Fatshark is celebrating 10 years of “Tide” with a free Steam giveaway of Vermintide 2, a new Return to the Reik level, and a perfect excuse to jump into coop rat-slaying. Here’s how the promo works and how new players can get onboarded quickly.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 has quietly turned into one of the most generous coop action games on PC, and Fatshark is celebrating a full decade of “Tide” games by throwing open the gates. For a limited time, Vermintide 2 is completely free to keep on Steam, bundled with a nostalgic new level and a pile of tweaks that make 2025 one of the best times to start playing.
If you have even a passing interest in Left 4 Dead style horde smashing, you should claim it, install it, and get a group together. Here is what the 10 year celebration includes and how to get from “just claimed it on Steam” to “competent party member” as quickly as possible.
How the free Steam giveaway works
Vermintide 2 is currently free on Steam as part of the 10 year “Tide” anniversary, marking a decade since Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide kicked off Fatshark’s coop career. This is not a free weekend or a temporary trial. If you add the game to your account during the promo window, it stays there permanently.
Head to the Vermintide 2 Steam page, hit the button to add it to your library, and it will be yours to keep. There is a hard cutoff date, so do that first, even if you do not plan to install it immediately. Once the promo ends, the game goes back to its regular price, and you will have missed one of the more generous giveaways in recent memory.
The anniversary update is live at the same time, so once the download finishes you will be on the latest version, ready to join returning veterans in the new content.
What’s in the 10 year “Tide” celebration update
The headline addition is Return to the Reik, a new free level for all owners of Vermintide 2. Long time players will recognize it as a reimagining of a mission from the first game, but this is not a simple copy and paste. Fatshark has rebuilt the map with a focus on river combat and movement, pushing the boat sections to the forefront.
The mission takes the Ubersreik Five back onto the River Reik, with more time spent on deck fighting off Skaven and Chaos as they swarm from the banks and other vessels. Expect narrow lanes of movement, constant threat from all directions and set pieces that lean into the fantasy of clinging to a rocking boat while specials try to pick your team apart.
Outside of the new level, the anniversary update folds in the usual round of fixes and balance tweaks that keep a long running service game alive. Enemy behavior, weapon balance and career talents have all seen iterative tuning over the years and this patch continues that trend, smoothing rough edges so new players land in a more coherent meta instead of the wild west balance of launch.
For veterans, the nostalgia hit of revisiting an old Vermintide haunt is reason enough to log back in. For newcomers arriving via the Steam giveaway, it means the game you are getting for free reflects a decade of iteration across the “Tide” series.
New to Vermintide 2? Here’s your fast onboard for coop
Once the game is in your library, the real question is how to go from “confused level 1” to “useful in Legend lobbies” without annoying your friends. Vermintide 2 is not brutally complex, but it rewards a bit of prep. Here is a compact onboarding path tailored to the current anniversary window.
Step 1: Run the prologue and a few recruit runs
The tutorial does more than teach basic controls. It introduces the feel of stagger, cleave and headshots, which matter much more here than in most first person hack and slash games. Finish the prologue, then queue for quickplay on Recruit difficulty.
Use these first matches to get a sense of how hordes move, how often specials spawn and how your dodge timing feels. Do not rush up the difficulty ladder until you can keep up with the group without being constantly downed.
Step 2: Pick a starting hero that fits your play style
Vermintide 2 revolves around five core heroes, each with multiple careers, but you only need to understand broad roles at first. If you like straightforward melee, Kruber and Bardin make excellent beginner picks. If you prefer mobility and ranged pressure, Kerillian and Sienna have strong early options. Saltzpyre sits somewhere between control and damage, excelling at deleting elites.
At the start, ignore min max guides and pick what feels good. Your first hours should be about learning positioning and target priority, not about optimizing breakpoints.
Step 3: Learn the flow of a mission
Every run follows a similar rhythm. You move between minor skirmishes, get ambushed by a horde, then deal with layered threats when elites and specials spawn on top. Boss events and finales push this pattern to its limit.
Watch how experienced players move as a group. They tend to hold corners instead of running into open ground, back up during hordes to funnel enemies into a tight cone and save bombs and potions for genuine emergencies. Staying with the team and avoiding solo hero plays will instantly make you more valuable in any lobby.
Step 4: Respect stagger, dodging and block pushes
Vermintide 2’s melee system shines when you use all its tools. Holding block then pushing staggers enemies, buying breathing room. Dodging sideways or backward lets you avoid damage without relying on raw toughness. Attacks have different cleave and stagger profiles, so wide sweeps are often better for hordes than heavy single target swings.
Instead of spamming attacks into an approaching horde, try alternating a couple of swings with a push, especially on higher difficulties. You will quickly notice that your team takes less chip damage and spends less time reviving you.
Step 5: Do not hoard your consumables
Bombs, healing draughts and potions are plentiful on lower difficulties. Many new players hold onto them for too long and die with full inventories. Use healing when you are in the red, throw a bomb when a horde and multiple elites pile up and chug a strength or concentration potion when a boss appears.
The game is tuned around using these tools. Burning them early to save a run is always better than wiping with your pockets full.
Step 6: Use crafting to smooth out your gear
The crafting system in Vermintide 2 can look busy at first, but you only need its simplest functions early on. Salvage unwanted weapons and trinkets to build up crafting materials, then use those to reroll properties on weapons you like.
Focus on straightforward stats like power versus the faction you are fighting, attack speed or stamina. Perfect rolls and red gear can wait. What matters during the promo window is getting each hero a weapon set that feels comfortable and forgiving while you learn maps and spawns.
Step 7: Try the new Return to the Reik mission with friends
Once you are comfortable on Veteran difficulty and have a few decent weapons equipped, queue up Return to the Reik. It is a great showcase for what Vermintide 2 does well. The boat sequences force tight team play and clear target priority, and the level’s pacing teaches you how to handle pressure spikes without scattering.
Play it first on a difficulty where you can relax and learn the layout, then nudge the challenge up as your group’s confidence rises. Since everyone getting the game for free has access to this mission, it is a natural social hub during the anniversary window.
Why Vermintide 2 is still worth your time in 2025
The “Tide” series has quietly built one of the most satisfying melee systems in modern coop gaming. Impactful hits, distinct enemy types and clear audio feedback make every swing feel weighty. Across a decade of patches, Fatshark has layered in new careers, weapons and maps while polishing away many of the launch era rough spots.
In 2025, Vermintide 2 sits in a sweet spot. It has years of content and balance work behind it, an active player base happy to shepherd newcomers and a full campaign’s worth of free and paid levels. The 10 year anniversary giveaway on Steam removes the barrier to entry entirely and the Return to the Reik update adds a nostalgic but fresh mission for everyone to rally around.
If you have been Vermintide curious but never made the jump, claim your copy before the promo window closes, run a couple of low pressure coop runs and then set sail back onto the Reik. There are an awful lot of rats that still need chopping.