Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide Xbox One X Enhanced Preview

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide was a blast to play while I was reviewing it when it first launched on Xbox One. With the game getting a tie in to the Games with Gold program and my general curiosity on if it runs great now I thought I'd check out what the update had to offer. This Vermintide Xbox One X enhancement is rather great bringing the game up to a native 4k resolution. It seems to runs the game almost flawlessly with only a tiny screen tear showing up while I was in a forest level and it was brief. I actually ran through the whole thing again with some randoms as I was just enjoying it.

Aside from running in native 4k on the console, you also get improved anti-aliasing and more detailed textures. There's better shadow casting and a sharper image for an improved visual look. The frame rate is greatly smoothed out due to the extra power and I could tell during standard gameplay as slashing the vermin was smooth. The game does however not feature HDR and this is due to them allocating resources towards the sequel instead. It's understandable, but that eerie glow would have been so great with HDR.

For context, this title exists within the Warhammer fantasy universe and particularly the Vermin based campaign. It's a cooperative focused experience where four players as a combination of classes battle enemies in a Left 4 Dead type setup. The game takes many inspirations from that series so think of it like Left 4 Dead but with rats instead of zombies. This all works incredible well and it's a beautiful looking game. Levels feature a variety of tasks and environments from desolate Victorian era type towns to spooky forests. This all looks fantastic with the increase of resolution and plays smoothly.

The gore is fantastic and the combat is a lot of fun. It's a really great time if you're able to enjoy it with a squad of friends, but randoms online seem to work just fine as well. There's a lot of content to enjoy here and now that it plays so well in the native 4k it's a grand time. There's multiple difficulty options, weapons to obtain via dice roll after levels and a pile of levels to mulch rats through. The game even has a bit of a story despite just being a coop focused adventure. If the idea of a fantasy melee based Left 4 Dead sounds appealing, it looks incredible with this update and is just a blast to play.

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Read our Vermintide Review