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Warhammer: Vermintide 2 screenshot
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Genre: Shooter, Adventure, Indie

Warhammer: Vermintide 2

Tower of Treachery is Out Now! - Patch 4.9


Heroes!


The second part of A Treacherous Adventure - Tower of Treachery - is out now, and FREE for all owners of Vermintide 2!

This FREE update sees the Ubersreik Five re-tread familiar ground with reignited purpose. Sofia Fuegonasus has taken over Olesya's old hideout, and is attempting to spread her corruption throughout the Grey Mountains, Bretonnia and the Reikland. It's up to you to put a stop to her deathly plans...

Navigate both Olesya's and Sofia's traps and illusions and take on the toughest foe you’ve encountered in Vermintide… so far. Will you make it to the top of the tower?



Heroic Masquerade Collection





Five consumate conjurations of the costumer's art designed to transform battle-weary warriors into the greatest heroes this world - or any other - has seen.

Together with Tower of Treachery we will be adding the new premium cosmetics Heroic Masquerade Collection to the in-game store, based on some of the more iconic names in Warhammer Fantasy! In total, there’ll be 10 new cosmetics, one hat and one skin for each hero. The cosmetics will be available in bundles and as separate items.


  • The Belegar Ironhammer collection contains two premium cosmetics for Bardin Goreksson: the Angrund Helm and Angrundklad skin. The cosmetics can be used on Bardin Goreksson’s Outcast Engineer career.
  • The Alarielle the Radiant collection contains two premium cosmetics for Kerillian: The Crown of Avelorn and the High Robes of Isha skin. The cosmetics can be used on Kerillian’s Handmaiden career.
  • The Louen Leoncouer collection contains two premium cosmetics for Markus Kruber: Crown of the True King and the Raiment of the True King skin. The cosmetics can be used on Markus Kruber’s Grail Knight career.
  • The Thyrus Gormann collection contains two premium cosmetics for Sienna Fuegonasus: Gormann's Cindercage and the Patriarch's Finery skin. The cosmetics can be used on Sienna Fuegonasus’ Battle Wizard career.
  • The Luthor Huss collection contains two premium cosmetics for Victor Saltzpyre: Headband of Huss and the Prophet's Armour skin. The cosmetics can be used on Victor Saltzpyre’s Warrior Priest career.


Patch Notes – 4.9



FEATURES


  • Added Tower of Treachery to the adventure map pool.
  • Added a menu where players can access our old cinematics. This is found in the main menu.
  • QoL for the crafting menu, players can now sort (based on rarity or power), filter on rarities, and search for keywords.

LEVELS


  • Fixed the start banter VO on Righteous Stand and Athel Yenlui not playing all the lines.
  • Halescourge - Fixed various spots where bots could get stuck.
  • Convocation of Decay - The end event logic has been reworked to stop the event getting stuck. You shouldn't notice a difference here.
  • Convocation of Decay - The damaging area of the pool in the end event should now exactly match the visuals.
  • Righteous Stand - Fixed an issue where bots regularly got stuck on the ladder leading to the second Grimoire.
  • Taal's Horn Keep - One of the customisable painting frames was missing a light source, rendering the selected artwork difficult to see.
  • Garden of Morr - Fixed a potion that could spawn partially in the ground.
  • Against the Grain - Fixed a location where captured players could spawn beyond a boss-wall.
  • Enchanter's Lair - Fixed some occlusion culling observed at a particular location during the 'Reach The Throne Room' objective.
  • Skittergate - Added even MOAR failsafes to try and protect players from being one-shot when traversing the Skittergate.

SOUND


  • Fixed an issue where the sound effects from Waywatcher Kerillian's ult could rarely get stuck in an infinite loop.
  • Fixed an issue where using Blunderbuss in Huntsman's activated ability would play multiple sounds.
  • Fixed a bug where two of the same enemy VO callouts could happen at the same time.

UI/UX


  • Added an icon for "Temple of Shadows" in the Chaos Wastes Twitch Mode voting interface on the map screen.
  • UI: Removed Remote Control Server Menu from the game (was on F2 keybind).
  • UI: Multibind: Fixed a case in which unbinding the first key would instead unbind the second.
  • UI: Multibind: Fixed resetting all binds not working for keys with are by default unassigned.
  • Fixed a UI crash when an invalid difficulty is selected (eg: players switching from the modded realm to the official realm).
  • Fixed double-negative appearing in the "Disable Weekly Events" Twitch setting.
  • Changed the "Inventory full" warning to also show when opening multiple chests is not possible. Added a background to improve legibility.
  • Adjusted the character info in the bottom-right of the inventory UIs to prevent text overlapping with the input legend when the game is in Italian or German.
  • Various localisation fixes and tweaks.

