(old review, might be outated in some cases - be aware...)

Is it good? 
-YES

Is it good for everyone?
-NO... - depends!

Why?
...well it's a good mixture of: 
- L4D game mechanics (4 players vs AI with those special enemies, swarming hordes, but no PVP)
- Chivalry: Medieval Warfare melee combat style with charged attacks, parry and dodge
- Kinda pure ranged combat is possible with mage class, limited ranged capabilities due to ammo with others (might change with good loot luck)

Features atm:
- Good graphics (GTX770, i5-4x4.2ghz, 16gig RAM here playing smoothly on high settings – and I know folks that run the game on a first gen i7-860 with a gtx460 on low but are able to play ok'ish)
- Responsive and smooth game engine if the hosting player is in the same region and has a decent connection (play with friends!)
- Nice and atmospheric maps so far
- Random map events you need to deal with keeping the same map re playable (as there where only 3 later 4 maps in beta)
- On the run adjustable difficulty (Grimoires to pick up or not - more loot but group debuffs)
-Team play is key – all loot improving items are shared at the end of the round no matter who carries them home!

Stuff to be aware before buying this game:
- The game play features getting permanently swarmed, little room to breathe or mistakes, it's hard survival after all even on normal difficulty. this is not a game to chill out and snipe some AI's off on a cake walk... no no no it is not!
- Playing the game public may be kinda frustrating due to some players still have no clue what to do at all, run off and get killed quickly so having friends playing the game is a big difference to difficulty and success in general. You should join/form a group/clan in the long run or just be fine with those random dudes in public games – it's not impossible to master higher difficulties in public games but it's less likely for sure in WH:Vermintide.
- 1st person melee combat may not be liked by everyone - but I was surprised how many of my friends who disliked the combat in Chivalry: Medieval Warfare now enjoy this game as it is PvE not PvP. A big difference!
- hard difficulty means HARD DIFFICULTY atm, epic and legendary loot tiers require high game difficulties to get any chance at all rolling them ... you need a team of capable FPS/Chivalry players to proceed to those nice and shiny loot things! (I hope it stays this way... good loot should always be a challenge to get not only a matter play time and pure grind)
- "head bobbing" can't be turned off yet so ppl with motion/simulation sickness be aware of this (or avoid 2H-weapons to minimize the shaking effect)
- No color blind mode yet
- Just one master volume slider meaning loud music all the time or low game volume... I got used to it but meh
- No dedi servers yet (but promised)
- Once again: playing public games is not ideal as some ppl (as like in any game) may not care about team play that much or have (yet) no clue how to react to certain events - I recommend to play it with friends or to quickly make friends with good players along your runs to master that learning curve together! Individual player skill is one thing, to form a successful permanent team needs time but it's very rewarding.
- The loot system is very very random atm. If you're unlucky you won't get a good item for your preferred class after days of game time.

State of game development: 
-The game has still some flaws with stability that might need treatment by the user...
for e.g.: GTX680/GTX770 users might need to down clock their GPU by 40mhz with nvidiainspector.exe to avoid crashes (common problem in a lot of games these days...)
-The game does not feel finished and polished balance and hit box wise, but it's playable - good luck finding another good COOP vs AI game those days so it's ok for me :)
- The game Devs seem to care and fix stuff kinda quickly - so that's promising for existing and future issues.


To sum it up:

This game is an awesome TEAM CHALLENGE!
L4D and L4D2 PvE are a cake walk compared to this.
Like it or not, you will first fail, then hopefully learn, group up, maybe give up (!) or succeed through higher tiers of swarming PvE COOP madness!


Or you don't care about good loot, (get drunk) play it on easy with friends and have a good time for some hours - totally fine too ;)


===
*edit 2015-10-26th :
Situation in public games has slightly improved since more and more ppl are kinda experienced and the Devs set the in game VoIP to “ON” by default so others can at least hear you talk to them.
I'm still missing some tactical shout outs like in Killing Floor or Insurgency like “follow me!”, take cover here!” (best with 3D marker) etc. to improve basic and quick communication.

The random special enemy spawns make any run on any difficulty very unpredictable as you might encounter a Rat Ogre plus a Scaven swarm plus 2-3 special enemies at once! I have to say I like this randomness because if you master that … that's just awesome!
On the other hand this means any run “only” on hard difficulty with 4 experienced mates in Teamspeak can end in a disastrous wipe – you never know!
However, this is quite rare on lower difficulties so plz don't nerf this too hard... it keeps the same map tense like any small village you enter in DayZ - like you never know what's waiting for you around the next corner. A possible adrenalin rush and that feeling on a successful comeback - not many games aside from close competitive league games may trigger this on me:)

Some helpful links and tips for beginners to break that hard learning curve:
- Tome and Grimoire locations: http://www.vermintidedb.com/missions.php
- Tutorials on the official forums: http://forums.fatsharkgames.com/categories/tutorials
- New player advice on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vermintide/comments/3oujwq/new_player_advice_thread_odoom/

If you start the game for the first time you should set your FOV to 90 (*read edit down below) and the “Player Outlines” to “always on” so you won't be hitting the dwarf and elf all the time like I did in the fist hours of game cause you may confuse them with Scavens … no offense ;)

Also I recommend to rebind “Target” from “T” to “F” or something as marking special enemies and equipment is very helpful and the T-key feels to be too far off as you should need it a lot. Also enable/bind push to talk for public games and you may increase the gamma by a good bid to see what's lurking in all those dark corners waiting to back stab you...

