Vermintide 2's new Versus mode lets you take up arms as the rats and Rotbloods

With so many cruel tricks up their sleeve, Vermintide 2's Skaven and Rotblood enemies are easy to hate. But now you don't have to just hate them, you can play as them. During the PC Gaming Show, developer Fatshark revealed Vermintide 2's new Versus mode that pits two teams of four against each other: One team plays as the Ubersreik 5 heroes from the main game while the other takes up arms as the specialist Skaven and Chaos enemies and even their ultra-powerful bosses. "Each game includes one round playing as the enemies, and one playing as the heroes. In the end the winner is the hero team that progressed the furthest through the mission," Fatshark CEO Martin Wahlund told me.

The trailer, which you can watch above, hints at a few of the Skaven and Rotblood specialist enemies you can control. Wahlund told me that Versus is still early in development and the team is still figuring out which specialists will be available and how they'll balance the mode so that you and your three friends don't, say, all play as Lifeleeches and don't immediately win by ambushing the other team and sucking their souls out of their bodies. It's also unclear whether you can take up arms as the Skaven or Chaos frontline soldiers (but that's probably not the case considering how weak and disposable they are).

The Ratling Gunner, Poison Wind Globadier, Packmaster and Gutter Runner are all shown from a player's perspective in the trailer. But rest assured the Chaos Rotblood special units will also be available too.

How this will factor into Vermintide 2's RPG progression system is also in the works, says Wahlund. Fortunately, you probably won't have to wait too long to find out. You can sign up for Vermintide 2's Versus mode beta today and soon experience the pleasure of ruining someone else's day as these dastardly enemies.

Versus isn't the only thing Vermintide 2 fans can look forward too, either. The Winds of Magic, Vermintide 2's first expansion pack, is out in August. It adds a whole new race, the Beastmen, as well as a new level cap, more weapons, and a lot more.

You can sign up for Vermintide 2's Versus mode here.

TOPICS
Steven Messner

With over 7 years of experience with in-depth feature reporting, Steven's mission is to chronicle the fascinating ways that games intersect our lives. Whether it's colossal in-game wars in an MMO, or long-haul truckers who turn to games to protect them from the loneliness of the open road, Steven tries to unearth PC gaming's greatest untold stories. His love of PC gaming started extremely early. Without money to spend, he spent an entire day watching the progress bar on a 25mb download of the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 demo that he then played for at least a hundred hours. It was a good demo.