For Honor

For Honor is a great game, held back only by some minor flaws and technical difficulties that Ubisoft can and should tend to. The story mode isn't the best I've played and the matchmaking could use some tweaking, but even with its problems you can't take away the fact that this game has one of the deepest and rewarding fighting mechanics we've seen in a while. For Honor demands you study the ins and outs of the game and excel in it, and those who do will get an experience without an equal in gaming right now.

I did have some issues with the game servers early on, but they seem to have been ironed out. And as mentioned, the voice acting and the story mode could have fleshed out a little better. But if you look past those issues, For Honor is a wonderful title. The variation in game modes makes sure that there is something for everyone, and the maps are rotated enough to keep things fresh. The character classes allow you to choose a play style that suits you, whether it is the strength of the Heavy or the speed of the Assassin class. And with controls that are so smooth and optimised, it never seems as though any class or enemy is overpowered. So, if you excuse me, I’m going to don my armour, collect my shield and blade, and head back out to the battlefield... my team needs me.

Ubisoft have done a great job with For Honor. This version runs smoothly with the most common graphic cards, offering a really fine experience to all the players.

Multiplayer is where it's at and For Honor certainly delivers some compelling online duels. The stabbing can get a bit repetitive after a while - much like the short singleplayer campaign -, but learning the intricacies of For Honor's complex combat system nevertheless makes for a fun experience. Ubisoft had better release some more modes and maps post-launch, though. Otherwise the game may shortly find itself without a player base, once the novelty has worn off.

An ambitious multiplayer brawler with a clever medieval fighting system. It could run out of steam in the long term, however, because of a lack of depth.

For Honor’s peer-to-peer networking woes do it great injustice, for it is, in its core, a truly unique game that provides us with a competitive multiplayer experience no other game can claim to offer.

It's feature-creep, in short, bloat orbiting an excellent core. In that regard, at least, For Honor is a Ubisoft game. [May 2017, p.112]

The original multiplayer bloodbath, which is adorned with absolutely phenomenal combat system. Gameplay is excellent, but the final score is lower because of technical issues, especially for the “quality” of the network protocol.

Poor matchmaking isn’t the sole reason to dock points off. For example, there’s no deeper layer than “go kill them all” to multiplayer matches, while Faction war is just too global to feel that your actions actually have an impact. Sure, For Honor is a good game still. But it could’ve been a great one. [Issue#217, p.52]

For Honor's combat is one polarizing work of art and the game's cornerstone. You either hate it or fall in love with it. Fencing has never felt so raw.

It’s taken me a while to get here, to a place where I can calmly say nice things about For Honor, but I’m glad I made it. We’ll see how it progresses but given their commitment for the long haul, Ubisoft may have dug out a space in the multiplayer market we didn’t know was there.

For Honor is not a perfect game but it is a kind surprise. It is different, original, deep, intense, visceral, and above all, fun. Medieval combat has never felt like this before. Any fighting games fan should try it at least once.

In its highest moments, For Honor is difficult to put down. Its slow combat pace and narrative shortcomings might turn off those unwilling to take the time to dive deep into what it has to offer. However, make no mistake--those who do will be rewarded with some of the most satisfying multiplayer melee fighting conceived in recent years.

For Honor has some dents in its shiny armor, such as the mediocre campaign, the frugal economy, and the snowballing victories in team modes. But it’s hard to be mad too long when I consider that the melee combat system is second to none and a joy to learn, take your licks, and then learn some more. I could feel myself becoming a better warrior with this deep, flexible, and complete fighting system. The more I play For Honor, the more I want to play For Honor.

For Honor will inevitably be a favorite title. It combines easy to pick up, complicated to master fighting and action-style gameplay with compelling gameplay types and there's nothing quite like it. However, if you were looking for a single-player game, you might not want to purchase this title. The heart and soul of For Honor are its multiplayer modes, and unfortunately, at this time, there are enough issues with matchmaking and peer-to-peer connections that you may want to wait until Ubisoft has some time to fix those problems. However, once For Honor has a solid networking backbone I can say it'll be one of my go to multiplayer titles for the next few years to come.