Many thanks for your nice replies guys – have fun slaying those rats!
===


==> * update 2017 (well, better late the never...)
Consider this when changing FOV - haven't tested it but sounds legit:

"Schwartzy 18 Apr, 2016 @ 10:45pm
The FOV setting in this game is for vertical FOV instead of the more commonly used horizontal FOV. So a vertical FOV of 90 is like 120 horizontal. Strangely it doesn't cause any fish-eye effect even though in other games a setting of 120 FOV usually would cause some so it's hard to tell that something's off, except you'll notice the rats hitting you from very far away with their melee attacks (and vice versa) which certainly doesn't feel right.

So the actual setting for a horizontal 90 FOV should be around 60. You can bump it to like 65 FOV to make it a little wider but the higher you go the more the melee attacks will appear out of range."

===

Please consider that this game might have changed in some ways since I've posted this very review back then balance and perfornance wise ;)

So after 2,634 hours of hunting rats, carrying tomes and inhaling poisonous green gas, I have still not written a review. And it is somewhat too late. There is probably no readership anymore since even this game's successor is years old by now. Many players have retired and I have too; enduring problems with my wrist made me prefer turn-based strategy. Otherwise I would still be roaming the streets, cellars, and squares of Ubersreik, and the depths below.

There is just no experience comparable to the thrill, the immersion, the horrors and the triumph of a Vermintide run. Especially in a good team. In my years of playing Vermintide I have met the best, friendliest and most competent players you could ever imagine. This game had - and I'd assume still has - a fantastically creative, cooperative and supportive community, and there is a good variety of mods improving the experience in many ways.

I've been playing all kinds of video games, for about 25 years now, and I can say with absolute confidence that Vermintide is the single best of them.

I should have written this much earlier, but I was too busy playing this game I guess. I'm currently 379 hours in and played 50+ hours during the last two weeks. I'm in the middle of my exams as a vet student...

Although I never was really interested in the Warhammer universe, mostly because the games that it featured weren't really my cup of tea, this game really sparked a flame. The setting is fascinating, the in total hours long dialog between the characters really tells the story of these 5 heroes, the rats look awesome and the maps breathe a great atmosphere. The gameplay is a melee focussed version of Left 4 Dead and feels very satisfying, it's easy to learn and has so much depth that I'm still looking in awe at those guys that are running the maps on the highest difficulty, without any bots or friends and with the worst weapons you can get. On the topic of weapons: there is a great variety in weapons to pick from and your play style is highly customizable through 3 weapon traits and 3 personal trinkets. Vermintide also has an unoffical modding community, which in my opinion really improves the game, so certainly check that out. When you have enough of the story line maps, you can play against endless waves of rats in the "Last Stand" game mode (something I really enjoy a lot). And then finally: yes this game is still getting updated quite often.

While I love this game, there are things that I think could be better. Compared to L4D2, the two game modes offer less variety and might get boring quicker than you expected. I did check however and it looks like I only have 144 hours in L4D2 and for Vermintide... well you can see my time played up here, which started counting since april 2017. What keeps people playing (and I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing), is partually due to the grind for better loot. The modding community has added lots of improvements, so I don't see why the devs couldn't have added these things themselves yet (however I must say they improved the AI recently).

Summary:

(+) Brings the Warhammer universe and the ratmen alive, great cosmetic design and dialog that supports the lore
(+) satisfying combat and gameplay mechanics, easy to learn and extremely hard to master
(+) Great variety in weapons and playstyles
(+) The modding community ads great improvements (although it's not officially supported and you need to download them from outside of steam)
(+) Last stand game mode is great to add some variety if you are bored of the story mode maps
(+) Devs regularily update the game and add new content

(-) Quite a few maps, but only two game modes
(-) There is a great element of grind, if you don't like that kind of stuff. I personally enjoy it.
(-) The mods are great, but some of the mods add stuff that the devs should have really added themselves already.
(-) New content is through paid DLC's (although some are free). I think they are quite fair in what they offer though and you can play the DLC content without owning it (by joining someone who does).

