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Warhammer: Vermintide 2 News

The Versus Closed Alpha Test Begins February 8th!

Heroes!


Ready for some mayhem? We're once again ready to go ahead with the previously announced Closed Alpha Test this week! We apologize once again for the previous delay but now we're extra ready!

To reiterate! On February 8th, we will send invites to over 10,000 of you to participate in this alpha; so keep your eyes peeled on your emails (and that pesky pesky spam folder)!

If you weren't selected as part of our alpha test this time, please don't fret; we'll have more opportunities for you all to test in the future!

[h3]Join the stream February 7th, 5:15pm CET/11:15am EST/8:15am PST to learn more![/h3]

Stay tuned for more details coming this very week, including a stream with Joakim our Design Director, and Erik our Product Owner on February 7th, 5:15pm CET/11:15am EST/8:15am PST! We'll hold a Q&A where we'll be answering many of the questions you've asked throughout these past weeks, alongside questions from the stream and talking about the test itself and the design philosophy of Versus.

You all will also see additional announcements and a further FAQ recap as we draw closer to our closed alpha launch.

[h2]Thank you all for your patience and support![/h2]
It's been a long while but we're so excited to finally see Versus in the hands of players at last!

Left 4 Dead's ratty cousin Vermintide 2 is finally getting a Versus mode, with alpha tests in the "near future"


Wake up, mayflies! FatShark have detailed the closed alpha for Warhammer: Vermintide 2's long-awaited Versus mode, in which the doughty Ubersreik Five go up against four player-controlled Skaven Pactsworn (translation: ratty supervillains) in addition to the rank-and-file AI-controlled rodent hordes. The alpha will launch in the "near future", and sounds like just the dollop of rancid PvP shenanigans this lapsed Elven ranger needs to re-install one of the all-time great Warhammer adaptations, which unaccountably isn't on our list of the best co-op games or the best multiplayer games on PC. You got something against horrible giant rats, Ed Thorn?


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4 years after it was announced, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is finally making its versus mode a reality with a closed alpha: 'We put it on the shelf to marinate for a bit'




Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is getting a versus mode, as announced four years ago at our very own PC Gaming show, no less. Except it's for real this time. A steam post by Fatshark outlines their mission statements for the mode's closed beta test on Steam...
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Dev Blog: Versus Closed Alpha Test

Heroes,


Today, we sit down with Vermintide 2 developers—Joakim, our Design Director, and Erik, our Product Owner—about our goals and design philosophy for the closed alpha test for Versus happening in the near future.

Editor’s Note: As of this dev blog, the test has been delayed; but it is still sure to happen, and quite soon. We’ll keep everyone posted on new dates once we iron out this last wrinkle!


[h2]What is Versus and how can players expect it to work?[/h2]
We see Versus as a casual asymmetric 4v4 PvP+E game mode that pits the Ubersreik Five against our AI enemies and up to 4 player-controlled Skaven specials (known as the Pactsworn). The gameplay is based off of our adventure mode maps, but split into multiple sections. Heroes progress through a map section, completing objectives as they go. For each objective they get a certain amount of points.

The Pactsworn goal is to stop the Heroes from getting points by killing or disabling them. When the Hero team has either reached the end of the map section or have been fully disabled, the teams switch sides, competing for points over multiple sections and rounds.

The team with the most points after a match wins.

The Versus game mode is definitely something that players familiar with the genre will recognize. We want to honor our predecessor in this space while adding our own unique melee-oriented flair to it that most of our players recognize us for.

[h2]Why are we working on Versus?[/h2]
Ideally, we want to create a player versus player plus enemy (PvP+E) game mode that can be played alongside our co-op modes to hit that sweet spot for players of all types. We want to provide a fun, casual team experience but still scratch that competitive itch.

This isn’t the first time we’ve announced Versus; and our first reveal happened way back in 2019. We had run some small external tests with a select group of players during that time and weren’t completely happy with how things were running, so we put it on the shelf to marinate for a bit while we focused on other content like new careers and co-op game modes. We had worked on it a bit here and there with some tweaks to tighten up the foundational PvP+E gameplay, but it wasn’t until last spring did we decide, “Let’s actually do this thing” with fresh eyes.

[h2]What are our goals for players in this closed alpha?[/h2]
First and foremost, we want Versus to be fun for our players, both for those who are new to Vermintide as well as for our veterans. We tried to have a good mixture of both when selecting those for this test. We want players to go in, play, and tell us their unvarnished thoughts.

One of things we’ve learned through our years of development is that our players deeply love and care for this game, and we want to learn from them and their feedback during this testing period. We’re aiming to take a co-creation approach with our players by opening up a closed test for a large majority of those who signed up, observe them play, analyze their feedback, and take that into our development process as lessons learned.

But we also want players to know this is our first time testing Versus with a larger number of players, so things aren’t completely final, and some things may be a bit unstable. We want feedback on this, too! The good, the bad, the ugly; we want to look at all of it and come back with takeaways to discuss and iterate upon to create something our players will be happy with.

[h2]Will there be other testing opportunities in the future?[/h2]
Absolutely. We don’t expect this test to be a one and done type of deal, so we’ll be testing more in the future and soliciting feedback during those periods too! The closed alpha test is just one step in a multi-stage process to get both the team and our players feeling good about the game mode and how it plays!

[h3]We hope you all enjoy Versus, and we hope to see you in Helmgart soon!
[/h3]

The Versus Closed Alpha Test Begins January 18!

Hello heroes,

Unfortunately due to a few technical issues we are going to have to delay the Versus Closed Alpha Test, and thus also delay the Stream that was scheduled for today.

We are sure to still hold a test and will update you all with the new dates as soon as possible!


Versus is a new a player vs player plus enemy game mode for Warhammer: Vermintide 2. Featuring 4 vs 4 gameplay where players can fight as the Ubersreik Five and also join the dark pact as Skaven specials.

We’re super excited to announce our closed alpha will run from January 18-January 21. TBD!

We’re blown away by your support during our closed alpha signup period. In the coming days, we will send invites to over 10,000 of you to participate in this alpha; so keep your eyes peeled on your emails (and that pesky pesky spam folder)!

If you weren't selected as part of our alpha test this time, please don't fret; we'll have more opportunities for you all to test in the future!

[h3]Join the stream January 17, 4:30pm CET/10:30am EST/7:30am PST to learn more![/h3]

Stay tuned for more information on the alpha and what it will contain, including a stream with Joakim our Design Director, and Erik our Product Owner on Wednesday, January 17 at 4:30pm CET/10:30am EST/7:30am PST. This stream will feature a number of frequently asked questions that the community team has collected to prepare you for the alpha, what it will contain, and our design philosophy around Versus.

You all will also see additional announcements and a further FAQ recap as we draw closer to our closed alpha launch.

[h2]Thank you for all your support and we hope to see hero and Skaven alike in Helmgart soon![/h2]