Vermintide developer Fatshark is celebrating "seven years of ‘Tide," and no, this is not a celebration of those colorful pods that you gotta keep locked away from children because they look so delicious. This is a celebration of the pending release of Warhammer 40: Darktide, and what better way to get players in the grim-dark mood than to give away Vermintide 2 for free?
Starting right now and lasting until November 7 at 10 AM PT (1 PM ET), Vermintide 2 is free to keep on Steam. All you gotta do is head on over to the Vermintide 2 Steam storefront, click the download link, and it’ll remain in your library forever.
The gifts don’t stop here. Fatshark also mentioned a free update will arrive on November 8. Called "Trail of Treachery," it’ll be the first piece of a two-part "snowy adventure mission." This might be Fatshark celebrating Christmas in November, but given how my local grocer is already blaring Mariah Carey’s greatest hit, it’s not too surprising. Then again, there’s not a lot of holly-jolly going on in the Warhammer universe, so maybe this mission really is just cold.
While the base game is free, Vermintide 2's multitude of DLC is not. However, it is 50 percent discounted, and most cosmetics are on sale too. In fact, Fatshark notes that the game has "more than doubled in size" since its release in 2018 courtesy of both paid and free updates.
Vermintide 2 is the perfect thing to get players ready for Darktide, which arrives on November 30. But don't think that Darktide will be just Vermintide in space. Our own Eric Switzer noted that Darktide offers the same co-op extract gameplay that Vermintide 2 does but with an emphasis on ranged combat and the ability to create your own custom character using one of four different classes. There's also a new random-roll loot system that offers tiered gear based on rarity.
And more good news for Warhammer fans: Blood Bowl 3 is coming on February 23.