FIXES AND TWEAKS


  • Fixed Kerillian Shade's 'Cloak of Pain' re-stealth sometimes being instantly consumed when hitting enemies with dual weapons.
  • Fixed a bug where Bardin Ranger could become invisible indefinitely.
  • Fixed bug where enemies would keep chasing and attempting to attack invisible players.
  • Fixed a bug where Bardin Engineer bots could behave in a nutty manner when switching between his career skill gun and regular ranged weapon.
  • Fixed various unspecifiable crashes and networking issues.
  • Fixed an issue where Saltzpyre Zealot's face morphed into a nightmare scene when equipping the Holy Great Hammer.
  • Equipped torches now light up the environment properly when inspecting your character in third person.
  • Fixed "Masterwork Pistols" (Brace of Pistols illusion) using the same model and icon as "One Eye's Revenge".
  • Fixed an issue where Bardin and Victors faces were not animating.

Dev Blog: Level Design Lookback
Heroes,

Today, we speak with Mikael, one of our level designers in the shark tank, as we look back at some of the most iconic maps in Warhammer: Vermintide 2, and the thought process behind their development in celebration of our fifth anniversary.


Hi, my name is Mikael, and I'm an experienced Level Designer who's been at Fatshark since 2016. I started working on four of the levels for the main game and have been involved with all of the adventure levels since then, particularly focusing on level art. And of course, level design can be a process until we get to something we’re happy with. Here are a few of my favorite stories from the past five years of development.



Against the Grain

The end event here was originally intended to be an open arena, but it was confusing and hard to balance, so we made it a linear event with a number of smaller “arenas” instead. This way, we could balance the event and control the experience better.

The boss in the barn was originally always a Rat Ogre, but as we added more bosses to the game, we added randomized bosses to the barn as well. But for a long while, the concept art with the Ogre in the barn was an accurate depiction of that section.



The Skittergate

When we originally started designing the Skittergate, it was not intended to be a normal level that would be part of the regular quickplay mission rotation, and Rasknitt was not initially meant to be the focus of the mission. Originally, the idea was that players could only choose the level at will.

Normally, all level missions were made to be replayable, as if the story repeated itself, so we couldn’t make changes to an area that would be too substantial to logically be rebuilt, but this was a unique level, and a lot of the story points fit into it—Rasknitt, the Skittergate, the journey to Norsca, and how the Uberserik Five were supposed to destroy it all. So we decided that it would be okay that we’d have to basically tear down a huge chunk of the city during it, even if it was a definite conclusion to the campaign maps.



Back to Ubersreik

When we decided to remake some levels from Warhammer: Vermintide-The End Times to Warhammer: Vermintide 2, we chose the levels that we felt would work best with the new game. A lot of the levels in the first game were too short, and there were discussions about potentially combining them, but we ultimately went for some of the most popular and that would work best with the new game mechanics.

The new challenge puzzles were made based on one philosophy: one puzzle should be co-op oriented, one should engage the community, and one should be randomized to be different for each playthrough.

The candles in the cemetery were initially set up with such a short timer that players would have to cooperate to light them all, but we felt it should be possible to solve it when playing solo as well, so we made sure there would be enough time for each candle, just in case.

The secret brick in the Horn of Magnus we set up with the intent to be just about impossible to simply stumble upon the right combination. The hope was that the community would find different bricks and post about their findings online, and then hopefully someone would notice that there was a room with some candles behind some bars that wasn’t there in the original level.



Dark Omens

While we were working on Dark Omens, we felt that it was a bit out of character for the U5 to walk into a Beastmen trap, but we also felt that it was a nice way of introducing the Beastmen, so we went with it anyways. We were at one point joking about, “What if the players could somehow ambush the Beastmen as they lay waiting?” but we felt it would be a bit too tricky to implement it, so it remained just as in-joke between level designers for a bit. A couple months later, we had the idea to have the players walk around the trap. But it needed to have its own perils as we didn’t want players taking the detour every time without weighing the risk in doing so. Originally, these perils were supposed to have two patrols you would have had to avoid, but for performance reasons, we replaced them with specials shortly before release.



The Curse of Drachenfels

We wanted to keep these similar to the Drachenfels level these were based off of in the original game, as they were already a player favorite, but still give some fresh looks and things to discover. It was important for us to give the player the feeling of entering a grand castle in Enchanter’s Lair, so we added a longer entrance section, but at the same time, we wanted to start the level deep in the castle catacombs, so we needed a solution to get players from the entrance floor down to the basement as fast as possible. We actually wanted to add an elevator here, but for lore reasons, elevators aren’t allowed in castles, so instead we decided to add a trap door that dumped the player into the basement, which felt more in-line with the story.

