Vermintide 2: Three Year Anniversary

Heroes,


The 3-Year Anniversary of Warhammer: Vermintide 2’s launch on PC is just around the corner, and with that, we of course want to celebrate! Vermintide 2 officially launched on PC on March 8, 2018.

Between March 5 - March 14 players on PC will be able to play the celebratory mission ‘A Quiet Drink’, earn Double XP all throughout the Anniversary, and we will be doing daily giveaways over on the Vermintide Twitter.

A NOTE FROM THE DEVELOPERS
These past 3 years have gone by super quickly, and we are humbled and grateful for each and every one of you. Without you, our players, we would not have been able to continue with the development of Vermintide 2 and now Darktide as well. Thank you for all of your feedback, fan art, bug reports, streaming, and of course, thank you for loving Vermintide 2. Let’s celebrate together to highlight the past 3 years, and the years to come!

/The Vermintide 2 Team

Trusting Fatshark with Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Acolytes,

The Warhammer: 40K franchise is widely loved and adored by many, and we’re stoked to have the opportunity to work with the brand. Games Workshop has trusted us to craft a co-op game that respects the setting, whilst giving players a familiar yet fresh approach to a format we have been polishing throughout development of both Vermintide titles over the last five or more years.

So can we be trusted to deliver on a game-changing 40,000 co-op smash hit? We think so, but we want to take a moment to convince you all that Darktide is in capable hands.

Who are we?

We’re

Fatshark

. We’ve been making games together in Sweden since 2008, but many of us have been busy in the industry prior to the inception of the studio.

We love games. We love playing games. We love making games. We play games for the same reasons you do; to escape to another world, challenge ourselves, explore places we can’t explore in person, and experience things we could otherwise not experience. Mostly though, we love games that bring people together! It’s why we made games like Vermintide to be as cooperative as possible. Everything we’ve learned from developing the Vermintide games is being poured into Darktide and setting it up to be the ultimate cooperative experience, not just in the 40K universe but in your entire library.

Why us?

We love Warhammer.

A lot

We’ve grown up painting miniatures and poring over rule books. Our home and office libraries are stocked with reading material -- novels and adventure books from all walks of Warhammer.

At the helm of the project our Game Director, Anders, had this to say:

I discovered 40K in the early 90s, and as an aspiring artist I got very inspired by all the incredible artworks by legends like John Blanche, Jes Goodwin and Adrian Smith to mention a few. Ever since then 40K has been a part of my life, both in book form, RPGs and miniatures. Lately the more digital my work gets, the bigger the urge to bring out my old brushes and paint!

Getting the chance to work with this project is of course a dream come true (but it is also a huge scary responsibility hehe).


Anders also updates a dedicated instagram account that’s been in the works from the day we first pitched the project to Games Workshop.

https://www.instagram.com/bilewerk/

Screenshot_3.png

Gameplay Programmer and Fatshark Stream celebrity, Tom, has been into 40K for the longest time.

Like every Warhammer player in their late 20's / early 30's I first played the tabletop game when I was a kid. It wasn't until I started working at Fatshark that I began picking it up again, and eventually 8th edition 40K was the perfect excuse to begin playing properly. The tabletop game is now my primary hobby (even beyond playing video games). I frequently attend tournaments and play with some of the best players Sweden has to offer. The lore and IP are fantastic, but for me it's the hobby and the game that draws me in the most. The opportunity to work with fellow fans on a game that is so very related to my personal interests is a fantastic experience.




Gameplay Programmer, Ricardas, did a brief stint updating an instagram account with minis as well, but has since been too busy programming to keep it up to date!

https://www.instagram.com/mechasheep/



Our Cinematics Director, Tor, admitted not being all that in to Warhammer when he started with us, but (and we quote):

Seriously, I wasn't all that into Warhammer when I started at Fatshark. But after reading about 15 or more books… the universe man... I [redacted] LOVE it!!!!!!! The Inquisition and Chaos and warp and the vast scale of things and Eisenhorn and Ravenor and the art style alien races etc. It's a spectacular universe and it gives me chills.


If you can't tell, it’s hard to keep Tor in one single train of thought at once, but no doubt our cinematics are in safe hands!



