It has been about a year since Chivalry 2 launched, and while we meant to get a review out, life has just been…well, medieval. So, instead of beating myself up, I thought we might switch up the perspective on our take and focus on this: Is Chivalry 2 still worth playing in 2022? The answer I found is a bit more complicated than I expected.
When Armor was Shiny and New
If you remember Chivalry 2 when it first launched in April of last year, it was everywhere. It felt like you couldn’t escape gaming articles, recommendations, or streams overtaking the front page of Twitch with gameplay. But as with most games (and I’ve had to come to terms with this myself recently), that’s what I’d call the gaming honeymoon phase. Everything is fresh, everything is new! You get a group of friends together and you spend two weeks straight losing sleep because you are so hyper-fixated on this one particular game. I think for a lot of us, the Gamespace team included, that was Chivalry 2. Even those that hadn’t played the first iteration of Chivalry found themselves suddenly swept up in promises of a new adventure.
Agatha Knight and Mason Order face-off in Chivalry 2.
Team Objectives
If you missed the hype, Chivalry 2 is a medieval warfare game that allows you to specialize in just about every type of weapon you can imagine; those that aren’t tied to a specific starting class can almost certainly be found lying around the various 64-player team objective maps. I use the term “team objective” loosely because in all honesty, most of the time it boils down to every soldier for themselves. You’ll encounter players that have far more playtime than you, and it does give them a slight advantage, but a well-placed block or riposte can turn the tide of any duel and end up in a push that secures the objective for your team.
Don’t run into that. Keep your high ground.
Mind Your Hacks
Combat in Chivalry 2 may look slow at first glance (and sometimes it might feel awkward when swinging) but it is actually relatively fast-paced and requires you to think on your toes. There are three basic kinds of thrusts you can do when wielding weapons: slashing horizontally, overhead, and thrusting forward. Each of these attacks has its merits and dangers when used against a knowledgeable foe. There are counters, parries, and riposts to take into account as well as shields and depleting stamina. Spam-blocking is your worst enemy here, because you’ll become disarmed and die a quick and painful death. Swapping between first and third-person modes also allows you to pay more attention to your surroundings. I can’t count the number of times I’ve tunnel-visioned in on an enemy only to leave my back exposed and fall to one of their friends. Rule number 1 of Chivalry 2: Watch your back. There’s a lot to learn, and the introduction tutorial does a fairly good job of introducing you to the basics but there is so much to digest that you’ll probably forget it by the time you enter into your first battle. To get better, you’ll just have to play, practice, and look up videos. It’s a bit of an uphill battle, but you will get better.
The Agatha Knights cheer and taunt their enemies across the field as they rush into battle.
Trust No One
Speaking of battle tactics and tips, sometimes your worst enemy isn’t even the opposite team, but the soldier wearing your own colors. There is a special place in the lower depths of hell for players that flail their swords from side to side in the middle of a contested fight. Be mindful, use your stab because you can and will do damage to your teammates. Sometimes this is taken advantage of by players that like to troll their team. Thank goodness for the voted kick option.
The Mason Order stands tall as they prepare to rush forward.
Chickens are Weapons, not Food
Aside from fighting teams to contest objectives and points, it’s hard to explain just how much joy I experienced when I learned that I could pick up a chicken that was waddling around and carry him around the battlefield with me. Imagine what that was like when I realized I could throw him at an enemy. Yes, I did feel bad, but the absolute absurdity and hilarity of the situation trumped that a thousand percent. It may not be the most optimal choice, but you can always attempt to disengage when you’ve been disarmed and grab a chicken to throw at your aggressor’s head. Chivalry 2 doesn’t take itself too seriously, as evidenced by said chicken-throwing. But, in addition to this, there are several emotes, voice lines, and social features included that help support and lift up this concept. You get a nice balance of somewhat realistic medieval combat, with effortless medieval hilarity.
A chaotic battlefield under fire in Chivalry 2.
Wishlist: Customization
If I had to put anything on my wishlist for Chivalry 2, it would be character customization. I know not everyone was beautiful back then, especially not as a soldier on the battlefield, but character customization for females is just horrendous. The models for the faces, skin textures, and hair meshes are just terrible and feel awkward and misplaced. It feels like they just threw a few pieces together so they could be proud of the fact that they let you choose a female soldier. At that point, I would just rather they have put more effort and customization into the male option. For how gorgeous the world is, it just feels strange to have such horrid characters. For now, I guess I’ll just bury my face behind a helmet or a mask like I did in The Division. Customization is a huge part of progression in Chivalry 2. You unlock different colors, symbols, weapon skins, armor skins, and a few hairstyles from leveling up, so it is a key part of what keeps some players moving through the motions of progression.
Don’t turn your back on your enemy.
Slow to Level, Slow to Progress
Speaking of progression, leveling rates are also atrocious. I played for several hours and it felt like barely moved through my level progression. In addition to cosmetics, you also unlock other weapon classes and abilities when you level up, so I still felt woefully inexperienced when I couldn’t utilize all of my abilities as opposed to the guy staring me down in the trenches with his shining, golden armor. Chivalry 2 is a great game to just jump into without having to worry about catch-up mechanics but can be a little punishing for those trying to level. There are some nuances to combat that the game doesn’t even tell you about that you’ll have to learn through watching experienced content creators. For example, crouch-dodging is a thing. When did you actually think about dodging an attack in the middle of combat? Did it even occur to you that it was something that would negate damage? The tutorial places a focus on dashing and jumping back to dodge. It also doesn’t tell you that there are no I-frames when you dodge. You don’t want to find yourself dodging into an enemy’s attack unless you have aspirations of becoming a kebab.
Sieging a castle in Chivalry 2.
Conclusion
Chivalry 2 is a fantastic multiplayer game that is consistently pumping out updates with a pretty thriving community of players. There is a fairly steep learning curve, but it has been out long enough at this point that if you feel yourself tilting, just do a quick Youtube search for “Chivalry 2 combat tips” and it will probably clear up a lot of that brain fog. What most of it boils down to, is practice. You’ll die-a lot. But, you’ll also learn from those deaths and you’ll eventually get better. Chivalry 2’s development path is healthy and thriving since its developers have their fingers on the pulse of the player base, so if you missed the hype train and are looking for a game that will give you the most bang for your buck without a huge time commitment, look no further than Chivalry 2.
A key for Chivalry 2 was provided for this review.
