Vermintide: I never knew that a horde of seething rats could make me so happy.

For those who never knew my in my misbegotten youth, I was a huge fan of the Warhammer games. Whether it was the uber-grim-dark of the 41st millennium, or the world of fantasy battles, I had a crush on everything that Games Workshop produced. The history of Warhammer games is long, and at times pretty weird, but nothing has surprised me more than the spree of games released in the last year or so. The long-standing arrangement for GW was that its intellectual properties would always be handled very safely by a select group of publishers. The whole 40k license was handled purely by THQ, who made the outstanding Dawn of War series, and the brilliant, if not repetitive, Space Marine. With THQ down the plughole, and GW going through some strange times as a company, the licenses for video games seems to have been given out freely with every fifth purchase of model paints. For an intellectual property (IP) that only ever had about 20 games since around 1990, it has seen an utter explosion of adaptations in the last year, with around 15 games released, or due in FY15-16. This has led to fears that the license is being "whored-out", and that low quality games will be the result. At first this looked possible, with games like Storm of Vengeance being pretty damn underwhelming. However, with games like Total War: Warhammer being handled by the grand-strategy veterans at Creative Assembly, and other titles proving to be shockingly above expectations, such as Battlefleet Gothic, and Deathwing, the IP seems to be getting ho'ed out to the right people, namely people who give a shit, and aren't just doing it for a quick cash in. Time and again, I've been expecting utter failure, and cynical game publishers to go for the quick money, but every interview and release lately seems to be coming from a genuinely passionate standpoint. The game devs love this IP, and are putting their all into it. And today I played the first of these releases to really stoke my belief, and kill some of that nagging cynicism: Vermintide.

I seriously did not see this one coming. With the flood of GW licensed games coming out, it was hard to keep up with it all, and even easier to overlook some of the more minor titles. Vermintide is not based on a specific GW game/spin-off game, such as Mordheim, or Battlefeet Gothic. Instead, Vermintide seems to be its own little project, loosely based on the "end-times" saga of Warhammer Fantasy. The game is, oddly, a bit of a Left 4 Dead clone, with the players teaming up in a co-op survival. This kind of seemed a little bit of a bad idea at first. It really is a L4D clone in virtually all respects. You and three others sneak through the streets of a city during a full blown invasion of creatures that swarm you, and occasionally bushwhack you by deploying some kind of super-powerful devious monster that forces you into teamwork. Your goal is usually to survive a journey to some kind of mission objective, or just make it to the next safehouse or evacuation point. The general principle comes close to being copy/pasted, but somehow, in the totally different environment of Warhammer Fantasy, replacing the cast of survivors with a D&D team of heroes, and the zombies with a horde of Skaven (rat-men), this clone burst out of the screen as a superior game experience that defies expectations. Vermintide is awesome.

Rise, brothers! Last one to shank a humie is a dirty rat that stinks of cheese... So, pretty normal, then.

To start building some credit for it, I will say that when it copies L4D, it copies the best parts, and where it diverges, it leaves behind some bits that I'd rather do without. The situation is that the apocalypse is nigh, and the city of Ubersreik has been infested by the Skaven. The rat-men are one of the coolest things to ever come out of Warhammer, as they are a lot like goblins, or something recognizable from Tolkien, but have such a unique personality that they bring immediate character to this game. Like the zombies of L4D, the Skaven are vicious and rely on their numbers to overwhelm their victims, but the decisive difference is that Skaven are quite obviously intelligent, and actually quite cowardly. The zombies of L4D would hurl themselves at you the moment you are spotted, while the Skaven skulk and stalk you, retreating if the situation isn't entirely favourable. The Skaven almost always favour striking from behind, or above, or worst of all from below. L4D achieved spectacular atmosphere by having zombies pour out of alleyways and scale fences to get to you, but the Skaven feel even more insidious. The Skaven linger out of sight, chittering and whispering curses at you, only to burst from the walls, up through the drains, or from underneath carriages. In Vermintide, it is impossible to feel safe, and the looming apocalypse feels ever more real, while salvation feels ever more unrealistic.

His battlecry: Free Hugs!!! Yes, yes!