Various other members of the team have shared some of their workstations and models, some are works in progress, others at a state of completion, and so many more we just don’t have space to share. The hope is that you can see that we’re not inexperienced in the 40K universe and we will be treating the IP you love with the respect and care it deserves.

53976bfe92430f57bdd4ed4df70593ac93f23c07.jpg
071f9faf6f35cc25b866296f886deadf8a2639c4.jpg
46e5c489f510e874cb118f5e7fcc2e2d5da44d98.jpg

Honestly, we have gigabytes of photos of armies and minis. We just can't fit it all into one blog post. Suffice to say, we want you to be confident that our passion for Warhammer starts in the real world, and is being lavishly pumped in to the development of Darktide.

We can't wait to show you more in 2021!

15cfb38c830ebe5854dcfbafd59c522c0e10b4b3.png

Honestly, we have gigabytes of photos of armies and minis. We just can't fit it all into one blog post. Suffice to say, we want you to be confident that our passion for Warhammer starts in the real world, and is being lavishly pumped in to the development of Darktide.

We can't wait to show you more in 2021!

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide - First Gameplay

The trailer premiered moments ago at The Game Awards - and it probably creates more questions than it answers in regards to the details of the game!

We won't be answering many questions today, but we will hopefully be able to answer those in the coming months through various developer blogs and updates we have in the works.

To get the latest news and to not miss out on future updates from the team here, be sure to wishlist the game, sign up to the newsletter and join the official Steam Community!

Winds of Magic - Season 4

Heroes,


Welcome to

Season 4 for Winds of Magic

on PC. Together with Winds of Magic Season 4 we are also bringing some fixes to Vermintide 2 on PC. Full patch notes can be found below.

Winds of Magic - Season 4 on PC


The new Season for Winds of Magic is now live. The leaderboards have been reset, and new portrait frames can be unlocked by clearing Weave 40, 80, 120 and 160. Good luck!

If you finish a quick play Weave you will also be rewarded with a new portrait frame. The Weaves have of course been reshuffled in a new order.

  • Fixed various unspecified crashes.

  • Fixed a sound issue on jumping/landing with the Masterwork Pistol and Kerillian's Spear & Shield.

  • Fixed engineer Bombardment challenge being rewarded randomly to players.

  • Fixed all players in the lobby gaining progress towards "Where's the Kaboom?" Engineer challenge when the Engineer killed enemies with bombs.

  • Fixed players not reciving essence from quickplay.

  • Fixed a rare crash that can happen when grabbed by a Packmaster.

  • Fixed a Weaves exploit where players could force a despawn of enemies.

  • Moved the mission timer to the TAB screen.

  • Fixed a crash related to upgrading the Coghammer.

  • Fixed a crash related to using the Coghammer in the Athanor.

Outcast Engineer - Available Now

Heroes,


Today we are excited to announce that the new advanced career for Bardin Goreksson,



The Outcast Engineer

, is available on Steam and Lohner’s Emporium of Wonders on PC! Similar to the previously released Grail Knight, the Outcast Engineer is available with or without the Cosmetic Upgrade.

Together with the release of the new career we are also releasing update 3.4 for PC. An FAQ and a full list of Patch Notes can be found below.

The Outcast Engineer might not be an Engineers Guild graduate, but no less lethal - armed as he is with an array of experimental weaponry. His unmatched use of heavy machinery together with his assorted gadgets makes him a master of utility, blasting down anything, or anyone, in his path.

If you want to find out more about how, and why, Bardin Goreksson ended up as an Outcast Engineer, you can read the full story by clicking here.


FAQ



Q: How do I get the Outcast Engineer?

A: The Outcast Engineer is available in the in-game store called Lohner's Emporium of Wonders or can be found on Steam.


Q: How much does the Outcast Engineer cost?

A: The Outcast Engineer Career costs $3.99

The Outcast Engineer Cosmetic Upgrade is available in the Outcast Engineer Bundle for $9.99. If you already own the Outcast Engineer DLC it will be deducted from the bundle price.


Q: Why cannot I not select the Outcast Engineer in my Hero Selection screen?

A: The Outcast Engineer is a premium feature and can only be attained by purchasing it.


