Fish, Pumpkins, Decapitated Heads, and the Chivalry 2 Beta
Examining the hilarity and brutality of Chivalry 2 and comparing it to its competitors and predecessor
Chivalry 2, the medieval online multiplayer slasher, had its closed beta this last weekend, and I was fortunate enough to snag an access code on PC. Being a fan of medieval combat games, I have played much of the genre from Mount and Blade to my personal favorite, Mordhau. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable the beta was, and the best way to share this is to explain how fish, pumpkins, and decapitated heads are related.
Essentially anything and everything can be thrown in this game. The game promotes a sandbox gameplay style that rewards exploring the various details on the map for humorous weapons to fling. Come across a well and a prompt will appear to reach in it and grab a fish. This fish can then be used as a projectile that can damage enemies.
Grab a pumpkin off the side of a road and hurl it at an enemy. Pick up an oversized ballista bolt that was recently fired and use that as both a weapon and projectile. My personal favorite is a gruesome example but is still marvelous, from a technical aspect. If you manage to decapitate an enemy, their head will sever from their body and fall to the floor. You can then pick up said head and throw it at the enemy. I was amazed, horrified, and elated the first time this occurred, as it really highlights the great attention to detail that has been given to the game’s mechanics. Creating a medieval playground mixed with ridiculous brutality and humor is no mean feat, but developer Torn Banner Studios has pulled it off well.
The details! Oh, the details. It is evident that the game’s four years of development have born beautiful fruit. On top of the expected combat mechanics that accompany these types of games, Chivalry 2 introduces new details that add to the immersion and raucousness of its world. One of my favorites was the armor damage that accompanies receiving and landing hits on the enemy. If you get hit in the head with a sword, your helmet may crack and go flying off. Block with your shield for too long and the wood will eventually begin to crack.
Every hit affects the armor worn by the players and it makes landing and receiving hits just that more impactful. It adds an impressive mysticism to those legends who can survive for long periods of time as you can see their worn armor and damaged state as a sign of strength. Contrast that to the shiny armor of a fresh spawn and the battle-hardened armor is an earned reward.
Another great detail is at the end of a match. When a winner is declared, the game removes the losing team’s weapons from their hands and they are left only with their fists to defend themselves and flee. The winning team can then quite literally steamroll the defenseless enemy and drive them off the battlefield. It is a humorous and satisfying reward to watch the enemy team lose their weapons and try to flee as you push them back. Meanwhile, if you are on the losing team when this happens, it really facilities an environment conducive to retreat. It plays into one of Chivalry 2’s greatest strengths: establishing an immersive battlefield and encouraging medieval roleplay.
Encouraging roleplay is no joke and emotes are taken very seriously in Chivalry 2. There is even a special section of the main tutorial teaching players just how to use the various emote wheels to truly express their characters. This is the first time I’ve seen emoting as part of a primary tutorial, and it was a neat feature to have showcased. The game also promotes roleplay mechanically through the start of each match and during each subsequent respawn. Every time your character enters the battle, they are sent on an autorun towards the enemy. In the initial spawn (start of the match) this autorun cannot be canceled until your line crashes with the enemy.
In a normal respawn, the autorun can be canceled but it will autorun for quite a distance if you allow it. This mechanic fills you with a sense of momentum upon every new beginning. Couple that with the fact that the game tries to respawn you with several allies and every time is a resounding charge back into the battle. It is extremely thematic and feels terrific to experience.
The game’s aesthetic walks a line between seriousness and Monty Phyton-inspired humor, and it strikes a terrific balance. Each game starts with a resounding speech by an AI commander who inspires the team to charge straight into the fray. These speeches are steeped in the lore of the game and play into the serious medieval archetype. Contrast that with the wide array of emotes and voice lines available to each class and a variety of tones reveal themselves.
I love Monty Phyton and thus all the humor in this game. My favorite line, for example, arises from using the charge emote as the Agatha Footman class. Mashing the “c” button as you charge into battle has your character exhibit a war cry. The Agatha Footman bravely cries “This is my first day!!!” as he runs toward the fray. This line is even more fun when there are multiple Agatha Footmen shouting the same line about it being their first day.
The siege battles in this game are the standout mode and the two siege maps featured in the beta are some of the best I’ve played in this genre. These are epic, long-form, 32 v 32 player battles and take place across multiple stages. The two in the beta go up to six stages and can last between 20 and 45 minutes per battle. The sprawling castle maps funnel players very well so that the scale of a giant siege is continuously reinforced.
Combat is the core of Chivalry 2, and it improves greatly upon its predecessor and even its competitors. It balances a dance of timing with strategy in a way that makes it easy to learn and fun to master. The game features third and first-person melee combat and offers multiple ways for dispatching foes. The typical swing and slash are here, and you can wind up a heavy attack if you hold it longer. But what differentiates this game’s combat from its chief competitor, Mordhau, is most interesting.
Chivalry 2 allows you to hold block until your stamina runs out with any weapon. In Mordhau, a block cannot be held and you have to time your blocks to counter the opponent's attack perfectly or risk getting damaged. Holding block in Chivalry 2 makes the game much more approachable for new players as it increases their survivability. Yet, as an experienced player in this genre, the hold block did not feel broken or overpowered thanks to the stamina depletion and the information that is shared with the attacker.
If I was attacking someone holding block, every time my swing hit their block a small icon would appear telling me how much stamina they had left. I then could decide if I wanted to continue to swing my sword to try and deplete their stamina, which causes them to drop their weapon, or kick their block to break it for a free attack. This choice makes combat very dynamic and strategic for more experienced players as there are many ways to approach any situation.
Chivalry 2 retains its class system that was present in the first game. This restricts playstyles to four specific classes. There are benefits and drawbacks to this. One benefit is that the game wisely restricts how many people can select the archer class. During a match, I tried to switch to the archer class but there was an icon that said “full” under the class which prevented me from selecting it. I do not know what the maximum number of archers is, but if you have ever played a medieval combat game you know one of the greatest annoyances of frontline players are the archers pestering from afar. It is very welcome to see the number of archers capped!
The drawback of this model is that it restricts player customization and freedom. One of the pleasures of Mordhau is having few to no constraints on the type of character you create and the playstyle in which you partake. That said, the customization available in the beta was severely limited and withheld for the final release. So, the level of player customization available in the final release build of Chivalry 2 remains to be seen.
The developers of Chivalry 2 have created a game with lots of promise. The core combat, aesthetic, and overall feel of the game are very strong and make it a pleasure to play. Now we will have to see how complete the final $40 package is when it releases on June 8th for both PC and consoles. The two siege maps and two team deathmatch maps available in the beta both allowed for lots of replayability, but how the rest of the maps play (and how many maps there are) remains to be seen.
Further, how far will player expression and customization be pushed in the final release? There was no armor customization in the beta and only very basic weapon customization. Fortunately, those questions are largely aesthetic and additive. This means that the core of the game is sound and I would expect no less from a game that allows you to throw fish, pumpkins, and decapitated heads.
