My party is pushing along the walls of Helmgart, when suddenly a hail of bullets rattles the stones around us and forces us to flee for cover. I peek around the side of the pile of lumber where I'm sheltering and spot a Ratling Gunner perched in a precarious spot on top of a nearby hill. "How did he even get up there?" I moan, as the barrage of bullets continues.
This is what happens when you combine Vermintide's Pactsworn with human intelligence, like some kind of cyborg rat—Ikit Claw eat your heart out. The result is Vermintide Versus, a self-proclaimed PvP+E mode for Fatshark's Vermintide 2. It's been in development for quite some time; you might remember the original trailer from way back in 2019. The outcome feels pretty unique.
In the mode, two teams of four take turns playing as the Pactsworn—a selection of Vermintide 2's special skaven enemies—and the Ubersreik five, the game's regular heroes. The heroes' goal? Make it as far into each level as they can, earning points along the way, and contending with regular enemies and hordes alongside the opposing players masquerading as specials. These Pactsworn have to stop the heroes reaching their goal and have a number of devious abilities to assist them.
The Pactsworn selection includes Ratling Gunners, Warpfire Throwers, Poison Wind Globadiers, Packmasters, and Gutter Runners—there's also a Bile Troll, but we'll get to that. Individually, they're kind of weak, but the real trick to Vermintide Versus is setting ambushes and overwhelming entire teams before they have a chance to catch their breath. It's a mode that rewards coordination and—like that Ratling Gunner shooting at us from a hard-to-reach spot—a knowledge of the map and where you can intercept players.
There's something very skaven in plotting with your friends about where to lay an ambush
For the Ubersreik five, it's a heightened version of the regular game, as highlighting and prioritising special enemies becomes even more vital, lest a sneaky player drag you off as a Packmaster or grapple you as a jumping Gutter Runner. The Pactsworn can't help but feel a bit more limited by comparison.
The Gutter Runner is wonderfully fun, as you line up a jumping stab and yeet yourself across the map—it's a role that requires patience as you stalk lost players who get separated from the group. But the Gutter Runner's jump is its only ability. The same is true for the Poison Wind Globadier; you hurl a cloud of poison gas, you hide, you hurl a cloud of poison gas again, and so on. Many of the Pactsworn feel like one-trick ponies right now, and so it's hard to imagine this mode having all that much longevity unless they're fleshed out. Still, there's something to be said for each skaven player making up for the limitations and deficiencies of the others.
The only way the Pactsworn can take down a decent team of heroes is by coordination, and there's something very skaven in plotting with your friends about where to lay an ambush. This mode is 100% better with comms and a team of compatriots, letting you appreciate how well they roleplay sly skaven by attacking in ever more irritating ways. This is why Vermintide Versus reminds me more of an invasion in Dark Souls than it does your typical multiplayer mode.
That hard-to-reach Ratling Gunner unloading his bullets on us couldn't help but evoke those invaders who hang out with the bow-wielding Silver Knights in Anor Londo and help shoot you off ledges. Vermintide Versus, at least for the Pactsworn players, is about trickery, utilising enemies already on the map to distract players, and calling in hordes where you can conceal your advance. To be plain: your job is to be as annoying as possible.
As one of their opponents, it's hilarious watching real humans inhabit skaven. I remember facing off against a Warpfire Thrower who was trying to corner peak me. He'd pop his head out and I'd hurl an axe at him, and so our dance continued. The only problem I have with the current mode is the Bile Troll. That's right, you can play as a boss and yes, it feels absurdly strong.
The issue isn't that the boss is unkillable, it's that the boss can simply walk behind players to circumvent their block, which if they're also dealing with enemies feels a bit unfair. A part of me thinks bosses should be summonable for the Pactsworn players like the hordes are, so they can choose when best to distract players and pick them off. I always thought one of the coolest additions to Vermintide 2 was the Twitch mode, where viewers can summon a variety of boons or banes by voting, and more summons for players to deal with definitely would put emphasis on skillful play with the Pactsworn specials rather than overwhelming the heroes by playing a troll.
It's hard to gauge the replayability of Vermintide Versus, but if you're a long-time Vermintide player you'll definitely get a kick out of it either way, even if it's just a fun experience seeing human players step into the shoes of skaven. Fatshark also mentioned unique cosmetics to earn through the mode, and that you can unlock weapons for the heroes in Versus through the base game. The open beta is currently available to try from August 21 to September 2, though there's no definite release date for the full version yet. Fatshark said that the release will be in "months not years", though it's contingent on player feedback and any changes that need to be made.
