Versus is coming to Vermintide 2
We are happy to announce that a new game mode will come to Vermintide 2. It was announced at the PC Gaming Show on June 10.
Currently, the Q&A will hopefully answer many of your thoughts and questions, and we are looking forward to sharing more information with you as the project continues to develop.
What is Vermintide 2 - Versus?
Vermintide 2 - Versus is a new player vs player game mode for Warhammer: Vermintide 2. It will be 4 vs 4 gameplay, and you will be able to play as dark pact characters from both the Skaven and Chaos, as well as the Heroes of Ubersreik. Take turns playing on the hero or the dark pact side.
Your mantra throughout the Vermintide series has been as follows:
We have no plans at this time to branch out in to a PvP mode for Vermintide 2. At it’s core the design is co-op - you and yours VS the bad guys - and we don’t want to split our focus away from what really makes Vermintide special. We feel we hit the nail on the head when it comes to a truly rewarding melee-co-op-romp, and we want to continue down that patch.
- Vermintide 2 Steam FAQ from 2017
Why The u-turn?
It’s true, we have felt in the past that as a studio we wanted to focus on our proven strengths - making a great co-op game. We like to think Vermintide 2 and it’s predecessor deliver on that goal.
We have always had PvP as a mode for Vermintide in the corner of our minds, though. In terms of focus, it’s been in the ‘cool to have’ box for a very long time, but in terms of priority, the core co-op experience remained at the very top of our list. This hasn’t really changed even with the development of Versus.
Versus was conceived during special weeks we have here in the studio, known as Hack Weeks. Hack Week is a chance for teams to work on ideas which they believe are powerful enough to impact the company or to focus on a particular product instead of working on the official content pipeline.
Over the course of multiple Hack Weeks, the bones of Versus was born and it turns out to be really good fun. We feel there is an opportunity in it to bring Vermintide 2 to a new audience and introduce a new way to experience the End Times.
We wish to sustain Warhammer: Vermintide 2 for many years and Versus is simply one of the many new features that we hope to bring to Vermintide 2 during its lifetime. We also want something for the competitive players, and this is what Versus brings to the table.
Have you removed resources from the regular team to develop Versus?
We haven’t moved resources from Vermintide 2’s regular team to the Versus team.
Since we began development of the Vermintide series, and in particular in the last year, we have on-boarded lots of new talent and begun looking at how we tackle development to be more streamlined.
Whilst the results of studio growth are not always immediately apparent, we have taken the opportunity to add resources to the team handling the development of Vermintide 2 as well as creating a small team for Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Versus.
Will Versus affect my regular Vermintide 2 experience?
Not in the slightest, no. Versus is an independent fork of development with its own team, vision and resources. Balance changes in Versus will not roll into Vermintide 2 and vice versa. That’s not to say some changes may not appear in both versions where it makes sense, you can rest easy that abilities or weapons found to be too strong in a PvP environment will not see changes in the PvE environment unless they’re too strong there as well.
Do I have to play Versus?
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Versus is a standalone game mode. Whilst players who own Vermintide 2 might get some special unlocks in Versus, there is no deeper crossover between the two titles. If you don’t like PvP, you absolutely don’t have to play it and you can glaze over it safe in the knowledge that the co-op game you know and love is still seeing development from the Vermintide 2 team as before.