Return to the Reik Arrives, Vermintide 2 Adds Boat Combat
Fatshark released Return to the Reik for Warhammer Vermintide 2 on November 20, 2025, delivering a reimagined fan favourite mission and a suite of boat focused gameplay changes. The update matters to players because it alters level flow with deck skirmishes and set piece encounters, and it arrived alongside anniversary events and a limited free to keep promotion that boosted community activity.
Fatshark launched Return to the Reik for Vermintide 2 on November 20, 2025, expanding the long running co op’s missions with new mechanics and a narrative thread centered on Markus Kruber. The content sees Kruber set out to recover his father’s sword, which was plundered during the fall of Ubersreik, and follows the Ubersreik Five as they travel along the River Reik. The release is built for Vermintide 2’s systems and places emphasis on boats, deck skirmishes, and fresh set piece encounters that change how players approach the mission.
The level is a reimagining of a fan favourite from the first Vermintide, but it is not a straight port. Fatshark added new routes and props including boats and barges to create alternate tactical options and to exploit Vermintide 2’s enemy and encounter design. Deck based fights and riverine movement force teams to think about line of sight, positioning and crowd control in cramped, moving environments. New set piece encounters are designed to punctuate those moments with high intensity threats that require coordination from all five players.
Fatshark accompanied the launch with site updates and a Steam listing in late November. The studio also ran a short free to keep add to library promotion on Steam tied to celebration events, and the Return to the Reik update came alongside double XP and other activities for the franchise tenth anniversary. Those concurrent events increased server activity and provided incentives for returning players to revisit older builds and test new team compositions.
For community members and hobbyists the update offers both narrative payoff and practical implications. Streamers and event organizers can showcase the new boat focused encounters, table top fans who follow lore gain a Kruber centric story beat, and tactical players will need to revise loadouts and strategies for movement heavy combat. Modders and map designers can study Fatshark’s approach to adding vertical and moving elements to cooperative encounters when planning custom scenarios. With the Steam listing live and anniversary events still active, the update has already reenergized trading of guides and tactic threads across community hubs.
