Horde Mode

The rats are back in WARHAMMER: VERMINTIDE II, and they brought ugly new friends.

- Tom Senior

In the Warhammer universe there are few sights more heroic than that of a screaming dwarf being repeatedly slammed against the floor by the tentacle of a rampaging Chaos Spawn. I used this distraction to slip behind the mutant and stab it repeatedly in the back with my spear – a classic elfish move. In its surprise, the Chaos Spawn lets go of the dwarf, who screams and starts battering the creature with his axe, completely unfazed by what just happened.

The Chaos Spawn is one of Vermintide II’s new bosses. It towers over the Rat Ogre – previously the biggest special enemy – and is just one of the terrors the new Chaos faction brings to the series. The sequel stays true to the first game’s take on the Left 4 Dead format: you play as one of a team of four heroes fighting through gauntlets populated by hordes mustered by an AI director. The first game surprised us with its satisfying first-person melee combat, cool loot and a good understanding of what makes the Warhammer fantasy world grim and hilarious. The sequel is building on that with more environments, enemies, class options and a revamped loot system. However, the first thing I notice is how good the weapons feel. The bounty hunter Victor sends enemies flying with his warhammer, and you can smash half a dozen bodies with one power swing if you hold down left-click for a few seconds. The elf’s spear lashes out spitefully at greater speed and does bonus damage when you poke an enemy in the back.

“The thing that really makes it feel chunky and really nice is the combination of effect, sound and also the stagger animations on the enemies you hit,” says lead designer Victor Magnuson.