As a fan of the old Kingdom Under Fire games, I constantly lament the fact that there will never be another instalment of the highly addictive strategic hack and slash other than a MMO that will probably never hit Oceania. Luckily, For Honor looks like the closest thing we will get to a spiritual successor, with Ubisoft’s surprise hit being easily one of the best games at E3.
In an in-depth demo we went hands on with two major levels in the game. The first being the first main tutorial mission, and the second taking place well into the main game, depicting a beach invasion of Vikings against Samurai.
It’s a real shame because they take away from the bombastic nature of the spectacular visuals, which easily could be Ubisoft’s best looking game yet. Character models, attack animations, background environments and swarms and swarms of enemies make this game look absolutely spectacular. The very fact that you can walk right into these huge set pieces and kill every single one of these enemies is immensely satisfying. The level of carnage feels similar to Dynasty Warriors, but it looks about ten times better.
You can kill regular enemies with a simple swing of a axe/sword, and while this may seem repetitive, the wonderful animations and satisfying connection of a sword against flesh makes this incredibly engaging. But it’s the 1v1/2/3 battles that really make this game shine. Utilizing a three directional defense/offense system makes this game utterly unique, challenging and most of all, fair. The so-called ‘Art of Battle’ utilizes the right thumbstick, and three directions to defend and attack with. You must match your opponent’s direction in order to block successfully, and must have a different directional input in order to land a hit against them. Switching quickly between stances to block and attack successfully is the very epitome of ‘easy to learn, hard to master’, as I found myself getting thoroughly trounced against higher tier enemies by ignoring the prompts and button mashing. This is a truly strategic game, one which also throws in the button mashing against lesser enemies as a nice variation between the two main pillars of gameplay. The mix between the two keeps the game constantly fresh and I can easily see myself spending hours refining and perfecting the Art of Battle.
For Honor comes out Valentine’s Day 2017, but you can sign up for Alpha and Beta demoes right now. With the tight combat system and amazing presentation I can’t think of a reason to pass this over. Keep a close eye on what could be Ubisoft’s return to form.