Q: Can I play the Outcast Engineer directly, or do I need to be a certain level?

A: You can start playing the Outcast Engineer directly after purchase.


Q: Why did you make the Cosmetic Upgrade?

A: We wanted as many players as possible to have the option of the Outcast Engineer in their roster of hero careers. Offering a much cheaper 'gameplay' option, and a very much optional Cosmetic version allows for the gameplay portion to be as accessible as possible, whilst providing Cosmetic options via the upgrade to those who really dig a new hat !


Q: Are there challenges in the Outcast Engineer DLC?

A: Yes. There will be challenges available in the Outcast Engineer. The Outcast Engineer Cosmetic Upgrade includes extra challenges to unlock exclusive cosmetics. If you do not own the Cosmetic Upgrade your progression to complete the challenges is still accounted for. This means that if you decide to purchase the Cosmetic Upgrade later you will be able to claim your rewards for challenges that have already been completed.


Q: Where can I purchase the Outcast Engineer?

A: You can purchase the Outcast Engineer here or through Lohner's Emporium of Wonders.


Q: Does the cosmetics in the Cosmetic Upgrade only work for the Outcast Engineer?

A: The helmets, character skins and the weapon illusions are exclusive to the Outcast Engineer.


Q: Can I use the Cog hammer and the Masterwork Pistol on other Bardin careers?

A: The Cog Hammer can be used by any of Bardin's careers, however the Masterwork Pistol can only be used by the Outcast Engineer, Ranger Veteran and Ironbreaker careers.


Q: Can the Outcast Engineer use other weapons?

A: The Outcast Engineer can use all of Bardin Goreksson's weapons other than the Dual Axes, Crossbow and Throwing Axes.


Q: How does the Outcast Engineer special attack work?

A: The Steam Assisted Crank Gun (MK II) is the Outcast Engineer's Career Skill (otherwise known as the 'special', 'ultimate' or 'activated') ability and can be activated by pressing F.

Bardin will subsequently equip a customised Gatling Gun with high rate of fire. It can only be shot if the ability bar is available, and shots will consume the ability bar. It must be spun up briefly before it can be shot and will start to shoot at a steady pace before increasing in momentum. Holding the right mouse button will allow you to keep spinning without shooting. To regain ability bar you must press and hold the reload (otherwise known as 'cranking') button to build pressure. As pressure (visualised as a stacking buff) builds, the ability bar will replenish over time. Bardin will continue to replenish the ability bar as long as stacks of pressure have been built-up, and is able to use other weapons. Firing the Crank Gun will result in it losing all of its built-up pressure.


Q: Where are the Outcast Engineer cosmetics?

A: The Outcast Engineer cosmetics can be unlocked after purchasing the Outcast Cosmetic Upgrade. A selection of cosmetics will be available from just owning the bundle, while the rest can be access by completing Outcast specific Okri's Challenges.


Patch 3.4

Outcast Engineer

  • Blast your way through waves of enemies with the grenades from your Utility Belt and the Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (Mk II).

  • Embrace your heritage with an exclusive character skin & voice lines.

  • Wield personalized, all-new weapons: Masterwork Pistol and Cog Hammer.

  • Enhance your bombs through the Outcast Engineers’ unique talent tree.

  • Show your true vocation through the purchasable Outcast Engineer Cosmetic Upgrade DLC.

  • When purchasing Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Outcast Engineer Career, you will receive 100 Shillings (in-game currency) to spend in the in-game store.



Outcast Engineer Cosmetic Upgrade

Only available in the Outcast Engineer bundle*

With the Cosmetic Upgrade, you receive a new Hero Skin Color Variation, a new Masterwork Pistol Illusion, a new Cog Hammer Illusion from the start, and access to unlockable cosmetics for your Outcast Engineer.

Cosmetics unlockable through Okri’s Challenges:

  • 3 New Masterwork Pistol Illusions

  • 3 New Cog Hammer Illusions

  • 3 New Hero Skin Color Variations

  • 2 New Helmets

  • 3 New Portrait Frames

  • 6 Exclusive Keep Paintings


When purchasing Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Outcast Engineer Content Update, you will receive 225 Shillings (in-game currency) to spend in the in-game store.


