Dead on arrival. Chivalry 2 review

But it didn’t work out. As of June 12, 4 days after its release, Chivalry 2 online on PC is only 1,500 people. Mordhau has 2,400 members according to the Steam community, despite the latter being broken by recent patches. Perhaps such a weak performance was influenced by the exclusive release on the Epic Games Store on personal computers. Or maybe there is something wrong with the game? Let’s figure it out.

Chivalry 2 is an online hardcore fighting game based on melee sword fencing. Battles take place on large maps. One side defends itself, while the other performs various tasks and advances the attack deep into fortresses or cities.

If you compare both parts forehead to forehead, then not much has changed. The combat system remains the same, but the developers have improved the quality of the animations during the battles. Now character models react adequately to hits, bodies move realistically, and battles look smoother. But the very essence of the game remains the same as it was in 2012.

The crowd rushes into the crowd and a fight breaks out. The player receives from his own people, from strangers, he convulsively blocks the blows flying at him, he even manages to kill someone in this confusion, and then an arrow flies into his head. A detachment of archers and crossbowmen standing maliciously behind the backs of comrades simply fires arrows into the crowd. Let them hit someone. And this happens all the time. Is it fun? Yes. How long does the fun last? No. What dinosaur has 500 teeth?

Although Chivalry 2 has finally offered a coherent training in all the combat system chips, it will take some time to fully use it. You need to get used to the speed of battles, and, like in any fighting game, think over your actions in advance. When is it better to kick the enemy and break through his defense, when to step aside and heal, so that the enemy will be finished off, pulled up from the point of respawn, comrades.

You can change the servers to European ones, however, the ping will be higher. A special thank you to the developers for the large number of rooms from different countries. Let 70% are already empty (and most likely they will be closed), but from the rest you can find a pleasant place for a couple of fun races for the Order of Mason or the Knights of Agatha.

The battle locations are also varied. Tournament field, gladiator pit with traps and field battle are representatives of the crowd-on-crowd mode, where the goal is to destroy a certain number of players. There are enough full-fledged scenarios here, and they are all fun. For example, the attack of the Order of Mason on the town, which joined the warriors of Agatha and lego piece 26047. First, the attackers kill the peasant players, then break the gates and start setting fire to the houses. If this succeeded, then the next goal will be to plunder the city, and then – to invade the fortress. The scripts are 20 to 40 minutes long.

Neither side has any advantages – the balance is on the level. Attackers can simply get choked on their way to the target. The defense formation can suffer losses and not withstand the attack, thereby losing the battle. The outcome of each match is unpredictable and it all depends on how the team is set up. If everyone came in to have fun and fool around, then nothing good should be expected.

Speaking of classes, one can single out, perhaps, an archer. The pikeman wields long weapons, the knight and vanguard – two-handed. By pumping them, it becomes possible to get a shield and use only one-handed. Or get a throwing weapon and wound the enemy with a couple of precise throws. And the archer is the most harmful, unpleasant and simply annoying class. 

All these guys do is stand in the distance, under the protection of their comrades, and cover the enemy with arrows. When out of nowhere, during a difficult battle, an arrow flies to your head, you want to find this scoundrel and thrust this bow along with a quiver of arrows into him much deeper! But he can easily repel attacks from two-handed weapons with his hatchet or dagger, even at close range.

Each of the presented characters can use special equipment. The vanguard has this banner, the knight has a forge that heals allies, the archer has a brazier for setting fire to arrows. Depending on the subclass, the types of special equipment also change. This helps to contain the attack or, conversely, suppress the defenders.  

Leveling up classes affects the opening of new equipment and subclasses. For example, a knight with a shield, a pikeman with a spear, a difficult person test, or the ability to take a crossbow for an archer. In the armory, you can buy new skins for characters for in-game or donated currency. True, the appearance does not affect anything, and in the first couple of days of the game, you can safely accumulate a decent amount of gold so as not to need anything.

Diagnosis

On the one hand, we have a refined combat system and character animations, coherent tutorials and interesting game modes. On the other hand, a sharp drop in the number of players within 4 days after the release, the dominance of enraged archers and a lack of variety after a long game. Despite the interesting scenario modes, the mechanics and situations are boring. Yes, now we are shooting from trebuchets at the gates of the fortress, but a minute later, a dump of ours and foes begins again. You can play Chivalry 2, but only in portions – otherwise everything that happens very quickly becomes boring.

It is also interesting to see if there will be any further development of the project. Released on the Epic Games Store, it features microtransactions, pre-order bonuses, and a deluxe edition with skins for different classes. But this is no longer enough to keep the audience: on weekdays there are almost no players, and on weekends there are hardly 2,000 of them, which is less than the same Mordhau.

Pro

  • Modified combat system
  • Interesting scenarios on the cards
  • Education
  • Graphics
  • Dueling servers

Contra

  • Monotony of situations
  • Few players of Dispel magic 5e
  • The interactive environment is almost never used
  • Archers
  • Useless customization

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