Chivalry 2 (Xbox Series X)

Hey! You there! Do you like first person melee multiplayer schlock!? Did you play Mordhau and wanted more of the same? Then we’ve got something for you! The sequel to the hugely popular Chivalry: Medieval Warfare has finally released, so we’re gonna talk about it right now.

So Back in 2014 we had the first Chivalry, it was pretty well received and it was pretty fun, starting out on PC and then appearing on the Xbox and Playstation consoles following that. And as of June 2021 we have the sequel to the much acclaimed title, appearing on PC and current generations of consoles.

The multiplayer melee brawler looks great, if not a little janky, characters all move generally well. With decent animations for their attacks, and a nice use of ragdoll physics when you eventually get killed. The battle arenas are detailed well, with a nice varied amount of different locales in your fighting arenas, loads of castles, list fields (Jousting arenas), and other battlefields. The 8 launch maps seem to give enough variety when you factory both factions to play with will give slightly different aspects of attack and defence.

The combat feels nice and weighty, we have 4 character classes (Knight, Footman, Vanguard and Archer) each of which gets it’s own weapons loadouts, and play differently too. I found myself favouring the Vanguard due to it’s larger weapons and I’m a total sucker for heavy melee combat (Great sword Dark Souls builds <3). You go through a nice bit of training before you can go into the game itself, to learn about combos, parrying and fighting multiple enemies.

Most of the goes out the window in online games and I tried to pretty much cut off everyone’s head. You can also collect any weapons or items you find on the floor, so whether it’s a mace, a barrel, or even an enemies head, you can use and throw that how you want.

Most maps have some objectives, they’re a bit basic but they do add to the gameplay, mostly capture objectives, attacking a certain npc, or even breaching an enemy castle. It can turn into an absolute free for all either way, but working together with your team mates and completing the objectives will give you and your team more points towards victory.

Playing a good amount of games, I had no connectivity issues, matches were easily found and were also packed with people, crossplay is already online and activated, which will help this in the long run as them initial numbers dwindle. Though be aware, the later you leave this to join in the better and higher ranked your enemies are going to be.

Personal highlights for Chivalry 2 for me involved throwing an enemies head at another group of enemies, climbing into the stocks and getting my head chopped off by a team mate, and the absolute insanity of the power of the ballista. I had a blast with this jank fest, and if you like fun, you’ll probably enjoy this too.