For Honor is a game released in 2017, developed and published by Ubisoft. It is a 3D fighting game, starring a varied cast of warriors from different factions; the Iron Legion Knights, the Warborn Vikings, the Dawn Empire Samurai, and the Ancient Chinese Wu Lin. The gameplay in For Honor is a third-person action fighting game, where you face off against other players in different game modes.
The games so called “Art of War” system refers to its HUD, whereby entering guard mode while anenemy is in proximity, it displays a triangle with three sides; top, left and right. These are the different points of attack, as well as your points of defence. The characters have different move sets and combos they can do, which all stem from the basic moves that all characters have. Light attacks are quick but do low damage, heavy attacks are slow but hit hard, and grabs which can be further combo’d into other moves. These are your main offensive options, but you also have defensive options. Blocking occurs when the player is aiming the “Art of War” triangle at the right angle from which the enemy is attacking. If the player is fast enough to react to an attack at the right time; they can parry the attack which gives you an opportunity to punish the enemy. The player can also dodge to the sides in combat. Lights, heavies, grabs, blocks, parries, dodges are all crucial parts of gameplay that the player must master if they are to win fights.
For Honor has a varied roster; characters have their own classes that help define their playstyle. Vanguards are all-rounders, Assassins are quick and good at dueling, Heavies are good at objective control and Hybrids are a mixture of two classes. All the characters are unique; they have their own gameplay styles and combinations, as well as unique cosmetics to increase the amount of customization the player can have with their character.
Each character has a large variety of execution moves that can be purchased with the in-game currency to spice up your executions. Executions are done by getting the killing blow with a heavy attack, then choosing which execution you want. They are brutal and reminiscent of Mortal Kombat’s fatalities.
I have over 300 hours in For Honor, and one of the largest problems with the game is the learning curve. At its core, it is a fighting game which means good players can easily destroy newbies with ease which makes the first steps into the game very difficult for some, making it even harder to want to keep playing. The game offers multiple training modes, as well as a campaign mode to help the player get acquainted with the controls and gameplay overall. The campaign is unfortunately out of date. I do not know why Ubisoft just left it alone. But once you get good at the gameplay, and you understand the mechanics, and you have feel comfortable with a character, putting all of that training and experience into practice makes it worth it when you start styling on people. You will get smashed around by experienced players, but that’s okay. That’s part of the learning process in a fighting game, and For Honor does not hold your hand. It throws you out into a pit with a rusty spoon and tells you to fight your way out. It’s a brutal experience, but that’s why people love it.
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developers: Ubisoft Montreal
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One
Genres: Action fighting, third person
Pictures; screenshots taken by author in-game
Release Date: February 14th, 2017
PEGI: 18
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