Have you ever sat down and thought to yourself:
"Boy, wouldn't it be great if there was something like Left 4 Dead only about x10 as difficult and set in the Warhammer universe"?

Because that's basically what this is.

Hi there, the ancient gamer here, 73 years old and my first gaming rig! Love this game how can you go wrong smashing man size rat's with a hammer, hahaha, what a hoot!
The game is beautifully animated and a great story too, I mean come on, all this stuff is fantasy and not meant to be a reality check... it's an escape, a run in the dark where there is no fear, because you can't really die, and besides that, you carry a big hammer and know how to use it!

Listen, I am a causal player and I play to have fun... to escape from the real calamities of life...anyways, Warhammer vermintide 2 end Times is fast pace and loads of fun....

At 525 hours, I finally feel competent to give a decent review of this game.

First of all, you don't spend 525 hours playing something that sucks, so this is a thumbs UP review right off the bat.

SOLO PLAY
Yes, it's good as a solo game - but while you can have a lot of fun with it, you're seriously missing out on the core of the game's teamwork regarding the utility of other players and things that can be learned by sharing knowledge of gear, maps, tactics, playstyles, trinket combinations, buff uses, terrain quirks, and every other aspect of a game whose play area covers the equivalent of several square miles in several scenarios. It's also fairly impossible to know how good (or bad) you really are until you have seen people better than you are carry a whole event by themselves, then rescue the rest of the party, then carry the scenario finale solo again, then politely tell you "gg"... or ruthlessly tear you up and down for your many, many deficiencies.

Regarding Steam achievements, while you can complete every scenario in solo play (except finding the Trials of the Foolhardy; that simply requires four players to unlock), there's no such thing as getting even close to all of the achievements because several of them require events in different areas of the map to happen at the same time.

MULTIPLAY COOP
First of all, YES there is friendly fire - and it's not very friendly! That said, it's not usually very bad, either. New players will be infuriated by being hit in the back and spinning around to see what's behind them, only to be hit from the opposite direction by the rat your ally was aiming for. Learning with friends and as a team will minimize this aspect of frustration, and is much better than PUG groups as a rule, but you can always meet some amazing players if you're willing to go out there and play in the open. Privacy settings allow any player to do either, and open lobbies (for those who choose that setting) allow players to choose groups in the scenarios they desire to play.

I've run the gamut of encounters with the community, from juvenile delinquents essentially performing a hit-and-run leet no-scope flameout because they are in it for the lulz (rare, in my encounters), to the adult, mature gamer who is willing to stick with you and take a couple of beatings just to carry the team through for new cata players. It's a mixed bag, but usually it seems people just want to have fun. Since there's no versus mode (other than getting drunk in the inn, and fistfighting for bruises - which is hilarious, since the characters curse at each other while doing it) there's very little rq or angst, other than someone abandoning a group.

Coordinating a group to use various abilities and buffs is a big part of the game, since a healing focus character with appropriate trinkets (gear) can keep a whole party healed IF the rest of the party allows them to pick up healing packs and draughts - and a potion sharing character with a chance to not consume the potion can share it again (and again, and again...) if they have access. Same with bombs.

RANDOM/OTHER
As compared to L4D2 I find VT to have far superior melee options, which for me is the deciding factor in what makes the game better. In many other regards, the specials, hordes, and Rat Ogre are all analogous to their counterparts and provide challenge based on their number, spawn and direction of approach, and of course, difficulty setting.

Each character has a selection of weapons that are effective at range and up close, and each gear has between 0 (basic gear) and 3 (elite gear) traits that can be unlocked. These include things like push without using stamina, projectiles split into two shots, and does more damage from behind, and there are a lot of good guides explaining the strengths and uses of good combinations.

The only outstanding point regarding characters is that many noob players like the elf because she's basically artillery. Word to the wise: learn a different starting character; you'll find more groups. Anyone can learn the elf later because... well, she's basically artillery.

Great job on this game, Fatshark - I look forward to VT2 in the future.

Criminally underrated game.

Skill-based, tactical multiplayer rat slaying. What more could you possibly ask for? Extremely satisfying and rewarding when you complete a difficult mission.

I give it a strong 9/10

Game desperately needs more players ;(

Well what can I say? I've played over 1800 hours at this point and I'm still playing until Vermintide 2 is released.

People compare this to left for dead and whilst it's it's similar it's so much more.

It's the kind of game you could drop in and play casually with friends on the odd occasion and have a blast. It's also a game you can keep progressing at with ridiculously indepth mechanics that reward high level play.

CONS : The loot system is too random for my tastes and doesn't reward losing. So you can play the highest difficulty and lose a ton but someone who plays nightmare casually and wins a lot will end up a higher level. Level means nothing really.

If you want to play with bots I suggest the QOL mod but they're still a bit derpy. If you're a good player you can happily carry the bots through the hardest difficulty on full book runs with a bit of baby sitting.

