Survival Mode & New Loot For Warhammer: Vermintide

"Left 4 Dead with ratmen" is how I summarised Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide [official site] when we first heard from it, though after reading Wot Adam Thinks I'd upgrade that to "Left 4 Dead with ratmen and persistent progression and loot." If the last part of that is causing you grief, good news: free 'DLC' next month will bring new items and more control over getting which loot you want. Developers Fatshark say this is the star of their plan to alternate free and paid additions, and they're working on a survival mode too.

Named Sigmar's Blessing, that first freebie will arrive on December 3rd, and here's what Fatshark say about it in today's announcement:

"The free DLC will introduce a number of new features including player control of what loot is dropped in-game and a new altar in the Inn, that provides ways of sacrificing existing loot to improve players arsenal. In addition to this, the DLC will include completely new traits added to the loot tables and new, unique weapon drops in the 'red' loot class for each of the 40 weapon types in Vermintide. Each red weapon features a set trait combination, taking top tier gameplay to a new level."

As for other future plans, they say:

"Fatshark is separately planning on adding a private mode, for players wanting an even bigger challenge as they face off against the Skaven alone! Realism mode is also on the way, removing the game HUD, crosshairs and more to create a truly immersive and authentic (and hardcore!) experience for particularly skilled Vermintide fans. Last but not least, Fatshark will be adding a survival mode to the game, allowing players to take on endless waves of ever-increasing enemies."

They say the game's sold over 300,000 copies now too, which is a lot of ratmen. I'll have to get around to playing Vermintide, and not only because being unkind to endless waves of Skaven sounds like a petty, pointless, and yet satisfying attack against Kieron Gillen and his ideals. I don't have a lot going on right now.