an even somewhat effective archer
even more difficult than getting the
hang of melee.
The root of the problem is trying
to simulate realistic archery in what
are, ultimately, pretty unrealistic
conditions. You didn’t see a lot of
medieval battles with a couple dozen
guys in armor darting around in loose
formation, changing direction on a
dime, jumping over logs and
intermingling with each other’s
troops. It’s chaos, usually leaving
archers vulnerable on the sidelines
and trying to take 1,000-to-1 shots of
opportunity at individual targets. In
reality, these types of troops would
only have been deployed en masse to
fire at stationary formations. The one
place it does work kind of decently is
on maps with walls or a palisade
where archers can take shots at
advancing enemies from a position of
safety. But on bigger, open
battlefields, what’s the point?
Mordhau also features two other
gameplay modes: Battle Royale and a
Horde mode. I didn’t like either of
them as much as Frontline, but
Horde can be a fun way to learn the
ropes with the help of some more
skilled players without having to
worry too much about being
skewered by those same veterans.
In Horde, you start with no
equipment and have to kill waves of
AI attackers to get money to buy
better stuff. The baddies will keep
pace with you, however, gaining
better equipment and coming in
greater numbers from one wave to
the next. Their combat ability is
significantly inferior to a skilled
player’s, but they have a tendency to
mob up on any solo
fighters they can single
out. It becomes
important to stick
together and use
formations and natural
choke points to survive.
Overall, it’s not as
much a test of the
things Mordhau does
best as the PvP modes, but it’s still a
fair bit of fun.
Battle Royale is my least preferred
of Mordhau’s modes. Like Horde, you
start with no equipment and have to
scramble for randomized loot from
chests scattered across the map. It’s a
familiar song and dance from there,
as the playable area will slowly shrink
to force confrontations and the last
one standing wins. Having played
other battle royales, I didn’t find
84
Melee gameplay is
equally rewarding and
daunting, though the
archery and support
roles needs some work.VERDICTMordhau’s kit
design and
progression
system is very
in-depthCLASS WAR Picking the right class for your playstyle is important
BRIGAND
Medium armor,
big-ass sword
Recommended for: I
trust in my skill with
steel, and I don’t
want or need any
extra protection.PROTECTOR
Heavy armor, shield,
mace
Recommended for: If
I can’t beat them, I at
least want to make it
as hard as possible
to take me out.HUNTSMAN
Light armor, bow
Recommended for: I
decided to play an
archer even though
the review just told
me archery is not
very fun.KNIGHT
Heavy armor,
greatsword
Recommended for: I
want to get better at
swordplay, but I’m
not taking chances
defense-wise.RAIDER
Medium armor, big
axe
Recommended for: I
want to look like a
viking. (Author note:
I do this every game,
so no judgment.)VETERAN
Heavy armor,
gigantic mace
Recommended for:
My parents told me
I could be anything.
So I became a
can opener.FOOTMAN
Medium armor,
spear
Recommended for:
Stopping that guy
who keeps sprinting
to get a horse so he
can trample us.SCOUNDREL
Light armor, bear
trap
Recommended for: I
like to get my kills
quickly and,
preferably, after I’ve
left the vicinity.ENGINEER
Light armor,
toolbox
Recommended for:
Anyone who has the
patience to
painstakingly set up
a stationary ballista.REVIEW
had very few problems joining
matches from the server browser),
and there were times when I spent
over two hours in a queue without
successfully getting into a match.
That experience wasn’t super
common, but random lag spikes and
even getting booted from a game due
to connection issues were.
Performance was also inconsistent
on some maps, even with a GTX- The devs are aware of these
issues, and it has been getting better
over the last few weeks. But I still
haven’t successfully queued for
Frontline through the matchmaking
even once, so you’ll want to use the
server browser for that mode.
If you’ve got the patience and
dexterity to take full advantage of its
melee combat, Mordhau can be a real
treat. Especially in the Frontline
mode, slashing and stabbing across its
well-designed maps was really
entertaining once I got my feet under
me. The high skill cap and lack of
good supporting roles can make it
feel tiring at times, but it’s mostly
worth it for the satisfaction that
comes with increasing mastery.
anything spectacular about it that
would convince me to come back
when there are so many existing
options, and Mordhau’s other modes
are more fun.CLASS CONSCIOUS
Mordhau’s kit design and progression
system is very in-depth and
interesting, aside from the odd fact
that you get the choice between
several skin colors that are all just
different shades of white. This isn’t
supported by history to begin with,
but Mordhau also doesn’t seem to be
trying to simulate any
real-life historical
factions or events,
which makes it
especially weird.
There are a lot of
equipment options,
which let you be
anything from a
lightly-armored
berserker with a big axe to a tanky
knight with full plate and a deadly
mace. New visual and mechanical
options unlock as you level up your
profile from one match to the next,
so there’s always something shiny
and new to look forward to.
My biggest
complaint is online
stability. The
matchmaking sometimes
doesn’t even work at all (though I