Recent reviews by Daddy Issues

I must first throw out a disclaimer in saying that I do not think I've played enough of this game still to write a full review on my entire thoughts and feelings, so please keep that in mind and feel free to comment with your own opinions and disagreements.

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide from what I can see has a lot of very similar elements which are comparable with Left 4 Dead. (Pretty sure that's well-known at this point though) There is a simple 4 party setup (there are 5 characters to choose from, each with different weapons) along with 'specials' that do an assortment of different things that are also relatable to the specials in Left 4 Dead. Teamwork is essential, as you fight your way through the waves of enemies that are randomly thrown at you. (Of course, some are scripted however.) There are even little missions throughout each map such as placing barrels or sacks, defending wards or breaking supports. Each of these missions break up the -potential- repetition of the gameplay, and are a welcome thing in my eyes.

Now I have lots and lots of wonderful things to say for this game. It's like it was made just for me. I love the merciless killing of clanrats, I love kiting rat ogres when I'm the last alive and I love most of all getting those 3 tome, 2 grimoire and loot die successful runs. I even, in a sick way, enjoy the runs where I throw a bomb, manage to hit a wall and wipe our entire party... though others might not quite see the funny side as much as I do. I also enjoy grinding loot, although I know a lot of people are complaining about that.. but for me it gives the game a little something extra to work with.

There is a lot more to this game than simply fighting waves of rats though, once you go to the higher difficulties, it's encouraged that you have a satisfactory knowledge of the game and decent gear. There comes a point when you can have your own assigned role for certain things, such as tanking or headshotting specials, crowd control etc. I've not played enough to know too much about it but this aspect definitely appeals to me. The game is definitely a better experience with premade parties and/or voice communication. I definitely recommend turning voip on, even if you don't have a microphone.

Here are just a couple of things I think could be worked on however. For the most part, spawns are hidden quite well.. but there have been quite a few encounters where the rats spawn right infront of me. I'm hoping somewhere down the line they will tweak this. Another issue I have is with the exotic loot. As much as I like the loot system, there is nothing to be done with exotic loot, as you can't simply merge it. I also think that numerous exploits need to be fixed. I know that one of the big exploits on Horn of Magnus is due to be fixed next week and I can't wait for that. For me those just cheapen the experience for other players. One final thing that bothers me is the optimisation (or rather lack of) for the game. The CPU-Usage is crazily high, as well as the fps fluctuating at an alarming rate. Again, this is supposedly going to be worked on, but who knows when it'll be adjusted.

TL;DR
+ Slay the rats
+ Kill your friends with bombs
+ 10/10 replayability
+ Nice graphics
+ HOLY SIGMAR, BLESS THIS RAVAGED BODY

- Needs something to do with exotic loot
- Exploits need fixing
- Fix visibility of rat spawns
- Not much lore (though it's not really lore focused.)
- Bots currently ignore the ♥♥♥♥ out of you when you're downed.
- Badly optimised.
- IF YOU WANT TO CRASH REPEATEDLY WHILE PLAYING, OVERCLOCK YOUR SYSTEM.

If you're looking for a retro style, dungeon-crawler game with roguelike elements, then Hammerwatch is the game for you. Either solo or with a 2-4 member party you hack and slash your way through 4 unique acts which have levels (and bonus levels) within them. New enemies are progressively introduced as well as having a boss level at the end of each act. There are five character classes for you to choose from (Knight, Wizard, Ranger, Warlock and Thief) and each character has its own unique trait specific to its class.

With all of the above being said, the game can be quick to get repetitive unless you switch it up often with the characters and the pre-game options. (Such as, shared mana pools, no hp pick ups, no extra lives etc.) I found the game to be most fun when at its most challenging. However, even though the game is repetitive, you can definitely burn quite a good few hours with it: I've played around 60 hours and I still plan on playing more.

Another problem I encountered is more of a community issue. Unless you have friends who want to play with you already or if you happen to be lucky at a certain time of day, jumping into a random game doesn't often get you very far. People are quick to just kick you instantly - which once or twice isn't so bad but I've actually given up on playing the game completely on a number of occasions because everyone that was online just kicked me. However it's not all bad, as I have made quite a few good friends that I wouldn't have had before without this game.

I recommend this game to anyone wanting a fun dungeon-crawler to play that you can enable or disable the roguelike feature at will.