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Warhammer: Vermintide 2

Best co-op games of the year (Part 2) Sea of Thieves

Before reading this post, make sure you check out Part 1 of the best co-op games of the year 2018! My previous post focuses on Warhammer: Vermintide 2.

Also, you totally must check out what happened to me when I became a Ghost in the Realm of the Living in Sea of Thieves!!!

Yarr!!! Everyone loves pirates!

Have you ever wanted to be a pirate?
Not an online pirate you scallywag!
A real swashbuckling, wood legged, parrot carrying, hook fingered, golden tooth pirate! Yarr!!!

Well I got good news for you, the aspiring pirate!

Both Sea of Thieves and Warhammer: Vermintide 2 were released on the same month of March in 2018. Both compete for the prestigious PopcornGamer title of being the best co-op game of 2018.

Sea of Thieves is a predominantly co-op multiplayer game in a very large map where pirates, AKA players, roam the high water mountains in search for treasures, adventure and plunder.

At first, what will really strike you is the graphic style of the game.

Sea of Thieves is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS.

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It features very clean and appealing graphics (unlike Atlas. Ew.). It really conveys a lighthearted, sunny and happy swashbuckling experience …an extreme opposite to the surprisingly gruesome Warhammer: Vermintide 2!

Sea of Thieves feels like a simple game (maybe a wee bit too simple?).
The game peppers the seas with tiny curious islands and it gives you a map or a riddle that you need to figure out in order to find a treasure chest.

Oh… and remember: X marks the spot.

A day in the life of a Pirate!

You dig, dig, dig …until you hear a loud *THUMP!*.

YES!!!
You found it!
That wood casket is sure to bear all sorts of precious metals and gems!

Your grin turns to grimace when you realize that you’ve angered the lost souls protecting that cursed chest!
Now there’s a horde of skeletons rushing towards you. You can’t hit them while holding your precious chest… so you run back to your ship!

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When you hear the *clikety clack* that the banana-eating skeletons make while trying to catch you shiver slightly, but that doesn’t stop you. Once you are on your ship and you lower the ship’s sails it gently picks up speed and you wave at the skeletons that can’t figure out how to swim to get to you.

Riches onboard.
You head towards the nearest outpost.

It must be worth a fortune – you say to yourself!

Still dreaming of the brand new hat that you’ll be able to buy with all that money, you fail to notice the dark sails that approach your ship from the East. Too late.

Trouble on the horizon

*CRUSHCRACKSHHWSHSPSH!!!* – Your ship is being rammed from the side by a massive galleon. PIRATES! PIRAAATES!!!

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You rush to the lower deck to fix the geiser-like holes in the hull of your ship. The enemy cannons are roaring outside! You need to hurry the repairs and come back up to divert your ship from their firing lines!

You turn around and a strange wood-legged pirate stands next to you. Sword in hand.

“DUEL ME OR DIE” – he says. The request doesn’t really make much sense… but you rush to your sword and the fight begins.

A dirty fight with a one-eyed pirate

The dirty pirate lunges straight at you with very fast swings. All you can do is evade the massive sword spam. He hits you once… twice! But you still breathe! Putting the sword at an angle blocks his next attack and he is pushed back with a surprised stance!

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The enemy clearly has an advantage now that he has hit you but… dang it… you’re a pirate too! Rules mean little to you!

You grab your pistol and BAM! shoot him in the empty eye socket!

He falls to the ground and you rush to the helm and steer away from that despicable pirate’s ship.

Apparently, in the midst of battle, they started being attacked by a mythical giant shark!
It’s probably best to grab this opportunity and rush towards the nearest outpost and sell the treasure chest as quickly as possible before they dispatch the giant fish and catch up to you again!

As you move away from the battle you feel a strong sense of relief!

The sails are being raised and the battered ship will soon be safely parked at the dock.
Selling the cursed Captain’s Chest earns you just the money you needed to buy that fancy hat that you were dreaming of.

HA! The next time you encounter those pirates you’ll impress them with your brand new hat!

Hats, hats everywhere!

Indeed, a gold hoarder like you needs to spend all of your hard earned money on something. They say that money can buy anything. Well, not in this game.

Unfortunately, in Sea of Hats you are only able to buy cosmetic items!

It is a shame because, if you’re like me, you dress like a very sleazy pirate (in fact, that’s the only way a pirate should dress like!). Once you own your favorite character outfit and ship equipment, there’s not much else to crave for.

There’s no character progression, no skills, no weapon upgrades, no crafting or equipment upgrades for your ship, not even craftable banana sandwiches!
This makes the game feel pointless at times. My in-game bank account is filled to the brim but I don’t feel like spending my gold on anything. And, to be honest, I feel like I’ve only been playing it whenever a new regular update comes along, bringing with it brand new content to explore.