*The Outcast Engineer bundle contains the Outcast Engineer Career and the Outcast Engineer Cosmetic Upgrade. If you already own the Outcast Engineer Career the cost will be deducted from the bundle price




Animation Changes:

New features:

  • All weapons and items have received new Interactive Inspects (except the Grail Knight ones, which already had it).

  • All weapon and items now have a subtle weapon sway to make them feel less static on the screen.



Misc changes:

  • Bardin's War Pick idle & movement animations tweaked to take up less screen space.

  • Grudge-Raker, Handgun, Blunderbluss have gotten a minor overhaul in animations.

  • Repeater Handgun has gotten an animation overhaul. The weapon now also doesn't force you to shoot all 8 shots while holding aim.

  • Dual Swords & Elven spear's block animation slightly lowered to show the center of the screen.

  • Some Shield skins now have adjusted block-animations to not block the center of the screen.

  • Sienna's left hand is now slightly moved so it doesn't block the Conflagration Staff's charged attack area.



Minor animation bugs fixed:

  • Kerillian's Greatsword sometimes animating oddly after attacks now fixed.

  • Throwing Axe Animation Bug.

  • Kruber's hands occasionally do not wrap around the Bretonnian longsword.

  • Fixed an animation bug with the Executioners light-attack chain.

  • Bardins shield strap positioned incorrectly in 3rd person now fixed.




Levels:

  • Athel Yenlui - Fixed a broken boss spawn.

  • Blightreaper - Fixed an out of bounds exploit.

  • Blood in the Darkness - Fixed a bad respawn point.

  • Convocation of Decay - End event area now switches environments correctly and resolved issues with event missing sorcerers on the pillars.

  • Convocation of Decay - Fixed a hole in the map.

  • Convocation of Decay - Fixed an issue where bots did not path down the hole leading to the 2nd Grimoire location.

  • Convocation of Decay - Opened up inaccesible area to prevent bosses being unreachable there.

  • Dark Omens - End event can now be completed if Wargor is killed prior to raising it's banner (added 45s timers to spawn another carrier if a flag has not been raised for flag 2 and 3).

  • Dark Omens - Darkness environment fixed.

  • Empire in Flames - Fixed a spot where enemies would climb through a wall.

  • Empire in Flames - Fixed a spot wherre Sienna could get Out of Bounds.

  • Empire in Flames - Added mover blockers to house roofs, improved shape on outer mover blocker, to resolve a location where players could exploit enemy inaction.

  • Empire in Flames - Moved location of a ladder a tiny bit so bots don't get stuck.

  • Enchanter's Lair - Fixed a location where players could get stuck.

  • Enchanter's Lair - Fixed an issue with exposure when using the Flamewave Staff in the catacombs environment.

  • Enchanter's Lair - Fixed darkness & twitch darkness setup.

  • Enchanter's Lair - Fixed players who joined mid-battle being subsequently blocked behind secret door.

  • Enchanter's Lair - Players can no longer use Sienna's firewalk to exploit and kill Nurgloth.

  • Festering Ground - Fixed a patrol that could cause a crash.

  • Festering Ground - Replaced newly added interactable crate with a non-interactable one.

  • Festering Ground - Tweaked jump over to the first tome (so bots should be able to reach it better now).

  • Fortunes of War - Fixed an Out of Bounds exploit.

  • Garden of Morr - Cauldron light should no longer be left visible after destruction.

  • Garden of Morr - Fixed a spot where players can get stuck.

  • Halescourge - Fixed some spots where bots got stuck.

  • Horn of Magnus - Bosses could become stuck in inaccessible house. Added 2nd layer of default collision to prevent boss from being pushed into building.

  • Hunger in the Dark - Fixed issues related to colour banding in start area. Environment tweaked, large fog volume at the start scaled down, light sources in start area tweaked.

  • Into the Nest - Respawn camera moved from inside a rock.

  • Into the Nest - Fixed a hole in map near 3rd Tome.

  • Into the Nest - Fixed an awkward Globadier spawn.

  • Old Haunts - Fixed an issue where bots could enter a hanging state when navigating a specific narrow pathway.

  • Old Haunts - Fixed an issue where bots may not follow the player down the hole after placing the gargoyle heads.

