Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution vs Warhammer: Vermintide 2
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution is an RPG strategy game from Relic Entertainment while Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is an action-RPG FPS game from Fatshark (2018).
Quick answer: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 rates higher, 7.9 to 7.6 on the GamingPickz Score.
What each one is
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution is filed under RPG and Strategy. In contrast, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 under Action-RPG and FPS.
Command any of the six unique factions in the next standalone expansion of the critically acclaimed Dawn of War real-time strategy franchise. Choose to build a massive army or lead a small squad of elite heroes into battle and experience a single player campaign customized to your favorite race.
The critically acclaimed Vermintide 2 is a visually stunning and groundbreaking melee action game pushing the boundaries of the first person co-op genre. Join the fight now!
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Dawn of War II: Retribution takes place ten years after events of Chaos Rising . Sub-sector Aurelia is now suffering from conflict between Ork pirates called the Freebootaz led by Kaptin Bluddflagg to pillage the sub-sector, the arrival of the Eldar of the Craftworld Alaitoc led by Autarch Kayleth to seek about a prophecy and recovering an ancient artifact, a Tyranid Hive Lord restoring the remnants of the Hive Fleet Leviathan and to the link of the Hive… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The game received generally positive reviews upon release. It received an aggregated score of 81. 65% on GameRankings based on 36 reviews and 80/100 on Metacritic based on 52 reviews. (Wikipedia)
Plot
The game is set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe during the early days of the End Times. The game follows the Heroes of Ubersreik from the first game against the Skaven hordes of Clan Fester and their new allies, the Rotbloods (a Chaos Warband dedicated to Nurgle, the Chaos God of Disease and Decay). The expansion, "Winds of Magic", also introduced the Beastmen, a herd of Chaos mutated humanoids, in search of an object known as the 'Herdstone'. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The game received generally positive reviews from critics according to review aggregator platform Metacritic . Tom Marks, writing from IGN , wrote positively about the game, comically praising it on the creative forms of dismemberment that the players can participate in against the "ratmen", one of the primary antagonists of the game, and lack of microtransactions , which he compares favorably against Star Wars: Battlefront II . PC Gamer… (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution | Warhammer: Vermintide 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.6/10 | 7.9/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (90%, 13,115) | Very Positive (85%, 147,456) |
| Critic aggregate | 80/100 | 82/100 |
| Price | Not listed | $5.99 |
| Install size | 8 GB | 60 GB |
| Steam Deck | unsupported | unsupported |
| Released | — | 2018 |
| Developer | Relic Entertainment | Fatshark |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution vs Warhammer: Vermintide 2, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: RetributionRPG strategy gameWarhammer: Vermintide 2Action-RPG FPS gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: RetributionWarhammer 40K, Strategy, RTSWarhammer: Vermintide 2Co-op, Dark Fantasy, Games WorkshopThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: RetributionScore 7.6 · 90% on Steam · 80 criticWarhammer: Vermintide 2 ✓Score 7.9 · 85% on Steam · 82 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution13,115 reviews · 8 GBWarhammer: Vermintide 2147,456 reviews · 21 add-ons · 60 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: RetributionNot listedWarhammer: Vermintide 2$5.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: RetributionUnsupportedWarhammer: Vermintide 2UnsupportedValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueWarhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution and Warhammer: Vermintide 2 on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (GamingPickz Score 7.9)
- Lighter on storage: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution (8 GB)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (147,456 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
MultiplayerGames WorkshopOnline Co-OpCo-opSingleplayerGoreRPGAction
Where they differ
Warhammer 40KStrategyRTSTacticalSci-fiReal-Time
Dark FantasyHack and SlashDwarfPvEFirst-PersonElf
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution | Warhammer: Vermintide 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | — | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 |
| Minimum CPU | — | Intel Core i5-2300 @ 2.80 GHz / AMD FX-4350 @ 4.2 GHz |
| Minimum RAM | — | 6 GB |
| Install size | 8 GB | 60 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution · Warhammer: Vermintide 2.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution and 1 for Warhammer: Vermintide 2. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
If you like one, also try
Common questions
How different are Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution and Warhammer: Vermintide 2 in scope?
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution has drawn 13,115 Steam reviews and installs in 8 GB. Warhammer: Vermintide 2 has drawn 147,456 Steam reviews, ships 21 add-ons and installs in 60 GB.
Is Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution or Warhammer: Vermintide 2 better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 rates higher (7.9 to 7.6). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution or Warhammer: Vermintide 2?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution or Warhammer: Vermintide 2?
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 rates higher, 7.9 to 7.6 on the GamingPickz Score. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.