One could argue whether or not the lack of upgradable items is an issue if the game succeeds in entertaining you with every other aspect of it.

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The truth is that it would turn a great game into an amazing one.
To have something to crave for… an objective that pushes the players into exploration and adventure.

Who knows… maybe they’ll add a bit more of that in future updates…

A game to be played… just for fun? We’re not used to that!

It is kind of amazing to think that a great quality game from a large enough developer managed to avoid pay-to-win schemes or major grind systems.

The truth is that it doesn’t feel like you’re grinding when you’re distracted by the fact that you are actually enjoying it.
They focused solely on making a game that is fun to play and that brings people together. And they succeeded brilliantly.

Even if the islands look very similar to eachother, the quests obvious, the monsters predictable and the combat too simple, there’s a lot of plain fun to be had with your friends.
The emergent gameplay that comes from having PvP in the open world really drives you into incredibly epic battles with other players.

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Very seldom did I get angry for losing a fight, since the excitement you get from it is well worth the money lost.

Friends improve every game!

I must underline the need to play with friends.
You will feel lonely playing it alone in your tiny sloop in such a large ocean.

However, if you have no friends, you really don’t have to worry.

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It is SUPER easy to make new friends by playing this game with an open crew.
The Sea of Thieves community is surprisingly friendly and they often ask you to add them to your contacts list.

Almost everyone uses a microphone, which is critical to interact with other players when you’re busy repairing 13 holes in your sinking ship.
If for some strange reason you don’t own a microphone, you’re going to want to get one after playing Sea of Thieves.

It is true, the game lacks content and diversity for its steep price, but they seem to keep adding new stuff every now and then which is well worth checking out regularly.

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I won’t lie. It is expensive for the content it provides.

They claim that the price tag is worth it since you can use the same copy in Windows as well as Xbox. We both know however that it is uncommon for a gamer to buy the same game twice for different platforms.

But considering the enjoyment you’ll get from playing it – it is still well worth it.

What an amazing game!

Games aren’t perfect. They can’t make everyone happy.
Sea of Thieves has got flaws. Every game has got flaws.

But it brings something new to the table. And puts a grin on your face.

If you’re looking for something innovative that features beautiful art, very polished gameplay and that guarantees laughter while meeting new people – this is it.

Go get Sea of Thieves right now!

And no, you do not want to play Atlas just because it is popular on Twitch.
Get a better game instead. Any other game will do.

So long 2018!

2018 was a great year for co-op games.
Lots of new releases kept us well entertained throughout the whole year.
Now we’re all looking forward towards 2019 upcoming releases.

I have considered many of the co-op games that I’ve played this year… Rainbow Six: Siege, Kingdom: Two Crowns, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, A Way Out, Destiny 2…

Sea of Thieves blatantly stands out as being the one that made me smile the most. And that is priceless.

Popcorn Score:

5 out of 5 Pops!

After much consideration and a strong competition by other great co-op games PopcornGamer declares that Sea of Thieves is the Best Co-op Game of 2018.

Thank you for all the fun times I’ve had this year, Rare studios.
You made me happy.

If you would like to join me in Sea of Thieves, add me on Steam and use this referral link to get Sea of Thieves at a special discount price.

Click here to check out Part 1 of the Best Co-op Games for 2018.

Also, you totally must check out what happened to me when I became a Ghost in the Realm of the Living in Sea of Thieves!!!

The most anticipated games of 2019 list is out! See if your favorite game is in there!

I’ll see you on-board,
-ViLa4480

Vermintide 2 heroes

Best co-op games of the year 2018 (Part 1) Vermintide 2

After reading this post, make sure you check out Part 2 of the best co-op games of the year 2018!
My next post focuses on Sea of Thieves! Yarr!

So long 2018…

This was a good year for games.

We’ve had plenty of great new releases and decent sequels, great events, big tournament prizes and awesome streaming, video and social media content.

The time has now come to recap some of the Best co-op games of 2018 and unveil the Most anticipated games of 2019!

This is also the best time to enjoy great games at a discounted price!

Most companies have released their brand new games prior to the holiday season. This in turn made them drop their prices for previous releases and their competitor’s as well.

This is exactly what brought me to Warhammer: Vermintide 2.

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Winter is coming

Prior to release (in March 2018) I told my friends that Vermintide 2 was going to be my next purchase.

I’ve been trying to save some bucks as I’m looking forward to move to a new home. I had also just bought Sea of Thieves. So I decided that I wasn’t going to spend any more money at that time.