PROS :

Skill level is insane. You can progress from teamplay to playing the game solo as in without bots. The game mechanics are solid. The combat feels visceral and satisfying and rewards skill over "hold w and mash lmb" style play. There's a lot of nuance you won't pick up on until you practice yourself.

Storywise it's done really well. There's no real "story" but the voicelines and banter between the characters really paints a picture and makes pertty much every run satisfying.

It has a more mature community where a lot of people are willing to help you out with tips and guides. Avoid the steam forum for this game though as it's the same 10 idiots giving bad advice and trolling each other. Stick to r/vermintide.

At launch the game was a bit of a train wreck from what I heard, I started playing a year after and I've been really impressed with it.

The devs, fatshark are really cool and are tight with the community. Their DLC policy is top notch.

If you play with someone who has the dlc you can play the map and get the weapon drops for free. If you want to host the maps yourself and get the completion banners and do DLC contracts you need to buy them. Really fair.

They have skin dlc which is pretty much about supporting the devs and I've been more than happy to do that.

So all in all I highly recommend this game for people looking for indepth game mechancis with skill based progression. You might want to hold off for V2 but since it's always cheap and on sale I can tell you from from playing the closed v2 beta myself, any skills you gain from playing this will be directly transferable.

Buy game, kill rats, become a hero of Ubersreik!

And yeah I'm going to use this to shill my twitch.tv/distance9 so come see me on vermintide 2 :)

Yes it's Left 4 Dead with Skaven instead of zombies. (and loot)

Doesn't stop it from being one of the most fun co-ops I've played.

The mechanics of the different classses demand a little more teamwork than L4D, and allow for a good bit of creativity in playstyles.

It's been said before, (by Arch Warhammer, I believe), that Vermintide is the only good thing to come out of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles "End Times" lore. I can agree with that.

I went in to Vermintide as something of a doubter, thinking, "How much fun could killing rats be?". As it happens, the Skaven are fantastic foes and Vermintide, while fairly straight forward, is a very good game.

The Pros:
-Combat is Meaty and Intense.
-The Dialogue, both from the Skaven and Heros, is masterful: both in writing and delivery.
-Learning how to play is nuanced and based in rhythm and skill, as well as map familiarity.
-The Skaven are both comical and monsterous, with a sort of Lovecraftian overtone, providing satisfaction in their destruction.
-The Hero Characters have distinct personalities and secrets, with many of those stories being suggested instead of explained plainly. Their interplay and banter is superb, delivering both lore and hinting at unusual personality traits. Furthmore, they're believable, with temperment changes based on circumstances- the normally boastful elf can be forced to plead for aid if downed, the normally polite Sergeant can become short-tempered if injured, etc. For a horde game, the characters are nuanced in a fashion that Bioware struggles for these days.
-The visuals are excellent in a sort of Gothic Horror-Gone-Renaissance fashion. While not the most high resolution in texture, you won't likely have time to notice and performance is relatively clean and fluid.
-The audio is good with solid musical scores and sound effects: you really feel that shield smacking skaven skull.
-As of this date, (4/25/17), the game is largely bug free. There are some, still, however.
-New In-Game Lore Book is a handy way to learn Warhammer Fantasy Lore and gives additional incentive to play.
-DLC is either free or allows non-owner players to join DLC owners, which doesn't lead to a map bottleneck. DLC owners will still exclusively have access to DLC Bounties, weapons, and starting DLC map games.
-Special Vermin force the players to mix up tactics.

Cons:
-Certain map features can hinder player movement, like cobblestones and debris sticking up. At best, this is an irritation; at worst, it can get you killed.
-Occasional crashes, (fairly rare)
-Skaven transitioning terrain, (climbing up over ledges, and such), do not react to croud control which can royally screw your team over, should said rats attack immediately upon standing up
-Weapon stats are far more complicated that shown in-game, forcing the player to either find other sources of information, (i.e., YouTube), or discover by trial-and-error
-Gameplay is heavily team oriented and there are a remarkable amount of garbage players. I guess you can't blame the game for this, but it is still a reality of Vermintide.
-Player numbers are not amazingly high, so some hours will have player shortages, (like Weekday early mornings), while other times will have high numbers, (Weekends).
-Only 2 gameplay modes and new weapons are the only real incentive for playing, limiting gameplay longevity.
-No real class systems to enrich the game; just weapon types.
-Skaven physics can glitch out.
-Not worth the full price IMHO.
-In-game voice-over-IP could use additional options.

Note, while I have a large list of Cons, they are large in quantity, not quality. Would I recommend Vermintide? Yes, but primarily when on sale. With only two game modes and loot being the primary incentive to keep playing, the game can grow stale faster than most. Still, it's a unique experience and what is there is extremely well crafted.