While Castle Drachenfels in the original game was originally more maze-like, we decided to streamline and make the rooms more unique so it would be easier to understand where you are and find your way around, and balconies were added to a give a sense of progression upwards from the basement as you went through the level.

The voices the Uberserik Five hear speaking to them was inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Coppola. In the movie, there were lots of whispering voices and disturbing noises, and we wanted to do something similar. But since games are an interactive medium, we felt we could make it more personal by having the voice speak to the player character, hinting at some dark secret from their past that only the player could hear.

Tower of Treachery - FREE UPDATE - Coming March 28th


Heroes!



We're delighed to announce that the second part of A Treacherous Adventure - Tower of Treachery - is coming to Steam on March 28th!

This FREE update sees the Ubersreik Five re-tread familiar ground with reignited purpose. Sofia Fuegonasus has taken over Olesya's old hideout, and is attempting to spread her corruption throughout the Grey Mountains, Bretonnia and the Reikland. It's up to you to put a stop to her deathly plans...

Navigate both Olesya's and Sofia's traps and illusions and take on the toughest foe you've encountered in Vermintide.. so far! Will you make it to the top of the tower?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2199500/Warhammer_Vermintide_2__A_Treacherous_Adventure/


Vermintide 2 Five Year Anniversary & Patch 4.8.5




Heroes!



From March 8th until March 19th we're celebrating the 5 Year Anniversary of Vermintide 2!

Not only is Vermintide 2 FREE for anyone to play this week, you can also avail of Triple XP until the event ends on March 19th. Never has there been a better time to recruit a friend in to your Skaven-smashing crew! And whilst you're at it, earn a fancy new portrait frame and join the Ubersreik Five on their quest to have a 'Quiet Drink' in the time limited event mission.

A Quiet Drink invites players to celebrate by drinking their fill in Helmgart's local tavern, only to find it overrun by ratmen. Players must traverse the town (with ale goggles on) to find their next drink while clearing Helmgart's infestation of Chaos along the way.


Also coming up this week you wont want to miss our Dev Stream where we'll be sitting down and sharing good times with some of the folks who bring life to the Heroes of Helmgart, our beloved Voice Actors! Tune in over on twitch.tv/fatsharkgames at 16:30 CET on March 9th!

We've also just put live Patch 4.8.5 - this patch contains a handful of localization fixes for Russian players, and a fix to correct the cheeto-dust-coloured Skaven, but the bulk of it is preparing our systems for the upcoming anniversary event.

Catch the Onslaught Captains Series February 11 & 12!

Heroes!



Make sure to join us for Fight the Tide's shoutcast and coverage of the Onslaught Captains Series hosted by the community-run Onslaught Series!

The Captains Series is an event designed to help people try out modded and higher difficulties, help them grow by being paired with a coach from their region, welcome them to the modded community, and introduce them to the various Onslaught Series events and formats.

Coaching styles are broken into two different types that teams can choose from:


  • Backseating: the full quad will consist of participants. This can be a premade quad or it can be a group that is put together from the signups. The captain will join using the [BTMP] More Players mod and spectate in-game, or spectate via a stream provided by a member of his team (Twitch, Discord, Youtube, etc.).
  • Playing: The group of players will consist of 3 participants and one captain. This method has the advantage of the coach being in-game himself and being able to react faster to situational challenges and guide the team by shot-calling.


Coverage will be streamed live on Fight the Tide on the http://www.twitch.tv/fightthetide Twitch channel on February 11th & 12th, 4pm-7pm UTC and will also involve some of the captains from the participating teams.

The captains of the groups will join the stream while their teams are being watched and the captains will talk about how the group has evolved, their experiences, problems that they had to confront and surpass, strategies used, and more. In the case that a group consist of 3 players and the captain also playing, then the coverage will be without the captain and will follow a more traditional approach.

Last but not least, thank you to all captains participating and spending their time working on this. Please note that they are all doing this in their free time and voluntarily, so swing by and learn something new!

Happy rat slaying!

Log in this Mondstille to Receive Gifts from the Wolf-Father!

Heroes,



While the winter in Helmgart may be harsh, this Mondstille brings with it celebration and small gifts!

Winter is at its height and the fires of Taal’s Horn Keep blaze bright to ward off the horrors unleashed by the Pactsworn. But this year, something’s different. Small gifts have been left for local villagers at fencepost and hearth. The gift-giver him (or her) self has never been seen, though a wolf-pelted figure is sometimes glimpsed amid the woodland snows.


