Well, that went well. The recent move from developers Fatshark to make Warhammer Vermintide 2 free-to-own for a limited time was a smashing success. Once the news dropped that the Vermintide series would be celebrating its 7th anniversary by making the second game in the series free, eager players rushed to Steam to download their copy.
According to the developers, 10 million new users downloaded the game, which reached an all-time high for concurrent players on the platform. Over 100,000 people logged into the game concurrently through Steam, according to SteamDB, showing that bloodlust from killing hordes of rats is still alive and strong.
In a stuttering economy with so many video game options, players are keener than ever to look for good deals. The sudden overnight success of Vermintide 2 may be good news for the developers, Fatshark, as the next game in their flagship franchise, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, is set to release at $40 for the base game later this month, on November 30, 2022.
Only time will tell whether the free-to-own promotion will help boost sales in a competitive holiday landscape. What we can say, however, is we got some time to play in the closed beta of the game, and it was certainly a blast.
Improving on a lot of the mechanics and drawbacks of previous entries, Darktide is a new–but familiar take on the series. Instead of rats this time, you’ll be decimating hordes of the undead from the demonic Chaos factions.
The visuals and graphic fidelity stand up against other AAA titles, and the gameplay is fun and frantic–exactly what you’d expect from the successor of the Vermintide series. Gamers can head to the Steam Store to wishlist or preorder the game.
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