Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is one of the most popular co-op games on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox. The developers are now testing a new PvP mode. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus played it live together with a developer at gamescom 2024 and is thrilled – even though nothing worked at all.
“Can’t I perhaps get you excited about Vermintide?” This question initiated one of my most fun moments at gamescom 2024. I was actually supposed to listen to the developers of another game. But because the next group of journalists was already coming, a developer from Vermintide took care of me and told me a bit about his game.
The co-op game is a good acquaintance of mine. I have already slaughtered hordes of Skaven, Beastmen, and Chaos worshippers alongside other players for well over 100 hours. Although I should hate the game, I just love everything about it.
Now Vermintide 2 has announced a new PvP mode that has been available for testing since the beginning of gamescom. Quite spontaneously, the developer invited me to just play a few rounds at the provided PCs. This was not really planned.
If my highlight hadn’t already been the Warhammer RPG, this moment would have become my best experience at gamescom. And in any case, the unexpected game session will stay in my memory for a long time.
With flamethrowers, plague balls, and Gatling guns against the heroes of Ubersreik
The PvP mode is absolute chaos and in the best possible sense. The idea is simple: Actually, you fight in Vermintide together with 3 teammates mainly against Skaven, nasty little rat beings.
Now, however, there is the option to embody exactly these rats. In a 4-vs-4 match, two teams compete on slightly adjusted maps. While the heroes simply need to get as far as possible, the rats are supposed to stop them.
Which team you play for at the beginning is random. The five heroes remain the same, while the rats get a few special units to choose from:
- Gutter Runners are assassins who leap at enemies from a distance and literally stab them, disappearing with a smoke bomb if in danger
- Packmasters drag the heroes with a hook and hang them in distant positions
- Globetrotters throw poison balls that obscure the vision of the heroes and inflict damage over time
- Warp flamethrowers are exactly what they sound like: Rats with flamethrowers spreading green plague fire
- Ratling gunners fire at a distance with rapid-fire weapons and theoretically mow down enemies
At each respawn, you can choose one of two rats you want to play as “Pactsworn.” As a proud member of Clan Eshin, I, of course, played a Gutter Runner whenever possible, albeit with moderate success. All rats, however, are really fun.
Although we lost every round, even with the developer right by my side, I had a blast. Pun intended.
The PvP mode is a tough but fair tug-of-war
To clarify: We played live from gamescom directly with other, real players somewhere in the world. The PvP mode was already ready for testing, and we simply logged in with dev accounts and joined a quick match.
Although I love Vermintide, I hadn’t played it for a while. Accordingly rusty I was while gaming and correspondingly badly we were beaten. We lost, and yes, that’s mostly my fault. Sorry, teammates!
In theory, however, the PvP mode is really fair:
- Games are played in rounds, alternating which team plays as heroes and which as Pactsworn.
- The further the heroes get, the more points they receive. The points are totaled at the end of each round.
- If one team has so many points that the other cannot catch up, the match ends immediately to avoid unnecessary frustration.
The balancing is surprisingly good. Heroes have only limited revives, but can take some hits. Rats can respawn as often as they want, but can be killed with a targeted hit. Moreover, they can only enter the game hidden from the heroes and must maintain a distance.
This makes the entire mode a tactical team fight, where communication and teamwork are key – just like in the actual co-op part of Vermintide.
A co-op game gets PvP and it works frighteningly well
In general, the PvP mode plays very similarly to the “normal” Vermintide. Sure, the rat players are a bit smarter than the AI (unless you play against me – the AI would be more successful there). But since they can be taken down quickly, they do not pose a significantly greater threat than usual.
The focus of the teams is not necessarily on the thought that they have to stop opponents and be better than other players. More important is to simply function well as a unit. Only then can one even win.
Unfortunately, I only had about 40 minutes with the developer to check out the mode. However, those 40 minutes were at least my highlight on that day at gamescom. While chatting, the dev also mentioned: It’s all more of an experiment.
For years, they have repeatedly promised that the PvP mode is coming and tried different variations until this one finally arrives. It is all completely optional. No one has to compete against other players; the mode is just for fun and for those who are into it.
The short session excited me totally, and I am really looking forward to Vermintide again. Already from gamescom, I informed my team, and we plan to dive back in soon. After all, we have been shamefully neglecting the game, as Warhammer is one of the best franchises ever: In a perfect world, the biggest MMORPG today would be World of Warhammer
