Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide is an online-focused co-op FPS from Fatshark that blends frantic horde shooting with satisfying first-person melee. Set in the Warhammer End Times, it throws you and a small team of heroes into Ubersreik, where the Skaven have overrun the streets and you are fighting mission by mission to reclaim the city.
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Publisher: Fatshark Playerbase: Medium Type: FPS Release Date: October 23, 2015 Pros: +Tight co-op action that captures the Left 4 Dead-style loop. +Enemy swarms feel dangerous, not just numerous. +First-person melee is responsive and weighty. +Strong visuals for its time. Cons: -Leans so heavily on Left 4 Dead that it can feel derivative. -Some missions wrap up in around 10 to 15 minutes. -Only 13 levels. |
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Overview
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide is an online-focused co-op FPS created by Fatshark, the studio behind War of the Roses and Escape Dead Island. The premise is straightforward and effective: Ubersreik has fallen to the Skaven, and you are part of a five-hero cast trying to carve a path through ratmen-infested districts to push back the invasion.
Missions are built around moving through set environments while dealing with constant pressure from large packs of Skaven. Rather than relying on slow, shambling foes, Vermintide’s hordes use speed and numbers to overwhelm, forcing teams to watch corners, manage stamina, and avoid getting separated. Across thirteen levels, you will regularly face dozens of enemies at once, and the game’s pace tends to reward players who communicate and stick together.
Each of the five heroes comes with their own personality and a fixed set of two weapons, which helps define their feel in combat even before loot enters the picture. Combat is a mix of ranged attacks and a major emphasis on melee, with Fatshark applying lessons learned from its earlier melee-focused work to create a system that feels fluid in first person. At the end of a level, you receive a random loot reward that can be equipped to increase your character’s power, giving the game a light progression layer that encourages repeated runs.
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Key Features
- Take back Ubersreik – Join the struggle to reclaim Ubersreik from the Skaven occupation, mission by mission.
- Fight hordes of Skaven – The Skaven attack in huge waves that can quickly punish sloppy positioning.
- Fluid melee combat – Building on experience from War of the Roses, Fatshark delivers first-person melee that feels fast, readable, and brutal when a horde closes in.
- A true co-op experience – Play with up to three friends, or fill empty slots with bots to keep runs going.
- Five unique heroes – Pick from five distinct heroes with their own personalities and weapon pairings.
- Upgrade your characters – Earn loot at the end of missions and use it to improve your heroes’ overall power.
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Screenshots
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Featured Video
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Review
Vermintide’s biggest draw is how well it translates the “four-player survival run” format into a Warhammer skin that actually fits. The Skaven are an ideal enemy for this structure: fast, swarming, and aggressive enough that even routine corridors can turn into a scramble when the game decides to throw a wave at the team. The result is a co-op shooter where the best moments come from quick saves, clean rotations, and that satisfying rhythm of cutting down a press of enemies while your teammates cover angles.
The moment-to-moment combat is where Vermintide separates itself from many shooters that merely include melee as a backup. Here, close-quarters fighting is central, and it generally feels responsive and weighty. Timing, spacing, and target priority matter, especially when the group gets pinned or when a horde arrives at the same time as tougher threats. The first-person perspective also adds intensity, because you often have to read movement and audio cues rather than relying on a wide third-person view.
Level structure follows a familiar formula: push forward through themed environments, handle periodic spikes in enemy density, and aim to finish without the team collapsing. Some missions can feel short, with runs that conclude in roughly 10 to 15 minutes when things go smoothly. That brevity is not inherently negative, since it makes the game easy to pick up for a quick session, but it can also make the overall offering feel limited when paired with a total of 13 levels.
Progression is intentionally light. Completing a mission awards a random piece of loot, and the constant drip of upgrades provides a reason to repeat levels beyond just improving at the game. Because the reward is random, the loop leans into replaying content and chasing better gear, but it does not fundamentally change the mission designs in the way a deeper RPG system might.
Where Vermintide stumbles is in how closely it tracks the Left 4 Dead blueprint. For players who love that style, this is often a positive, because it delivers a familiar co-op cadence with a distinct setting and a stronger focus on melee. For others, the similarities can be hard to ignore, and the game’s identity sometimes feels defined by its influences rather than its own unique structure. Even so, the combination of atmosphere, fluid close combat, and the satisfaction of handling overwhelming hordes makes it an easy recommendation for co-op groups looking for a focused, action-forward experience.
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Links
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Official Site
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Developer’s Website
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Steam Store
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core2 Quad Q9500 @ 2.83GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 940
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 460 or Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB VRAM
DirectX: Version 11
Hard Drive: 20 GB available space
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Music & Soundtrack
Coming Soon!
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide Additional Information
Developer(s): Fatshark
Publisher(s): Fatshark
Engine: Autodesk Stingray
PS4 Release Date: TBA 2015
Xbox One Release Date: TBA 2015
Steam Release Date: October 23, 2015
Development History / Background:
Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide was revealed by Swedish developer Fatshark on February 5, 2015. In coverage posted to the PlayStation Blog, the studio described it as their most ambitious project at the time and pointed to their previous work as preparation, particularly what they had learned about building first-person melee systems while developing War of the Roses. The release date was later confirmed for October 23, 2015. Beta sign-ups began on September 24, 2015, followed by multiple beta tests leading into the October 23 launch.