When developing their game, Vermintide, Fatshark was unaware they were diving into a challenging genre.

“We were working on the hit effects on staggers and animations, a team deeply into the melee system,” says chief creative officer Anders De Geer. “We all had a meeting and we talked about it, and then we went to lunch, and around the lunch table we continued talking, how it should feel and how enemies should react. We talked a lot about hitting people in the head with axes and stuff. And then at one point, I looked up and I realized that everyone else was just looking at us. ‘Who are these lunatics?’ We had to continue the meeting after lunch.”

During a chat with a colleague from another studio, Martin Wahlund, CEO of Fatshark, was cautioned about the risks of developing melee combat games:
“He came over and talked to me, like, ‘You’re brave guys doing melee in first-person. Every time I tried to do it, the company always went into bankruptcy, so I would never try to do it again.’ I was so scared, I went up to Anders, like, maybe we should just go more ranged?”

Fortunately, the team stuck with their original vision, which focused on engaging close-combat experiences. They meticulously honed the game mechanics through weapon testing to capture the visceral feel of melee combat in a fantasy setting.