  • Old Haunts - Fixed an location where occlusion failed.

  • Old Haunts - Sometimes the door would not be broken to the church initiating the escape. This has now been solved.

  • Righteous Stand - Fixed a spot where enemies could pass through a wall.

  • Righteous Stand - Fixed some wonky respawn points.

  • Righteous Stand - Fixed network syncing so hotjoined players could use the cannon.

  • Righteous Stand - Fixed an issue with AI pathing going awry whilst the canon was in motion.

  • Screaming Bell - Fixed a location where occlusion failed.

  • Screaming Bell - Fixed location where Sienna could get stuck.

  • Screaming Bell - Fixed some outlandish bot behaviours, such as them tight-rope walking bell chains and getting stuck in whack places.

  • Screaming Bell - Improved navigation on meshes and rebuilt navmesh to improve bot pathing in specific areas.

  • Skippergate - Fixed an out of bounds issue.

  • The Pit - Fixed a hole in the map.

  • The Pit - Fixed a host crash in the first town area with the 1st grim.

  • The Pit - Fixed facespawning boss spawn spot.

  • The War Camp - Fixed a location where players could get stuck.

  • The War Camp - Fixed a spot where it was possible to get out of bounds.

  • The War Camp - Fixed an issue where players could get stuck outside the Arena.

  • Weaves - Essence on Weave 27, 67, 107 and 147 was too low to complete without trickle enemies, so we upped it.

  • Weaves (Life) - Fixed light leaking through speficic walls.




Fixes and Tweaks

  • Push to Talk keybinding has been reset. Sorry about that. This was part of a fix to the PTT button not working on Mission end screens.

  • A challenge (Iconic Presence) could trigger completion and not be rewarded. This challenge was cut in production and has been stripped from the game now.

  • Adjusted opacity on Sienna's eye lashes and switched to a double sided shader.

  • Barrels can now spawn in Deprivation deeds.

  • Bloodfletcher - Fixed an issue where new behaviour was not represented in the tooltip.

  • Disabled a debug feature that could be opened by pressing 'Insert'.

  • Fix for Sword/Dagger's Block loop not looping properly.

  • Fixed a crash caused by the Billhook.

  • Fixed a crash when a slot item changes while loadout is syncing the same slot type.

  • Fixed a UI crash.

  • Fixed a very uncommon softlock if a mission vote was started at the exact same time a player opened the change hero view.

  • Fixed an issue where subtitle size and background would reset after restart.

  • Fixed charged sweep generating more overcharge than it should when hitting mix of dead and alive enemies.

  • Fixed crash when controller gets (de)activated during loading while loading tip is present.

  • Fixed persistent scrolling audio in the lobby browser.

  • Fixed recoil jerking camera sideways if recoil is applied while dodging or any other animation that rotates camera.

  • Fixed skinning issue on Kruber's neck.

  • Fixed skinning issues on Huntsman face.

  • Fixed the icons of Power vs Infantry and Power vs Armoured in Weaves being mixed up. (Thanks Fracticality for the heads up.)

  • Fixed various other, more miscellaneous crashes.

  • Heleborgs Tutelage - No longer gains multiple stacks when shield/blunderbuss bashing into a horde.

  • If a ammo-less player replaces a bot that had no ammo, the out of ammo icon won't be removed. This fixes that. Hopefully.

  • Kruber's (Grail Knight) 'Virtue of Audacity' Talent 2nd hit could be interrupted/cancelled by potion expiry. We now save weapon action speed at the start of the action, so any attack speed changed mid way through would not change attack chain timings.

  • Made a minor tweak to Sienna's fireball charge animation.

  • Made bots default to tap attack to prevent crash when they are trying to destroy door barricades.

  • Swiftbow - Fixed an issue where the crosshair would drift if shooting continuously for an extended time.

  • The 'shortcut' to Athanor and back to the keep is now activated once you complete part 3 of the WOM tutorial, to avoid breaking the onboarding process.

  • The Grail Knight careerskill VFX should no longer light up the character after the VFX goes away.

  • When a player is being revived, the prompt would still appear for additional players attempting the revival. This prompt is now suppressed where a player is already reviving.