Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide Death on the Reik (DLC)

I have a soft spot for DLC that knows exactly how much it is and delivers on that promise without pretending to be something larger. Death on the Reik lands at two maps, one new weapon for the Bright Wizard, and four achievements, and it does not apologize for the tight scope. If you have already sunk real time into the first Vermintide's Left 4 Dead-style horde survival and want fresh ground to get swarmed on, this is a focused, handcrafted extension of that loop. The first map, Reikwald Forest, is the more conventional of the two: a trek through a dark, burning village and muddy woodland paths while Skaven pour in from every angle. It feels familiar in structure but the environment has enough vertical interest to keep the combat feeling different from the base game's urban and fortress settings. There are tomes and grimoires tucked into caves, submerged chests, and hidden branches above the treeline for players who want a reason to replay on higher difficulties beyond pure masochism. The real draw, though, is the River Reik map that follows. After pushing through smuggler caves and riverbank skirmishes, the squad boards the barge Dawnrunner and the level shifts into something Vermintide had not really done before. Skaven ships close in, grappling hooks bite into the deck, and ratfolk flood over the rails in numbers that make the final push genuinely chaotic. It is a setpiece that lingers in memory long after the session ends, the kind of thing the lobby chat still mentions five minutes after the match screen. For Sienna Fuegonasus players specifically, the DLC adds the Ceremonial Dagger, a fire-infused melee option that can only drop on these two new missions. That weapon-tied-to-location design is a smart nudge toward replay: you have an actual reason to run the maps multiple times at different difficulty tiers to roll for better trait combinations. The broader context worth noting is that Death on the Reik arrived in December 2017 as Fatshark was already deep in development on Vermintide 2. The original game's community was thinning out, and this felt like a genuine parting gift rather than a cash-in. The Steam rating landed at Mostly Positive, which is about right: it is a two-map pack priced like one, and community opinion reflects honest value rather than disappointment. The caveats are real. Two maps is two maps. There is no new class, no system overhaul, no surprise mechanic waiting in a third act. Players who burned out on the base game will not find a reason to return here. The Xbox version also inherits all of the original game's flow: you need the base Vermintide installed and a crew, preferably human, to get the most out of it. Solo play works but the social friction and backup calls are where the tension actually lives. If you are already active in the base game and want a reason to run something that feels different, the river finale alone earns the asking price.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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