Yes, yes and yes, I haven't been this smitten by a game in a long time.

Vermintide wears it's obvious Left 4 Dead inspiration on it's sleeve, however it's set in the oft underused Warhammer Fantasy setting; features a horde of angry, plagued and militant rat men instead of zombies and has a heavy focus on melee combat instead of ranged.

While it may not have the same depth as some other first person melee games, it makes up for it with extremely satisfying animations and sound effects while still retaining a subtle degree of complexity. You will need to learn to use charge attacks, pushblock and dodge, without those nuanced skills you will find yourself taking alot of needless damage. Ranged weapons are primarily utility, as ammunition can be scarce. However, swapping between melee and ranged weapons is very quick with your only limitation being the associated weapon's reload speed, allowing them to be used reflexively based on the situation (such as taking out that pesky Ratling Gunner on the roof).

The game advertises "mountains of shiny loot", which will flip a switch in some people (myself included). Don't come into this game expecting an action RPG, don't expect to have a "main character" that you level up exclusively, don't come into this thinking the main point of the game is to grind for loot. This is Left 4 Dead, you play the game because you find it fun. Unlike L4D you will have a chance at earning loot upon successfully completing a level which can be used only by a specific character, but you won't always get an item for the one you are playing. This is likely to encourage you to try out different characters.

I point this out because many people are understandably miffed by how heavily RNG focused the loot system is, comparing it to Destiny. Unfortunately it seems alot of these (valid) criticisms are made by people who are putting the loot first and the game second, perhaps because they had the wrong idea about what this game's design philosophy seems to be.

if you want an extremely competent and challenging co-op FPS game with an atypical melee focus and are willing to put the loot as a secondary motivator for playing instead of the primary one, I highly recommend you pick this one up.

Yes, yes and yes, I haven't been this smitten by a game in a long time. Vermintide wears it's obvious Left 4 Dead inspiration on it's sleeve, however it's set in the oft underused Warhammer Fantasy setting; features a horde of angry, plagued and militant rat men instead of zombies and has a heavy focus on melee combat instead of ranged. While it may not have the same depth as some other first person melee games, it makes up for it with extremely satisfying animations and sound effects while still retaining a subtle degree of complexity. You will need to learn to use charge attacks, pushblock and [b]dodge[/b], without those nuanced skills you will find yourself taking alot of needless damage. Ranged weapons are primarily utility, as ammunition can be scarce. However, swapping between melee and ranged weapons is very quick with your only limitation being the associated weapon's reload speed, allowing them to be used reflexively based on the situation (such as taking out that pesky Ratling Gunner on the roof). [h1]Caution[/h1]The game advertises "mountains of shiny loot", which will flip a switch in some people (myself included). Don't come into this game expecting an action RPG, don't expect to have a "main character" that you level up exclusively, don't come into this thinking the main point of the game is to grind for loot. This is Left 4 Dead, you play the game because you find it [b]fun[/b]. Unlike L4D you will have a chance at earning loot upon successfully completing a level which can be used only by a specific character, but you won't always get an item for the one you are playing. This is likely to encourage you to try out different characters. I point this out because many people are understandably miffed by how heavily RNG focused the loot system is, comparing it to Destiny. Unfortunately it seems alot of these (valid) criticisms are made by people who are putting the loot first and the game second, perhaps because they had the wrong idea about what this game's design philosophy seems to be. [h1]Summary[/h1] if you want an extremely competent and challenging co-op FPS game with an atypical melee focus and are willing to put the loot as a secondary motivator for playing instead of the primary one, I [i]highly[/i] recommend you pick this one up.