What is perhaps most surprising is how the other L4D trope of "special zombies" works so brilliantly here. GW has always brought cool ideas to the table for unique and wacky monsters. The classic L4D cadre of specials are mostly here, with the Hunter, Tank, and Smoker loosely represented. The Skaven equivalents are the Gutter Runner acting mostly like the Hunter, stalking you before pouncing and ripping into an isolated player, the Rat Ogre filling in for the Tank, and the Packmaster taking over loosely for the Smoker. However, their flavour is unique, with a distinctly ratty behaviour. The Gutter Runner has some cool ninja tricks, such as smoke bombs, allowing him to retreat and find a new attack route when things go poorly for him, while the Packmaster feels a little less cheap than the Smoker, since he actually gets quite close, and garrotes you from behind, before dragging you by the neck into an alley, or swarm of rats which descend on you. What sets them apart the most from L4D is that constant feeling of intelligence, cowardice, and oddly enough, teamwork. The L4D zombies never really felt like they were operating on anything but instinct (appropriate), while the Skaven truly feel smart. On top of that, Vermintide offers a few completely new challenges, such as high-tech opponents like the Ratling Gun (a machine-gun wielding rat), which requires the players to fix and flank it, or the Stormvermin: armoured rat patrols that the players can choose to avoid or fight for a reward, who are not especially unique tactically, but bloody powerful and could wipe your game.

You get a free hat if you can kill all of them... worth it.

Perhaps the most important differentiating factor in Vermintide is the setting. Vermintide is set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, specifically a Gothic, filthy medieval setting, with rickety old buildings, scummy pubs, wooden carts in the street, and everything lit by candlelight. The world is utterly beautiful and grotesque, inspired mostly by games like Mordheim, which was set in a similar "city of the damned". The atmosphere is assisted by a perfect musical score which captures both the Gothic grotesque atmosphere, but also the otherworldly and skittering nature of the Skaven. Harsh, alien twanging instruments and screeching strings unravel the player's sanity every bit as much as the tense environment, evoking games like American McGee's Alice, or the cinematic works of Jean Pierre Junet.

This was before the apocalypse? Yeesh, maybe the rats could add a touch of class to this place.

A welcome addition to the L4D formula is the inclusion of a more in depth melee combat system. In L4D the aversion to melee made a lot of sense, as you were fighting infected zombies. Here, in this medieval world, swords and slow-firing flintlock pistols make melee a necessary focus. Instead of mowing down hordes, you cut a swathe through them, and combat get's especially dangerous when special opponents arrive, forcing frenetic and violent teamwork. The game also differs in that it offers a much more RPG focused game, with each team-member taking a character class, rather than a generic survivor, defined solely by which weapon they pick at the start of the game. Each class has a few inherent traits, with the Dwarf being a little slower and tougher, while the Wizard can explode masses of Skaven from range. However, the classes are also load-out based, allowing them to pick different fighting styles between games (choosing a shield/weapon combo for tanking, or a bigger weapon for damage). New gear and aesthetic options get unlocked over time, and with special loot drops. The game doesn't just reward you arbitrarily either; sometimes you'll be faced with picking up a tome which prevents you carrying other essential items, and the player must decide between finishing the quest with bonus rewards, or dumping the tome in favour of a potion of bomb that might save them. Other rewards also lie hidden, such as Pack Rats that you must chase and kill, which could lead you astray from your team, and get you killed while isolated. Rewards and risks must be weighed at all times, and the RPG elements that Vermintide brings to the table add replayability to the game that I felt L4D was lacking.

I've barely played 2 hours of this game, and already I had so much to say. As soon as I'm done here today, I'll be charging straight back into the game. I will warn all of you now that the game is currently in its pre-release phase. It is purchasable on Steam as an early-access pre-order. You can purchase it today for $26.99 AUD, or your regional equivalent, which is apparently a 10% discount on its post-launch price. As with all early-access games,  I cannot stress enough that it cannot be judged as a complete product yet, and bugs will occur. My second game ended when I picked up an item that was essential to finish the level, and the game immediately hung. It didn't crash, however, and simply reset the level without booting me to the desktop. Since then, the game has run flawlessly. Other things to note are that there is currently no tutorial level (though, game hints are present), and menus are not yet fully implemented. You can jump right in today, and I recommend you do so, as my own expectations were shattered by the game's current level of quality, but you can also wait until the game goes into its official release if you'd rather experience it in its final form. If you liked L4D, or anything Warhammer Fantasy related, you will adore this. Now, I'm going to shut up and get back into the game.

He makes the house smell of sawdust and piss, but at least I didn't end up a cat person.