Chivalry: Medieval Warfare

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
European box art
Developer(s)	Torn Banner Studios
Distributor(s)	Steam (online) Lace Mamba Global (Europe retail) Zoo Corporation (Japan retail) [1]
Engine	Unreal Engine 3 NVIDIA PhysX (additional effects)
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	October 16, 2012
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Distribution	Download (via Steam)

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is a multiplayer action video game developed by Torn Banner Studios as their first commercial title.^[2] The game is set in a fictional world resembling the Middle Ages and offers similar gameplay combat to the developer's previously released Half-Life 2 mod, Age of Chivalry. On September 20, 2012, a trailer was released which set the release date to October 16, 2012.^[3] The developers had confirmed that the game would be PC exclusive, though they stated the possibility of console versions if the interest were great enough.^[4][5] An expansion pack called Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior was announced on August 23, 2013. It's a tie-in for the television series Deadliest Warrior.^[6]

Gameplay

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare has improved graphics (bottom) over the original Age of Chivalry (top). In both shots, a player uses his sword to guard from an attacker.

Chivalry has similar gameplay mechanics to Age of Chivalry, a Half-Life 2 mod created by the same developer, Torn Banner Studios.^[2][3] Combat is primarily melee,^[7] carried out from either a first person or third person perspective using medieval implements of war: swords, maces, longbows, and other weaponry of the time are used to hack, smash, and rain arrows down upon enemies. ^[3] The game also features ballistae, catapults, and boiling oil to use on enemies and their fortifications.^[7] Online matches are affected through objective-based gameplay, such as breaching a castle gate with a battering ram or looting a foe's camp.^[3] While the game does not have a single-player campaign, there are plans to create an offline mode in the future.^[7]

In the game, the fictional nation of Agatha is in a civil war, with two factions – the Agathian Knights and the Mason Order – vying for control of the region.^[8] Players pick their sides and choose from several character classes, each with a different set of skills and choice of weaponry.^[8] The game contains intense violence and blood. It is suggested to only be played if you are 18+.

Game Modes

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare features a number of game modes. The game modes are:

Free For All Every player fights only for himself. The player with most score when the time runs out is declared the winner.

Duel Players fight in a tournament and compete in 1v1 matches. When the player is dueling with another player, the other players are having their own duels at the same time. The player who has the most victories in the end wins.

Team Deathmatch Two teams fight against each. Both teams have the same amount of resources at the beginning of a game. The game ends when other team loses all their resources and the remaining players on the battlefield are killed.

Last Team Standing Two teams fight in an arena and each player has only one life. The arena features environmental hazards like wall spikes. The team with players still alive at the end wins a round.

King of the Hill Two teams try to hold an area in the middle of the map. First team to hold the area for a certain amount of time wins.

Capture the Flag Both teams have to capture a flag from enemy base and bring it back to their base, while defending their own flag. First team to reach 3 captures wins.

Team Objective Players play in either the attacking team or defending team. The attacking team must complete various objectives like pillaging a village, pushing a battering ram to the enemy gates and killing the king while the defending team must stop them.

Classes

Player can choose one of four playable classes. The four classes are the same for both Agatha Knights and Mason Order, the only difference being the color of their armor.

Archer Archers use weapons like bows and javelins to attack from afar. Archers also have shortswords or daggers for close combat. Archer has barely any armor and should only draw his blade when necessary.

Man-at-Arms Man-at-Arms is the most nimble of all classes. He uses one-handed weapons like swords and maces and can also use a shield for more effective blocking. His armor is the weakest of melee focused classes but his greatest defense is his speed, as he can perform dodges.

Vanguard Vanguards use long weapons like Polearms and Greatswords and prefer to stay a bit farther from the enemy. After sprinting for a while, he can perform a deadly sprint attack which does massive damage and heavily unbalances the enemy if the attack is blocked.

Knight Knight is the heaviest of all classes. He prefers to use large two-handed weapons like longswords and battleaxes. He can also use bigger shields than the other classes. He is however the slowest class, as he moves very slowly and his attacks leave him open for longer periods of time than other classes.

Development

The game is based on the free Age of Chivalry mod for Half-Life 2.^[2][3][9] The developers revamped the combat system from the mod, making changes to both melee and ranged combat.^[3] Chivalry also features interactive environments and a "more intuitive" movement system, as well as new graphics and animations.^[3] The original mod was created using Half-Life 2's Source game engine, whereas Chivalry now uses the Unreal Engine.^[3] The game was first announced under the title Chivalry: Battle For Agatha on May 20, 2010, but has since changed its name to the current title.^[2][10] On September 15, 2012, Chivalry was successfully funded on Kickstarter.^[11][12]

Reception

The game received generally favorable reviews with a Metacritic score of 79/100 based on 24 different critics.^[13] IGN gave it a 7.9/10, praising its medieval style ultra-violent multiplayer gameplay, but also mentioned that the game had a limited number of classes.^{[citation needed]} AusGamers gave the game a 90/100 noting that the game's only downfalls were the lack of different environments and a few bugs.^{[citation needed]} Torn Banner has received some criticism for its stance when confronted by players on the lack of female models(even as NPCs) in the game, despite it being a fictional title and world with no historical accuracy. The lead developer, Steve Piggott, made a statement that "adding female characters to a game like this would make it appeal less to females" due to the "maturity level of the FPS community."^[14][15][16] The game received 2012 Indie of the Year on Indie DB.^[17]

In August 2013 it was announced that the game has sold 1.2 million copies.^[18]

References

External links

• ChivalryTheGame.com, official website
• Chivalry: Medieval Warfare at Kickstarter.com
• MedievalWarfare.ru, Russian community