Graphically it looks very nice. I expect it to be a bit less hardcore than Mordhau, but channeling more the ‘chaotic battlefield’ feel of… well, Battlefield games. But with swords and kicking and tackling people.
Loved Chivalry. My favourite worst thing about it was the weaponisation of vote kicking. In Dark Messiah, you’d boot folk into spikes and off precipices, in Chivalry you booted them back to the server list. It was a spectacle to behold the constant stream of them throughout a round.
Edit: I’ve not played Mordhau but this clip/meme cracks me up:
Mordhau is fun, but like most games there are folks who are ridiculously better at the mechanics than mere mortals. Best to avoid them or hit em from behind once identified. It has some cheese of its own, but I think overall I preferred it to War of the Roses and Chivalry. Keeping an eye on the reception the new Chivalry gets.
There is an open beta going on right now, so you can try the game if you want.
My impression is, I’m too old for this shit. In fact now that I think about it, I haven’t played seriously a pvp game in the last two years.
But for real, some of the complexity here is puzzles me. The game has 3 types of attacks, light vs heavy type of strikes, blocking, feints, the combo system, and the kick.
You would think that was enough. But no, it also has a new quick hand strike, a charge, a special ability move, and the weapon throw. And add too the counter system, the quick block and attack system, and other subtleties of the mechanics, it’s all in the Tutorial.
I know they do it because they want a deep game that people will play for years, but it’s reaches a point that is overwhelming, and only only that, I wonder how much is really needed, if for lots of people the charm of the game is running around in a chaotic battlefield with 50 players and spamming the battle cries.
They also haven’t changed the drag weapon mechanic, in fact how it’s now explained in the tutorial makes it ‘canon’, to say it in some way. It’s so stupid when their own tutorial explains that the efficient way to playing is having to turn the camera wildly so you can barely see the enemy you are fighting in front of you…
I really liked the attack, feint, block and parry system before. It was simple but deep enough amid all the battlefield chaos. It sounds like they’re turning it into Street Fighter or something. You get to a point where it becomes impenetrable, unwieldy and overwhelming with minimal gains. Weapon drag was also the key exploit/trick in the first game so I’m amazed they’re embracing that. Ugh.
Interesting, as I always heard that Mordhau was the game with the most technical combat, with high skill ceiling.
To be fair with the game, it can be played just hitting normal attack and shield. In the middle of a chaotic 64 player game, its’ more important to know where and when to attack (in groups, against solitary targets) than any other thing.
I’m having fun with it. So far seems free of the more silly stuff in Chiv 1, War of the Roses and Mordhau, less twirling ballerinas and reverse overheads and such. Still has dragging but it doesn’t seem as crazy as in those other games. Only played the “beginner” matches so far which are a mix of bots and humans and I am achieving about my usual level of success in this sort of game. I slay the bots in great numbers, and the players that are worse at it than I am, but I inevitably get flattened by the guys that have spent way more time mastering the intricacies. I also need to remember to pick my battles wisely and not keep running into 1v4’s lol.
First night I killed a guy with a chair, which amused me greatly. I tried to kill a guy with a fish but was less successful there. The environmental kills, like dropping a hanging basket of rocks on someone by shooting the rope are also amusing when you manage to pull one off.
I feel like I already got my $$ worth out of it.
Here is a good, if long, look at the workings of the combat system:
A YTer did a video update on the game, which got me to log into my Epic launcher for the first time in ages and update it. Just played one of the new maps with cavalry and had a blast with it. Though getting repeatedly killed by “Genital Thunderstorm” and “Lord Iron Cock” was annoying.
