scaling, the gauntlet can be essentially
infinite.
“Each of these Weaves is going to
be hand tailored because we’re
removing the randomness from
them,” says Batsford. “We’re going to
need to set spawns for these and
make sure they work for each one.
But we’re obviously not going to be
able to do that endlessly. So we need
to do that for a set amount, and then
we’ll probably repeat them with a
higher difficulty.”
I’m intrigued, and Fatshark is
doing some cool things with the look
of the Weaves. Metal stages are a
bathed in rusty yellow. Veins of ore
grow like tree roots, and fields of
giant swords appear off in the
background. “The one I’m looking
forward to the most is Fire,” says
Batsford, “because the idea right now
is to get it so you can feel like you’re
walking through a forest fire. So it’s
like everything is burning, the sky is
on fire, ash
everywhere. It’s
the perfect
excuse to get
some Sienna
voice lines going.
She’s loving it.”
The key for
Fatshark, I feel,
will be nailing the
mutators for each Wind—ensuring
that each is fun to tackle and scales
clearly—and offering a wide enough
variety of objectives and scenarios.
Something that may help, and that
the team is currently considering as a
possibility, is making the Weaves
seasonal. That could potentially lead
to new mutators being added, as well
as a reshuffling of the order so that
players get to experience Weaves
they couldn’t previously reach.
Fatshark aims to shake up the
base game as well. As you’ll have
noticed from our cover art, Winds of
Magic is bringing Beastmen to the
game. “We have this duality,” says
Mats Andersson, head of Vermintide
II’s action team. “We have a lot of
players who are into it because of the
feeling, lore, and immersion, so the
Beastmen are a huge part of that,
because they’re cool and scary, and
it’s cool to play against them. Then
we have that other set of challenge-
based players, who go in-depth to
master the combat loop. We want the
Beastmen to target both of those
types—similar to what we’re doing
with the Winds of Magic mode.”FATSHARK IS ALSO
EXPERIMENTING
WITH GIVING
UNGORS BOWSABOVE: A typical
Gold Wind level. Bring
a pickaxe.
BELOW:
Coincidentally, this is
what I look like when
I’m writing captions.The bulk of the Beastman force
will be made up of Gors—the grunts
analogous to the Skaven’s Clanrats or
Rotblood’s Raiders. But it’s the
secondary units that make the
Beastmen such interesting enemies.
Smaller Ungors will rush players in
great numbers—similar to the
Skavenslaves—but will also fight in
conjunction with Gors. “The thing
we’re experimenting with now is
adding Ungors that use spears,” says
Andersson, “so we get enemies with a
bit more distance ... you can have that
thing where you’re swinging the
weapon and it’s kind of nice, and all
of a sudden I have guys that keep a
bit more distance. I’m swinging my
weapon and I’m not hitting it.”
Fatshark is also experimenting
with giving Ungors bows—potentially
in large groups, making them difficult
to take out at range. “One of the
things these guys are supposed to be
doing is giving one of your team
members a
problem to solve
while fighting,”
says Andersson.
“Because, for the
higher difficulties,
I want more
problems to be
able to throw at
the players, and
have them clearly and distinctly
provide different gameplay. This is
not something that will disable you,
but it is something that will require
you clear a path to get at them.”KNOW WHAT’S BEST
Creating more problems for players is
something of a mantra. The
Bestigor—the Beastmen’s elite unit—
is a large, armored brute that charges
headlong into players. “What you
have is a 250 kilo, huge-ass armored
goat with a halberd running at you
and throwing your ass to the ground,”
enthuses Andersson. “And that really
helps to create a separate combat
loop for the Beastmen.” Pleasingly,
the Bestigor will also flatten any
other enemy units that are standing
between him and his target—
something players can potentially use
as a tactic. Bestigors have no chill.
Those are the standard units—
what Fatshark calls the roaming set—
but, as with Skaven and the Rotblood
Tribe, the Beastmen are also bringing
new specials and monster units. Take
the beefcake on our cover, the
Minotaur. “He’s going to be theWarhammer Vermintide II: Winds of Magic
COVER FEATURE