Mordhau

Multiplayer action game Mordhau, viewed from the first person in a late medieval setting, was developed by the indie studio Triternion, two years after being funded on Kickstarter. In addition to standard online modes, Mordhau features a "battle royale" and cooperative play against increasingly difficult waves of enemies.

Players must master sword-fighting skills, and battles are filled with blood and dismemberment — the unprecedented spectacle enhances the duels. Mordhau offers long-term progression, includes a variety of equipment, and features deep character customization.

Mordhau uses an arcade-like but realistic combat system of its own design. You won't find anything similar in other projects. In addition to horizontal and vertical slashing strikes, you can perform thrusts, block any attack, and kick the enemy. There is also an alternative weapon grip that slightly changes attack possibilities.

In Mordhau, there are many types of weapons — cleavers, daggers, swords, two-handed swords, axes, halberds, and pikes, as well as primitive weapons like sickles, hammers, and pickaxes. Almost all weapons use three main strikes, and all allow blocking incoming attacks, but there are no 100% blocks; there is always a chance to mistime a block or turn at the wrong angle.

After parrying a strike, you can immediately counterattack or try to run away if there are several opponents or if the opponent is obviously stronger.

The two main systems — health and stamina — often determine tactical behavior. Stamina is consumed by running and striking but recovers fairly quickly. Health can be restored, but a couple of missed hits can be fatal.

Each weapon has a host of complex attributes, such as damage distance depending on weapon length, strike speed, armor penetration, and many others. This allows you to quickly learn Mordhau but mastering all the gameplay intricacies is not easy.

As befits a medieval action game, in Mordhau, you can encase your character in plate armor and become a sort of tank — losing the mobility of a half-naked berserker, as the weight and complexity of the armor reduce speed and agility.

Mordhau's gameplay is built around characters that the player creates and upgrades in the editor. A system of approximately 20 perks, affecting gameplay style, is responsible for role-playing.

For example, the "evasion" perk is useful for those who want to fight one-on-one, "rage" quickly restores stamina, "dash" increases running speed after a kill, and "peasant" turns the hero into a true peasant, unable to use heavy weapons and complex armor. Some perks have a greater impact on gameplay, while others have less.

After each battle in any mode, the character gains experience, which goes into their personal pool, and gold, which is shared among all characters on that account. Experience can be used to buy perks, and it also accumulates into new levels, unlocking more and more content with each level. Gold is spent on purchasing armor (for the torso and head), while all weapons are available immediately.

In Mordhau, you can also choose characters of certain classes ("Engineer", "Raider", "Footman", "Hunter", and more than 10 in total), dressed and equipped according to their description and gameplay, with an obvious gameplay style. In the editor, you can also change the body shape, skin color, and character details, so most players prefer self-created heroes.

In subsequent updates, developers added new modes and diversified the gameplay with new maps, as well as fixed numerous issues in the network part and servers.

For those interested, there's the trendy "battle royale," in which 64 people participate simultaneously. The map size is smaller than usual, as players mostly move on foot, and only a few lucky ones find a horse for quick movement.

The rules are standard — starting in a shed in just your underwear, you must find a weapon as quickly as possible, and then, using your skill with it, defeat all encountered opponents. There is a constantly shrinking zone, staying in which quickly kills you.

Since the action takes place in the Middle Ages, most of the fights are at close range and in groups. It's not uncommon for someone to appear from behind and kill already exhausted opponents during a fair fight between two or three players. And they can immediately get a back full of arrows from an even more cunning player.

The "battle royale" features the full set of weapons, armor, and helmets from the network modes, and the inventory is minimized (you can carry a couple of bandages, throwing axes, or dung) — all of this drops from boxes that players break.

The interface is almost absent, and the items of a killed opponent simply drop nearby. With some luck, by the end of the game, you can collect a legendary set of armor and weapons, which will allow you to defeat less fortunate opponents.

For those who want to play only with friends, there's Horde — a team mode where a squad of 2-6 people faces hordes of enemies. Groups of opponents come in waves, with a small break given to players in between.

В отличие от большинства кооперативных режимов, в Horde игроки начинают без брони, бинтов восполнения здоровья и с самым примитивным оружием — мотыгой. Убивая противников и исследуя карту, они получают золото, за которое могут покупать более мощное оружие (луки и мечи), броню и щиты. Здоровье восстанавливается при убийстве врага, а из всего снаряжения только стрелы.

С каждой волной врагов становится все больше, растет качество их оружия. Начиная с полуголых крестьян с вилами и серпами, отряд, со временем, сразится с закованными в латы рыцарями при поддержке конников и великанов с огромными дубинами. Лимита вражеских волн нет, команда играет до последнего живого бойца.