Over the next 24 days, from December 8, 7pm CET/1pm ET/10am PT through December 31, we invite players on all platforms to celebrate Mondstille with us in Taal’s Horn Keep! Throughout this celebration, players can find Lohner waiting for them with gifts for their hard work.

Where Lohner obtains these gifts no one knows, but one thing’s for certain; the Ubersreik Five know better than to look a gift wolf in the mouth.



Gifts from the Wolf-Father


With each visit to the daily rewards found in Lohner’s Emporium, you will be awarded with premium cosmetics, chests, and we’ve even opened the game’s vault to bring back earlier frames that players may have missed out on in previous years (and making a first-time appearance on some platforms)! You can check which gifts you’ll receive prior to logging in each day on Warhammer: Vermintide 2’s social media as well as in the game’s launcher on PC. You can also check back at this post each week to see a new week of rewards revealed.

Week 1



A Warm Welcome to 10 Million New Players!


Heroes!



We're floored by the incredible response to the 7 Years of Tide celebration - welcome all new players!

Newcomers: Click below to watch a great community-made tutorial to learn the ropes - and enjoy the free Trail of Treachery DLC, we released today!

Patch 4.8.3 - Trail of Treachery FREE DLC live!


Heroes!



A Treacherous Adventure is a free new content update - out now for Warhammer: Vermintide 2 containing the first act out of a two-part adventure. Stay tuned for more to come!



In 'Trail of Treachery', it is up to you and your fellow heroes to escort a caravan carrying precious cargo to a village plagued by strange and unusual happenings. Pave the way to Tockstadt and investigate what misfortune has befallen the settlement. Beware of avalanches.

  • A new, snowy adventure begins - Make your way down the precarious mountain path to save the village of Tockstadt, where nothing is quite as it seems.
  • A free update for Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - A Treacherous Adventure is a free update to all players for Vermintide 2, and the second act will be available 2023.
  • The first map in a two-part adventure - Trail of Treachery is the first of a two-part adventure map pack available to all owners of Warhammer: Vermintide 2.


Together with Part 1 of the free Treacherous Adventure DLC we will be adding new Premium Cosmetics to the in-game store. We hope you’ll find something smart for your favorite hero in the Absent Friends Collection! In total, there’ll be 10 new cosmetics, one hat and one skin for each hero.



Patch 4.8


  • New FREE DLC Map 'Trail of Treachery' is now available!
  • New Premium Cosmetics are available through Lohner's Emporium of Wonders!
  • Fixed various level asset issues in the Chaos Wastes.
  • Fixed a voiceover where Bardin responded with a Saltzpyre voice line.
  • Fixed players losing health when returning through the Skittergate.
  • Fixed an issue where enemies could walk on invisible floors.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could sometimes happen after the Prologue in certain situations.
  • Fixed a skip where cheeky Battle Wizards could teleport to the portal early in the Be'lakor Arena.
  • Ranger's career skill activate sound is now only played on use instead of everytime the player enters invisibility.
  • Fixed explosion kills not being credited correctly.
  • Engineer's +1 penetrations talent now only applies for non-explosive weapon attacks.
  • Detailed UI: Fixed ability cooldown timer not disappearing when cooldown reached 0.
  • Slightly reduced the delay until VO is played for an incoming horde.


Hotfix 4.8.1


MID EVENT



  • Added an additional wave to the 1st wave, but made it possible to turn off Wave#1 by pushing the Sleigh forward
  • One set of chaos specials are removed from the mid event
  • Fixed potential soft locking of the cogwheel event

END EVENT



  • We tweaked the end event to reduce enemy clutter and give the player more options to complete the events.
  • Fixed a bug where the last wave stopped when you lit the 3rd Urn. Now the wave will continue until Olesya does her spell. This should make the last wave much more intense
  • Trimmed a few seconds off the time you need to be in the circle before Olesya nukes everybody
  • Some delays between waves have been prolonged, to allow the engine to count the enemies, and not stack waves too much
  • Added a lever that opens the crypt gate from the inside

GAMEPLAY



  • Fixed some hang ledges
  • Fixed Grimoire sometimes not spawning
  • Fixed loot not being reachable
  • Fixed a few getting stuck places
  • Fixed a crash related to Icicles

ART



  • Fixed some graphical glitches (Units not showing, floating or missing)
  • Prevented backtracking in to the wrong path

AUDIO



  • Fixed end event Sfx not playing for clients
  • Fixed a bug where the first Lohner VO sometimes didn’t play


Hotfix 4.8.2



  • Fixed some crashes
  • Fixed getting stuck at scaffoldings
  • Fixed ice blocks staying after destroyed
  • We are aware of a tree "blocking" the sleigh's path, but it should not affect the progression of the objective and you can safely push through it.


