It's going to be a big month for Warhammer fans, with many anticipating the release of the next major entry on the series, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, at month's end. But before that comes to pass, publisher/developer Fatshark has a new content update in store for the last 'Tide' game in the Warhammer chronicles, and it's making the base game, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, free to play and keep during a limited window of time.
Trail of Treachery, the newest update for Vermintide 2, is scheduled for release on November 8, bringing with it a new trailer filled with icy landscapes and intense combat.
The trailer depicts a snowy, mountainous region, focussing in on a high stone bridge and windmill, as a narrator describes a quest involving the escort of a convoy to the haunted village of Tokstadt, with the hope that the warding stone the convoy is carrying will "sort it right out." However, the numerous fearsome and heavily-armed creatures staring out from among the dilapidated wooden structures along the way suggest that ghosts may not be the only problem for the heroes accompanying the convoy. Post narration, the trailer dives frantically into gameplay, giving first person perspective of the rat-like skaven people being slashed, set ablaze, and peppered with arrows and bullets.
In anticipation of Darktide's release on November 30, Fatshark has decided to make Vermintide 2 available for free — to keep — via the game's Steam page. The "7 Years of Tide" digital giveaway launched on November 3 and will last through November 7 at 1:00 p.m. EST. Fatshark, in a press release, made note of how Vermintide 2 has grown in scope since its release back in 2018. Because of frequent content updates adding to the game, its scale has more than doubled since its introduction, including more than doubling its map size in a single update, Chaos Wastes. As an additional part of the event, all DLC for Vermintide 2 will be sold at half price.
As for Darktide, the third entry in Warhammer's "Tide" series, a pre-launch beta period is scheduled to begin on November 17 for those who have preordered the game. Additionally, anyone owning either the first or second Vermintide will have launch-day access to the Devoted Rejects Pack, which will allow players to style their Darktide characters, like the preacher and skullbreaker, after Vermintide's heroes.