Here's what really makes For Honor great, though: its difficulty curve. I haven't played a game that slaps you in the face as much as For Honor since I played Dota 2. You'll play and play and feel like you're getting nowhere until one day, one game, or even one moment where you see everything differently, and, while you won't instantly master it, you'll now clearly see the path to mastery.

For Honor is a fantastically innovative game that deserves to be played by everyone at least once, but whether or not it ends up being a multiplayer classic is still yet to be seen.

While the game’s fairly high skill ceiling and emphasis on micro-transactions might be off-putting to some players, For Honor is an experience that’s truly fit for those that are warriors at heart.

For Honor has really solid fight mechanics and it really delivers on its promises. But the lack of content here turns this game into a short-lived hype fest. For it to stand tall and keep its popularity, developers should focus on keeping it fresh by adding new content.

Outside of the fighting, however, For Honor is a needlessly bloated game. There’s a lot of tediously granular customisation, a tacky free-to-play-style storefront selling in-game currency for real-world money, and a tangle of ugly, confusing menus to wrestle through before you can get into a battle. And as time goes on, and those stalwart, hardcore players continue to hone their skills, it’ll be even more unwelcoming to newcomers. Stick with it, though, and you’ll find a rich, tactical fighting game with wonderfully weighty combat and hidden depths to uncover. But if you want something accessible you can easily dip in and out of, you may want to swear fealty to another lord.

Amazing rich gameplay that is sadly let down by an overly complex UI and hidden barely there tutorials. Sure to be a long term hit. [Issue#260, p.60]

Even though For Honor's core combat is essentially an elaborate quick-time event sequence in disguise, the production values and novelty factor are high enough that there is still a good deal of fun to be had here.

Ubisoft have two game series that will always stick out to me for their debut games: Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed. The reason for this is simple: both games had interesting concepts but they weren’t fully realised until the sequel. For Honor is similar in this regard as there are clear things that can be improved with a sequel, however I still believe it is well worth playing. The combat in the game is fantastic, and though the learning curve may be steep, once you get the hang of it you’ll be playing for hours. The first entry in the For Honor series has started strong, I hope a sequel can fill in everything the game currently lacks.

Ultimately, For Honor doesn’t focus on making sense or being historically accurate, it just puts cool stuff in a field and tells it to go out and fight. Everything outside of playing online sucks, like microtransactions, customization options and single-player. Hell, the multiplayer itself sometimes sucks when it pairs you with a badly selected host player...However, when the game is working and you’re murdering a single human player while screaming “FOOOOOOOOOOOR HOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOR” at their corpse, it’s pretty damn rewarding...It’s just a shame the single player couldn’t capture the soul of playing online.

For Honor is probably the most satisfying multiplayer game. You can say goodbye to the modern and futuristic eras and just enjoy the brutality of middle age. Except for the in-game cash shop, the game has all the cards in hand to have a bright future.

For Honor is rife with annoying bugs and design shortcomings. Still, a fighting game with swords is too rare a game to ignore it. If you like memorizing combos and duking it out with other players, give Ubisoft 3-4 months to iron out bugs, fix the balance and lower the price.

finally has a permanent place in my collection – it’s obviously doing something right. The melee combat is truly some of the best I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve been playing on a nightly basis, knowing what a rush it is if I find the perfect opponent. Unfortunately, I struggle to recommend it when the total package is so skimpy and the online so unreliable. I sense an earnest attempt by Ubisoft with For Honor, but at the moment all they’ve done is laid the groundwork for a stronger experience in the future.

For Honor has the best, most innovative and rewarding combat system we have seen in years. However, the whole experience is crippled by poorly-designed game modes and progression schemes; a broken matchmaking system and online instability. It's best to avoid it for now and wait a few months until the developer can fix its problems.

But damn, when it’s all working it’s so good. This is a really frustrating review because there’s absolutely a diamond somewhere within this game. You catch a glimmer of it maybe once or twice an hour, when a match has that perfect moment and you’re down to a sliver of health, deflecting every blow, and then manage to throw your opponent off a bridge or something. That! That’s For Honor...It’s also microtransactions though, and “Recovering Network Connection,” and a hundred tiny annoyances that detract from the core conceit.The only honor here is on the battlefield itself.