For Honor

A brilliant multiplayer battler with a combat system that captures meaty melee battles like no other, but a mediocre single-player unfortunately drags it down. [Apr 2017, p.86]

For Honor truly captures the cinematic feeling of clashes between heavy armored medieval warriors. Especially in “Duels" we took part in spectacularly tense fights as if choreographed for an epically uncut movie scene. It’s a bit of disappointment then that microtransactions show one of their ugliest faces in Ubisoft’s game.

For Honor is a really interesting game with enormous potential. The combat system is tremendous - you can learn it in a few minutes but mastering all the possibilities is a task for dozens of hours. Unfortunately, almost everything else is flawed - weak single player campaign, network issues, dull domination mode and irritating microtrasactions. If For Honor takes the same route as The Division, we'll get an excellent game further down the road.

For Honor's multiplayer is special, but as a whole it's let down by the less good single player, sometimes dodgy matchmaking, and a surfeit of microtransactions. The combat, though, is fantastic — it's gutsy and weighty, and you feel like a badass.

The campaign's story falls to earth with a thud, and technical problems are currently marring its online component, but For Honor's masterful presentation and combat rescue it from mediocrity. Given a few patches, it'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Judging by how Ubisoft has handled support for past multiplayer games (like Rainbow Six Siege), I’m confident that some of For Honor‘s issues will get rectified down the line. Gameplay can be tweaked, matchmaking enhanced, and better modes can all be added over time. However, as the game stands right now it’s more of a proof of concept than a fully realized idea. There’s a great base to build upon mechanically, but it’s too rough around the edges to shine as bright as it should.

At its core, For Honor is a stunningly great game with exhilarating combat the likes of which are hardly seen. But it’s crippled by online issues that reduce its core multiplayer to a frustrating mess.

For Honor takes some risks and creates a new property that I'd love to see more of in the future. Unfortunately, there is this impression that perhaps Ubisoft was not entirely confident in this first outing. The online modes are fun enough, but they can get grindy and their lack of depth begins to show after a time. This when coupled with the lack of dedicated servers leaves For Honor feeling somewhat incomplete, despite some beautiful environments and engaging combat.

For Honor is bloated in a way it doesn't need to be, but in a way that's completely unsurprising for Ubisoft. A ton of cosmetic upgrades and progression rankings can't save it from being an ultimately narrow experience. It may not wholly satisfy anyone craving an enormous single-player campaign or competitive multiplayer, but if you want a surprisingly competent fighting game that's capable of offering some great, tense and skill-based encounters, For Honor has enough to offer. Ubisoft may have marketed the game as a big, broad battler, but in truth it's just about you and your opponent and that's where it is at its best.