Instead I added Vermintide 2 to my wishlist and left it there to rot slightly like a good cheese. The truth is, I kind of forgot I had it there.

Meanwhile, other games showed up. I have to admit that I invested quite some time in playing the great new update for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game (AKA awesome card game!) and Gwent: Thronebreaker. Two great releases for 2018 as well.

Check out my unlisted youtube review for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game:

Winter has come.

…And I got a Steam giftcard for Christmas from my girlfriend!
She totally gets me by the way!

Instead of spending the whole giftcard buying Battlefield V to play alone, I decided to do something different this time around since my Battlefield needs were still very much satisfied with Battlefield 1.

I went on to search for a co-op game that I could gift and play with my friends.

I checked my steam homepage – which, nowadays, is actually quite lame.
There I found my lost promised love, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 with a 60% discount for just 11€!

Blood & Teeth

Now, this game isn’t as expensive as other AAA games because… well… it really isn’t a very deep and complex game that would deserve “full price” status.

I had previously played Warhammer: Vermintide “1”, so I kind of knew what to expect.

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a rather simple game of head smashing and limb cutting explicit violence. It is gruesome – but fun.

Vermintide features a first-person action (mostly melee) run and gun gameplay with absurdly large waves of enemies and interesting minibosses with unique abilities.
It pretty much uses the same mechanics as Valve’s Left 4 Dead. To the point where it feels like a rip-off with a few brand new additions and a very different theme.

It tells a decent enough story (unlike L4D) that has beautiful, although gruesome scenery, great heroes, great villains, and enough depth to keep you entertained for days – yet still very challenging on each playthrough.

They also make you stand on your toes in each run – you never really know what to expect next. Sudden hordes of enemies and sneaky minions with special abilities tend to often show up uninvited.

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The game isn’t perfect – but the pace at which you need to run, fight and focus on defending your party from the enemies that are coming from all sides really gets your adrenaline pumping.

Surviving large *MASSIVE* waves of enemies by coordinating effective positioning with your friends is plain and simple fun.

It lacks a bit of the sophistication from some of the maps from its predecessor. It could also feature a slightly more intelligent approach to each map.

Instead, it often drives you into a brainless killing spree with no particular challenge other than positioning and speed. This isn’t all that bad. But requiring the player to think with additional puzzles or more complex bosses wouldn’t hurt either.

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Left 4 Dead-Dead

Okay, okay – we’ll forgive Fatshark, Warhammer: Vermintide‘s developer, for copying many of the game mechanics from Left 4 Dead since they were indeed able to deliver a great quality game at a very reasonable price (now at a discount!).

The fact that each player uses a different class with its own progression, set of weapons, abilities and talents increases Vermintide’s replayability value and sets it apart from Left 4 Dead.

Even if the games are set apart by a small number of small changes, the truth is that they do matter.
When you consider that the last L4D iteration was released 8 years ago, you realize it created a void in a very specific game style.

Don’t get me wrong here: I’ve enjoyed Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 quite a lot. But I had major issues with some of its gameplay choices.
One of them relates to Source, the game engine that Valve created and uses for most of their games.

Portal, Team Fortress and Left 4 Dead are some of the best cleverly built games I have ever played – yet their character movement precision, speed, and hitbox leaves much to be desired.

It all comes down to the game engine Valve uses and how they set it to have character movement feel pretty much the same in every game.

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Considering Fatshark’s success with both Vermintide 1 and Vermintide 2, I really think Valve will have to think twice on their own gameplay mechanics before deciding to go ahead and make Left 4 Dead 3 (if that ever happens!).
Valve would still sell more copies due to franchise value – but Vermintide (and Dead Island!) has raised the bar and players will now expect more from any upcoming Left 4 Dead iteration.

The final tide

The truth is that I’ve been enjoying this game quite a lot with my online friends and I hope to keep playing with them over the next few months.

Popcorn Score:

A great (and cheap) co-op game with an astounding fun factor, amazing graphics, character progression and great replayability grant Warhammer: Vermintide 2 a solid 5/5 pops.

But… was this the best Co-op game of 2018?
PC Gamer thinks so – what do YOU think?

Make sure you check out Part 2 of the best co-op games of the year 2018!
My next post focuses on Sea of Thieves! Yarr!

Most anticipated games of 2019 – also to be published later this week!

Here’s a referral link to get Warhammer: Vermintide 2 at a discounted price!

If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past 8 years and would instead like to try out Left 4 Dead 2 for the first time, make sure you grab it quickly as it is on sale for just 1.63€ on Steam for a limited time.

If I managed to spark your interest in Gwent: The Witcher Card Game or Gwent: Thronebreaker, grab them here!

I’ll see you in game-game!
-ViLa4480