Overall Score 8/10 | Skillful Blades – The For Honor Tale BY ERIK PILLAR

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For Honor – beta – is a thrilling combination of awesome graphics, cool weapons and armor designs, an honestly fun combat system, but ultimately fails to impress for the long haul.

Plot and Characters:

As of now, there is no real plot or character. The beta of For Honor only showcased the multiplayer side of the game, and that part of play is all about dueling and quick PvP matches to prove your dominance.

A full single player campaigned in planned for For Honor, but I am skeptical. This game is clearly designed for dueling and multiplayer combat, and I’m not sure how well their game will translate to anything more story based. We shall see.

Character wise, as you launch the game you are asked to join a faction that you wish to fight for: the Vikings, the Knights, and the Samurai. In this beta you could play as any class or character though, thus making your faction choice mostly a moot point.

There is a general backstory to the game, in that some great apocalypse ruined the world and took out all the big kingdoms, where in the vacuum of power and the hardship of the new land war sprung to life for over a 1000 years, but that’s it. I saw the beginnings of a story in the trailer, but nothing more after.

Mood and Atmosphere:

For Honor nails the overall aesthetic and feel for what it’s trying to do – wow you with awesome sword play and historically accurate fighting styles. The sound of soldiers charging, the roar of your forces, the rumble of catapults crashing their flames upon the castle you’re defending, the screams of those slain, it makes for a powerful experience.

Adding to the superb sound work in this game is how characters move and feel. Everything has weight in this game, and as you move you can feel each and every step. Your sword bounces around, your armor flexes, you pump your arms and your hair flies in disarray, it all feels really quite real. When you slam into an opponent’s guard to send them falling off a cliff side, you can see and feel the power of that move and the impact that your attack must have held. The same can be said of the sword play – each block and strike carries momentum and power to it, adding to the realism and wow factor that For Honor basks in so welly.

The only issue at all I find with this game’s ‘feel’ is that it is short lived. Game matches are usually quickly over, and then you’re yanked back out to a lobby screen – dispelling the enchantment of before. This problem is a product of the type of game For Honor seeks to be, and there is not much one can do about it, but it was a shame to lose such an impactful atmosphere at the end of every game.

Game Play:

In For Honor, you are a warrior seeking to do battle with other legendary warriors. The controls are fluid, and feel smooth once you’re accustomed to them, but for keyboard and mouse users that might take some work. A controller seems like the primary method of use so far.

To block attacks, you need to shift the right controller stick, or mouse, in the direction of an opponent’s swing – and the same goes for when you decide to strike. There are heavy attacks to make, light attacks, guard breaks, parries, and throws to be used against your soon to be crushed foes. It’s a skill based system, and in this day and age of grinding games and pay to win content it’s a breath of fresh air to see.

There are five multiplayer modes to take part in within For Honor. They range from single one on one duels with other players, big group battles with npc soldiers scattering the battlefield, death match style games, and group dueling to be had.

Five game modes is promising for For Honor’s release date, and if its single player mode pans out there will be plenty to see and do in this game.

Rounding out the game is its loot and customization systems. Each match you play earns you in-game currency to spent on new items and loot, and gear can also be rewarded for victory on occasion too. Items grant players small bonuses to stats and abilities, creating a grind-based system of play, which may drive casual gamers away from the game.

Final:

Fans of competitive gaming, skill based play, and swords and soldiers, will find good joy with For Honor – but the limited scope of the game promises an eventual expiration date to casual gamer fun and any loot system in a game such as this has to potential to take the keen edge off of the skillful gaming.

At the high cost of $60, only the most dire hard of gamers will probably get their money worth from For Honor.

For Honor was developed by Ubisoft Montreal, and published by Ubisoft for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One systems to be released on February 14th.