The upside is when you do go on a
hot streak, you feel like way more of a
badass than any of those more
forgiving games can ever let you feel.
The basic premise is pretty simple.
In the default Frontline mode, you
take up arms as a
rugged warrior from
one of nine classes (or
you can design your
own) and rush into the
fray in up to 32-v-32,
objective-based
skirmishes on
attractive, realistically-
structured medieval
battlefields. Then, you probably die
pretty quickly to someone a bit
quicker or more experienced than
you and respawn, hopefully having
learned something to take forward
into your next brawl.
Each clash of swords can look
deceptively simple, but is actually
highly complex in the huge variety of
attacks, parries, and counters
available to you. A well-scripted and
straightforward tutorial will run youthrough the fundamentals, but it’s
another matter entirely to execute
the correct moves at the right time. It
takes many hours just to start feeling
competent, but the satisfaction of
growing confidence as your
execution improves is
something no
numerical progression
system can replicate. It
reminded me a lot of
Sekiro, in that I started
out as an absolute
scrub and eventually
started to think of
myself as a badass
swordsman, at least sometimes.SWIFT AS A RIVER
Everything you do in melee is highly
dependent on split-second timing, so
sloppy or indecisive swordplay will
be punished heavily by experienced
players. You can’t hold down block
while brandishing a sword, for
instance. Left-click executes a timed
parry that only works for about a
second, so you need to sync it upwith your opponent’s movements.
And almost any defensive measure
you deploy has an equivalent counter
that will slap it aside with ease, so
most duels will favor whichever
player can read their opponent and
react quickly and aggressively.
It is a bit of a bummer that there’s
not a lot you can do when you’re just
learning the ropes and want to take a
more relaxed support role. There is
an engineer class who can shake
things up by deploying siege weapons
and the like, but I often found my
contributions in this area were
relatively small and easily undone by
the other classes. In other
multiplayer games like Battlefield V
and Overwatch, I can focus on
reviving teammates or locking down
a point if I want a little bit of a break
from high-intensity combat, but
Mordhau doesn’t support that
playstyle especially well.
Even with its early success, I
worry that this will shrink the
number of players who can really get
into Mordhau. If I want to invite my
younger cousin who isn’t up to
Murderlord level in melee action
games into a match, there would be
comparatively less for him to do that
might make him feel useful. Even the
most hardened swordsman has to
admit that giving less twitch-skilled
players something to do helps fill the
servers and give us more fresh meat
to beat up on. That doesn’t work if
they all get frustrated and leave.
Archery, too, I found a bit
disappointing. Mordhau has gone the
route of making arrows very
powerful, but very difficult to land a
hit with. Drawing back the bow
requires about a second in which
your crosshair moves in a semicircle,
making it almost impossible to aim,
then gives you a couple seconds of a
steady hand before you start to
wobble and lose your aim. The
projectiles themselves are fairly slow
and experience significant drop-off
after leaving the string. This comes
across as very realistic, but not
especially fun, and it makes becomingNEED TO KNOW
WHAT IS IT?
Complex, twitch-based
multiplayer melee
combat
EXPECT TO PAY
$30
DEVELOPER
Triternion
PUBLISHER
In-house
REVIEWED ON
Windows 10 64-bit,
Core i7-4770K, 16GB
RAM, GeForce GTX
1070.
MULTIPLAYER
Up to 64 Online
LINK
mordhau.comEach clash of
swords can
look
deceptively
simpleM
ost games that hand you a sword and point you in the
direction of a battalion of foes feel empowering and
heroic. After a few rounds of Mordhau, the prospect of
heading into the breach seemed more terrifying than
anything else. Of all the multiplayer melee games I’ve
played, this one has decidedly the highest skill cap and the least patience
for those who haven’t taken the time to learn its complex combat.BLOW BY BLOW
Hacking and slashing away at the highly skill-dependent
medieval melee in MORDHAU. By T.J. Hafer
WEAPON OF CHOICE You open your first chest, how screwed are you?
Lute, Wooden Mallet
Alt-F4 will probably save you
some time.Dagger, Short Sword, Cleaver,
Quarterstaff, Bows
I hope you’re good at this
game. Like, really good.Training Sword, Arming
Sword, Axe, Warhammer,
Blacksmith’s Hammer,
Throwing Knife, Falchion,
Mace, Crossbow
You might actually make it out
of this alive.Short Spear Rapier,
Bastard Sword, War Axe,
Battle Axe, Longsword,
Maul, Throwing Axe
Take a breath. You got lucky,
but you need to stay sharp.Billhook, Estoc, Greatsword,
Poleaxe, Executioner Sword,
Bardiche, Eveningstar, Spear
The gods have smiled upon
you. Don’t mess this up.Zweihander, Halberd
You’re all clear, kid! Now let’s
blow this thing and go home!REVIEW