With many games that are in early development on Steam, you find that what you invest in and what you get out of it is sometimes two very different things. Whilst it is very gratifying to see a game you have invested in take shape and form in front of you whilst you play on throughout the months, it can be a very different thing when you put in your hard-earned cash to find that your blessed investment turns out to be a bug-riddled nightmare in which you never want to play again.
I haven’t given many of these early development games much of a second glance, but there is one that is at the forefront of my Steam library. Chivalry: Medieval Warfare a first person adventure into medieval combat. In a similar vein to many popular online multiplayer games like Battlefield or COD, the game is pretty much centred on team or single player modes like Deathmatch or Capture the Flag. But what makes this game any different or any better from something like Skyrim or The Witcher is its realism.
Your character, whoever you choose to be out of the four classes Archer, Man-at-Arms, Vanguard, and Knight, each have their strengths and weaknesses and actually feel like a medieval warrior. If you swing your broadsword too much or try to batter down your opponent’s shield, you become tired and you can hear your character grunting and panting with the effort of attacking their opponent. You have to limit your energy to killing blows or kicking your opponent away whilst you refill your health bar.
The reason I like this game so much is the fact the combat is mostly about skill at arms; you have to time your attacks rather than just go wading in with you pike or sword and hoping for the best. Although there are still those who prefer to stand from lofty perches and shoot at you all day, the intensity of hand-to-hand combat makes this game second to none. The grunts, the screams and the limbs flying across the screen make for a very exciting first-person slasher (EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m worried about you, Ed).
Chivalry: Medieval Warfare requires just that little bit more thought and process, making it wholly satisfying when your enemies are struck down by your pike or halberd. Although you should prepare to see your character dismembered before your eyes a few thousand times. One thing I have yet to master is the strength to leave when the going is good, learning to quit when you’re two kills ahead. You tend to get carried away once you’ve hacked through two or three people and think you’re King Arthur when you’re about to be turned into the Black Knight.
Just remember to practice, practice, practice and then once you’ve been taken apart a few times by various sharp and spiky instruments, practice some more. Just don’t take it too much to heart when everyone else is miles better than you when you first join a game.
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