Hotfix 4.8.3



  • Fixed a crash with the Weave lobby browser
  • Removed the weird fallen tree. You know the one. It was weird.

Patch 4.8 - Trail of Treachery FREE DLC live!


Heroes!



A Treacherous Adventure is a free new content update - out now for Warhammer: Vermintide 2 containing the first act out of a two-part adventure. Stay tuned for more to come!



In 'Trail of Treachery', it is up to you and your fellow heroes to escort a caravan carrying precious cargo to a village plagued by strange and unusual happenings. Pave the way to Tockstadt and investigate what misfortune has befallen the settlement. Beware of avalanches.

  • A new, snowy adventure begins - Make your way down the precarious mountain path to save the village of Tockstadt, where nothing is quite as it seems.
  • A free update for Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - A Treacherous Adventure is a free update to all players for Vermintide 2, and the second act will be available 2023.
  • The first map in a two-part adventure - Trail of Treachery is the first of a two-part adventure map pack available to all owners of Warhammer: Vermintide 2.


Together with Part 1 of the free Treacherous Adventure DLC we will be adding new Premium Cosmetics to the in-game store. We hope you’ll find something smart for your favorite hero in the Absent Friends Collection! In total, there’ll be 10 new cosmetics, one hat and one skin for each hero.




Patch 4.8


  • New FREE DLC Map 'Trail of Treachery' is now available!
  • New Premium Cosmetics are available through Lohner's Emporium of Wonders!
  • Fixed various level asset issues in the Chaos Wastes.
  • Fixed a voiceover where Bardin responded with a Saltzpyre voice line.
  • Fixed players losing health when returning through the Skittergate.
  • Fixed an issue where enemies could walk on invisible floors.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could sometimes happen after the Prologue in certain situations.
  • Fixed a skip where cheeky Battle Wizards could teleport to the portal early in the Be'lakor Arena.
  • Ranger's career skill activate sound is now only played on use instead of everytime the player enters invisibility.

Absent Friends Premium Cosmetics Collection

Heroes,


Together with Part 1 of the free Treacherous Adventure DLC we will be adding new Premium Cosmetics to the in-game store. We hope you’ll find something smart for your favorite hero in the Absent Friends Collection! In total, there’ll be 10 new cosmetics, one hat and one skin for each hero.

The cosmetics will be available in bundles (PC/Xbox/PS4) and as separate items (PC). Coming to PC November 8 and on console we’re aiming for December, shortly after Darktide’s release.

The Absent Friends premium cosmetics collection includes:

RELENTLESS REIKLANDER


Practical and cost effective attire for a roving bounty hunter.
Career: Bounty Hunter

  • Candlelight Helm
    Jury-rigged miner's helm. More notable for its practicality than its functionality.
  • Reikland Rover
    This garb has a decidedly Bretonnian cut to its cloth, though an Imperial bounty hunter would surely never don such an outfit.

BURNING SOUL


A wizard can conjure the flame for only so long before succumbing to its embrace.
Career: Unchained

  • Flame Within
    Naught kindles a flame like the soul of its conjurer ... but once it takes root, beware.
  • Maven's Cindergarb Raiment
    This gown has clearly been too close to a flame ... but did that flame burn without, or within?

KNIGHT OF THE BLAZING SUN


Glorious raiment worn by a preceptor of the Blazing Sun. Forever a beacon of light and hope.
Career: Foot Knight

  • Myrmidia's Gaze
    Not an easy stare to meet. But don't blink - you might lose your head.
  • Armour of the Blazing Sun
    Full plate blessed by the goddess Myrmidia, and thus dedicated to the cause of justice.

RAMBLING RANGER


Who can say the last time this wandering dawi last graced the doors of his hold?
Career: Ranger Veteran

  • Ranger's Tattered Patch
    This item has seen better days - much like the unfortunate who has donned it.
  • Ranger's Wilds-Worn Garb
    Well-loved and now, alas, approaching the end of its days, this armour will still serve in a pinch.

WILD HEATH WARDEN


Cursed armour from distant Naggaroth. The previous owner hasn't a use for it any longer.
Career: Shade

  • Drakira’s Grin
    Mask of a Naggarothi corsair. Not the most practical of garb, but you'll linger in folks' memories for a fair old while.
  • Dreadguard’s Mantle
    Intimidating armour worn by a favourite of Malekith's court - a position that seldom offers longevity.
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