I remember the first time I finally landed a pouncing attack in Warhammer: Vermintide 2's Versus mode, the upcoming multiplayer game mode that is getting an open beta starting today. Figuring out how to time the jump just right to catch an unsuspecting Bardin dwarf enemy at unawares, I pounced, sinking my claws deep into my enemy's flesh over and over again, speeding him along to meet his maker.
Soon after I was blasted by Satlzpyre Bounty Hunter, my Pactsworn's Gutter Runner body crumpling to the ground. It was my first kill as a Pactsworn, and I felt pretty invigorated by this. Soon, I was racking up kills, either as the Gutter Runner or the mini-cannon-wielding Ratling Gunner. Warhammer Vermintide 2's versus mode had sunk its teeth into me, and this was before I found myself on the heroes side for the first time.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2's Versus mode was initially announced years ago, but it's taken developer Fatshark quite a while to get it to a place where it's finally ready for players to hop into. Entering open beta today, Versus pits teams of four players against another team of four in an arena-style battle where existing maps from the Verminitide 2 library have been repurposed for Versus.
Players will either take on the role of a Hero or, for the first time ever, don the mantle of the Pactsworn, determined to ensure the heroes don't make it very far. Players alternate roles each round, with the Hero team scoring points for completing objectives and making it further and further each round, while the only job of Pactsworn is to shut them down.
To that end, the Pactsworn are effectively glass cannons themselves: they do a ton of damage, but are easily killed. As a result, the Pactsworn side can effectively respawn as many times as they need to in order to stop the Heroes' advance. However, they cannot score points to decide the winner of each round.
Heroes, on the other hand, have a limited number of respawns, and when they are out, it's round over. Because of this, Heroes are much more powerful and can take on more hits, as well as help each other up when downed. Healing potions are also littered around each map, but these are scarce. Oftentimes, I would go through a match without ever finding one, my health hanging on by a ragged thread as I slashed my way through waves of Pactsworn with my Kerillian Shade's Daggers.
The actual moment-to-moment gameplay is classic Vermintide 2: it's a glorious, gory mess and a spectacle all its own. It's brutal combat is on full display, whether you're playing a Hero or Pactsworn, and I honestly had forgotten how much fun I had with this game until I scored my first kill. Knocking that Kruber Foot Knight to the ground with my Ratling Gun or literally grabbing onto Bounty Hunter with the Pactmaster's giant hook arm to carry him away was always satisfying.
Playing as a Pactsworn, the map feels so much more open as well, as you can climb walls, scale buildings, and lay in wait to ambush an unsuspecting hero. Pactsworn players when they are waiting to respawn are free to move about the map and reposition themselves, a crucial advantage over heroes as you can still coordinate strategy with your teammates from beyond the grave.
To balance this, you have to respawn away from and out of sight of a hero, which means you can't just spawn on top of them. But I found this literal grey area (your screen is greyscale while waiting to respawn) to be an advantage as I could get as perfect positioning as I wanted before I popped back into existence.
Pactsworn players can also inhabit the body of a giant Bile Troll at some point during the round's runtime, wreaking havoc on the enemy team. I found my time with the Bile Troll to be fun, though it took me a while to realize I could duck under obstacles with the Troll, so most of my time was spent in a claustrophobic corridor, hoping a Hero would slink past me so I could swat it with my giant hammer.
Indeed, map design is one of the highlights as well of Vermintide 2's Versus mode. There are currently three maps in rotation set for the open beta, each one modified from existing Vermintide 2 maps. The first map we played was your standard village, its winding streets and causeways great for funneling enemies in for the the kill. Since the Heroes are always needing to push forward, the design helps Pactsworn players lay ambushes and strike from the shadows, or from above when possible to harry them every step of the way.
This is supported by the incredible verticality of each map, and the Pactsworn's ability to make use of it. While Heroes are stuck to the ground, Pactsworn can literally climb buildings, walls and more. This is key for classes like the Ratling Gunner, who can use the height of a scaffold or a nearby ruined structure to lay down a hail of gunfire. One round saw me down three Heroes in a row this way, feeling pretty godlike until an archer took me out with a well-placed arrow.
While the Pactsworn feel more chaotic and act like a swarm, Heroes need to work together to get out alive. The teamwork needed to survive an ordeal mirrors that which we see in the main PvE modes of the base game. Verminitide 2 Versus takes that element and condenses it into these refined maps, throwing in the PvP element to shake things up.
When we struggled as a team, it was often because we weren't working together. Healing potions can help you stay alive, but if you're not communication with who needs them most, you might end up losing the whole round as a result. Solo Heroes are also easily overwhelmed by the regular AI swarm, made worse if a human enemy player appears out of nowhere. You must stick together and work as a unit in order to rack up as many points as you can muster.
While playing Heroes, you have access to a much wider tool set, with both a ranged and melee attack, as well as an entire perk tree to customize your hero the way you want. Being able to tailor your character to your play style, whether that's a bruising tank that sweeps enemies away from you in large swathes, or a nimble assassin getting the drop on Pactsworn from the shadows, there is so much you can do.
You can also select your weapon load out before you dive into a match, further tailoring your experience. I opted to play the Shade assassin, my dual daggers and short bow doing sore work on the Pactsworn near me. I was honestly a little surprised at how much DPS I was doing in those early matches, wiping out waves of enemies and other players with a few swipes of my cruel blades.
That said, my Shade was incredibly squishy, and it didn't take much to knock me to my knees. I would attempt to avoid this by popping into her Stealth mode, both as a way to get away cleanly, but also to set up my next kill.
Pactsworm die easily to a Hero's blade, but they swarm quickly. It's easy to be overwhelmed by not just the pack of AI enemies, but when aided by a coordinated team of enemy players, the Hero team isn't long for this world.
In our play sessions, the Hero team never fully made it to the final objective of each round. I felt that the Pactsworn was much stronger than the Heroes and found myself loathing, switching sides each round. I really did enjoy the chaotic energy of my Gutter Runner or Ratling Gunner, zooming around the map to see who I could take out if they got separated from the pack. I also really enjoyed the randomness of the class selections, as you're presented with two options when you die, so you're constantly needing to shift play styles and focuses in a round.
The rounds themselves also felt pretty long, and it was never truly clear what was going on and what progress was being made on either side. Weirdly, Pactsworn players cannot earn their team points - that feels counterintuitive, in my opinion. Maybe the Pactsworn side could earn points based on how fast they down the full enemy team, or how many objectives they stop the Heroes from achieving? By having one side of the match unable to score points it makes each engagement longer than it needs to be, I feel.
After a while, each match felt a little long in the tooth, and it was never quite clear how many points we were scoring as Heroes or what real progress we were making other than just moving forward.
All that said, Warhammer Vermintide 2's Versus mode is a ton of fun. If you like the chaotic action of regular Vermintide 2, you'll enjoy it when pitted against other human players. The open beta is the perfect chance to dive in for yourself and experience the gory, hack and slash action Vermintide 2 has made a name for itself with, just this time in a new light.
