Waystalker, launching magical and mundane arrows at priority targets or calling on nature magic to replenish her supplies. She can also become the elusive Handmaiden, darting in and out of combat to impale foes on her spear, or give in to her demons and become the Shade, slipping unseen through the shadows to assassinate the unwary.
• Kruber rallies his allies as the Mercenary, bolstering the health and speed of his squad as he cleaves through his foes. Instead he can take up the path of the Huntsman, setting up devastating ranged ambushes from concealment, while the recently elevated Foot Knight can soak up blows and bowl over enemies with a valiant charge.

Bad: Perhaps the biggest issue I have with this game is the small amount of missions included. I’m probably spoiled by other games, and it’s worth remembering that none of these are procedurally generated, but you could probably do every mission in the base game in a single afternoon. Do note that this isn’t a deal-breaker, as the wildly different combat styles of each character makes replaying things fairly fun!

The AI for the bots used when playing solo (or with less than three extra humans) also leaves something to be desired – they seem prone to stealing all the ammo and leaping off cliffs, which can be a serious nuisance when you’re left facing an assassin or strangler alone. That said, the bots perform adequality for most missions, and use equipment you’ve given them i.e. if you last played Kruber as a huntsman with a blunderbuss and halberd, that’s what he’ll spawn with!

DLC: There is a fair amount of downloadable content for Vermintide 2, including new classes for several of the characters (such as an Engineer for Bardin) new missions and cosmetic items. Individually these don’t cost much, but the price does add up if you buy them all.

There’s also been some free DLC, most notably the Chaos Wastes. These expeditions are a series of short missions that restrict your gear, but allow you to select boons (roughly equivalent to talents) and weapon upgrades along the way with currency dropped in the missions. Each mission has a variety of modifiers, from simple things like increasing the number of “monster” type enemies to random whirlwinds or explosive runes on some enemies. These semi-random missions are a good way to keep the game fresh, rather than rehashing the set missions of the story campaign.

Opinion: This is a good little game if you can get it in a sale, but I would suggest playing it with at least one friend rather than by yourself. If you enjoyed the Left-4-Dead franchise you’ll feel right at home!