Vermintide 2, Fatshark's Warhammer RPG and Left 4 Dead mashup, was originally released in 2018, but the community's passion for laying waste to skaven, beastmen, and other horrors shows no sign of slowing. Game Rant had an exclusive interview with Game Designer Markus Olsen and Artistic Director Marten Stormdal to talk about the game's latest expansion, Chaos Wastes, which introduces a new roguelike-inspired expedition mode to the popular Warhammer title.
Markus and Marten shared their plans for future updates, their insights on the recent popularity of roguelikes, and favorite hero and career combinations along with a few tips for new players. The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
GR: For those who have yet to hear about Chaos Wastes, what are the key bullet points in terms of new content for Vermintide 2?
Marten Stormdal: You wanna do that Markus?
Markus Olsen: Sure. Chaos Wastes is the new game mode we are releasing for free. What’s really interesting about it, is that your characters start from nothing, but gain new boons and powers. So I would say, the nature of the game is based on exploration and session bound progression. You don’t really need gear to jump in with your friends.
GR: Should new players familiarize themselves with the base game before starting expeditions, or is the new mode beginner-friendly?
Olsen: I would say it’s as beginner friendly as any campaign mode. There are more things players need to react to. But there will be a good bridge to go in between difficulties, if you manage to land the right upgrades for your characters.
GR: On that note, do you have any advice for new skaven slayers joining the hunt?
Olsen: There’s so many. I think something that’s a painful lesson for most new players to Vermintide, is learning to defend yourself and your party. The slaying is almost secondary; it comes later. The first thing to master is staying alive and not taking many hits, and helping your team. Being a team player is the most important thing.
GR: The prior major expansion for Vermintide 2, Winds of Magic, was paid DLC. What motivated the shift to a large, free update with Chaos Wastes?
Stormdal: the basic idea is we want players to be able to play together. As many as possible. Having that inevitable split that comes with a paid expansion… we would rather have free updates. The game is more fun with more people playing together.
GR: Do you think Fatshark will follow a similar formula moving forward?
Stormdal: We always evaluate and see how things go. But if it works? I see no reason why not.
Olsen: We don’t want to create friction where we don’t need to.
GR: From your perspective, how has the community’s response to the Chaos Wastes reveal been?
Stormdal: I think the best thing about it is the happy surprise that it’s free. It might seem banal, but I think most people seem very excited about getting this new content for free.
Olsen: I agree. It’s very gratifying. People’s responses affect you as a developer.
GR: Vermintide 2 recently celebrated its third anniversary. What is the hardest part of sustaining interest in a long-running game?
Olsen: To be perfectly honest, we’re still figuring some of these things out. We didn’t really design Vermintide 2 to be a live service game. Personally, I am happy—and horrified—that people are playing for tens of thousands of hours. So we are looking for ways to improve the game in the long term, and satisfy those players who just want to play it with their friends, and those who want to grind for new items. Upping the quality of every system in the game.
GR: What do you think are some of the most important changes the game has undergone since release?
Olsen: That’s also a good one. The Icarus Challenges, the in-game achievement system. I think that was a big win to get in there early.
Stormdal: I think one of the most important things is that we got the extra career out. When people actually like the things we do… well, that’s the reason we do what we do.
Olsen: I agree it was definitely a major win getting a new playable career. The beastmen race was a big thing.
GR: What were the greatest challenges you faced while developing Chaos Wastes? Did any weapons or talents need to be rebalanced, or was it a fairly smooth transition?
Olsen: yes and no. I think… I’m gonna have to phrase this in a good way. There’s no special treatment for how weapons work. Obviously, we had to keep team synergies in mind. But that’s what’s really cool about Chaos Wastes. It’s a playground for crazy experiments. You can go bananas in terms of what you do, which is a huge plus.
GR: Warhammer has an extremely rich body of lore to draw from. What can you tell us about the Chaos Wastes setting in terms of narrative?
Stormdal: Viktor Saltpyre is struggling with his faith. He worries Sigmar isn’t listening really. “Why have you forsaken me?” and all that. So he makes a plan to go to the citadel of eternity, which is deep in the Chaos Wastes. The sort of no-man’s lands. The portal to a dimension of pure magic. They want to appeal to their gods directly. The legend is, that if you go to the citadel, they will listen. It’s a Hail Mary really.
I think it’s a really interesting exploration of the gods and religions of the Warhammer world, including some lesser known deities from the Warhammer world. Religion is really important to the Warhmmer world. You have the horned rat on one side, trying to break reality, but you have all the other gods on the opposite side. The shades of gray don’t really exist anymore.
GR: Why do you think the Roguelike genre and Roguelike modes have exploded in popularity as of late? What sets Chaos Wastes apart from the competition?
Olsen: I’ll give you my subjective opinion on the matter. For classic roguelikes, where you die and retry, there is a progression outside the runs, like health upgrades for instance.
To go back to why it’s popular; any game that features session-bound progression—like LoL or DOTA—where you build up your character over a match gives us the opportunity to give you a bigger, short term power creep. You have this freedom to experiment and try new things. Each session gives you a chance to get lucky. Each game is a fresh start.
GR: Did any other roguelikes or specific titles influence the development of Chaos Wastes, or did you know what you wanted to do from the start?
Olsen: We didn’t really know what we were doing, starting out [laughing], but the idea was always to do a roguelike-ish game.
Stormdal: We had something to start with, got it up and running really early, and then tested, and tested, and tested. It’s kind of a unique position because it’s not a standalone game, unlike many other roguelikes. We had to adapt our base game into that format, but because the games are fairly distinct, we could go crazy from the start.
GR: How long has Chaos Wastes been in development?
Olsen: Some time [laughing]. Marten?
Stormdal: I would say… two years? And it shows. It’s a huge update.
GR: Time for a hard question. What is your preferred hero and career in Vermintide 2 and why?
Olsen: Ooh. Pass. I don’t think I am allowed to have a favorite [laughing]. But I will humor you. If I had to choose one—I love all heroes and careers equally, I have to say—but I really enjoy the play style associated with the Witch Hunter. Just the theme of the whole career—obviously the voice actor is great—he has this air of superiority over the others. So it makes me extra happy that he has sort of taken the charge to the Citadel of Eternity.
Stormdal: It’s really, really difficult [wincing]. When I play for fun, I usually play one of the tankier roles, like the foot knight with sword and board, or Bardin with axe and shield. I’m not very good, so I want to be able to take some damage. Character-wise, I really like the grey knight. I also have a special place in my heart for Sienna, the magic junkie. She’s such a lovely lady. But I am allowed to have favorites, because I’m not responsible for balance.
Olsen: We really do love all of the classes though.
GR: Is there anything else you would like readers to know about Vermintide 2 or Chaos Wastes?
Stormdal: Yes! The host migration. Markus?
Olsen: Yeah, go ahead!
Stormdal: The expeditions are long. Like, usually at least an hour long. If your host drops, you would lose that progression, so we have added a host migration system. You will keep progression and weapons on the current map you are on.
Olsen: It’s not entirely done for console, but it is in place for PC.
Stormdal: Well, we aren’t launching for consoles just yet, so there’s still time [laughing].
Olsen: Really though, we’re just excited for players to tell us what their new favorite combos are and see what they make of Chaos Wastes.
[End]
Vermintide 2 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S. The Chaos Wastes expansion is live for PC with a console release forthcoming.