Rat smashers stay winning as Warhammer: Vermintide 2 gets another free update—a whole new map and enemy type

An image from the new Warhammer: Vermintide 2 update, with four heroes overlooking the rain-slick landscape they're about to brawl through. — (Image credit: Fatshark)

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 might be seven years old, but it's still getting free content updates. There's that long-awaited versus mode, of course, though that's still in testing—in the meantime, says Fatshark, here's a free map and a new enemy type, because why not?

A Parting of the Waves makes to round out the Karak Azgaraz campaign. If you've played the first game, that name might sound familiar, and you'd be right. Karak Azgaraz was remastered for Vermintide 2 a while back. The new map, however, is an entirely new addition to the rehashed story.

The concept is pretty dang funny, too—it's basically a mandated workplace bonding trip for the Ubersreik Five: "Our Heroes are not on the best of terms right now," reads the official post on the game's website. "... Today, the Ubersreik Five are on the verge of falling apart. That’s when jolly ol’ Kruber had a fantastic idea! The Five should group up and set sail, chasing after the Skaven ships fleeing after being routed in Khazukan Kazakit-Ha!"

Listen, I'm not sure if I'd feel particularly warm towards my company if I was given a bludgeon and told to go fight some rats in the middle of a storm—but then again, maybe people work better as a team if they've got someone up top to hate. Or, as the post notes: "Slaying rats is what got them together in the first place, surely it would help bring them back together."

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There's also a new enemy type arriving in the update, and I've never been so unsettled by such a simple description: "A Chaos Warrior armed with a shield and mace." For the uninitiated, Chaos Warriors are some of the deadliest foes in Vermintide 2, bar bosses. When I played as Kerillian, I dedicated my build to boss-slaying mostly to have the satisfaction of gibbing these otherwise tanky dudes. And now they've got a shield?

As the blog post promises (or threatens), the cooler Chaos Warrior will appear in any map with rotbloods plaguing it. I need to have a chat with Kruber, these things have to constitute a workplace safety hazard! I can't work under these conditions.

Ultimately, it's just nice to see Vermintide 2 updates even when it's getting grey in its beard. Fatshark doesn't always stick the landing with its new games—Darktide had its fair share of problems at launch, too—but redemption stories and potent post-launch support seems to be a constant for the studio. A Parting of the Waves drops tomorrow, April 11.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.