For Honor

For Honor is great fun, but like any fighting game, it’ll only reach its true potential if players stick around for the long haul. It takes time for experts to develop high-level strategies, and for that knowledge to trickle down to the rest of the community, and as such it’ll be a few months before it’s clear whether or not the game can stand among the current titans of the genre.

After two solid days of play, across various modes and basically on the hour, we’re confident that Ubisoft has bolstered its backend to ensure For Honor will be a delight to play, not only in mechanics, but over the internet too. For Honor is a refreshing new take on combat, and one that everyone should experience.

For Honor offers up one of the most visceral multiplayer experiences in video games. The single player campaign is a nice diversion, but won't satisfy those seeking a full experience. Once you hit multiplayer though, you'll be hooked and finding time for other video games will be the real problem.

Ubisoft's bet on a multiplayer-focused medieval brawler has been fully won thanks to a deep and tactical combat system and lots of choices for the player, even if it hit some bumps with a pretty unstable netcode and an underwhelming campaign.

For Honor can take some time to gel, but once you understand the ebb and flow of its combat, mastering its various subtleties, you'll discover a uniquely gratifying, exciting and often brilliantly brutal game of swords, axes, shields and spears. For Honor is almost like playing Game of Thrones' 'Battle of the Bastards' sequence; and if that sounds like a hearty recommendation, that's because it is. Ubisoft Montreal's game certainly has its flaws, but they pale into insignificance against the myriad things it manages to get right. All in all, For Honor is a triumph.

It’s a frustrating reality, but one Ubisoft is already working diligently on a fix for. Like Siege, For Honor is in the beginning stages of becoming something truly unique and brilliant. If you’ve ever struggled to get into fighting games, are eager for a new multiplayer game to try your hand at, or are simply interested in what happens when Ubisoft diverts its resources out of populating open worlds with content and into an experience that thrives because of its nuanced design, then try For Honor – you won’t regret it.

For Honor's learning curve can be punishing at first, but if you're willing to stay the course and invest some time into understanding the nuances of its deep combat system, you will begin to appreciate how exciting and truly addictive the "Art of Battle" can be.

Whatever it does, it’s succeeded in one of its main goals: Video game battling is now officially an art.

For Honor’s gameplay may be boring and dull in the first few hours; but give it time and you’ll be surprised. The single-player mode is just okay, but once you go online and learn through its very, very deep and unique combat system, you’ll definitely enjoy it. A great new IP with a huge potential.

There are memorable flashes of brilliance when playing the multiplayer modes, and you come up against another player. And through sheer skill and understanding of the combat, you’re able to gain the upper hand in a heated and intense exchange of metal.

For Honor has quickly become my favourite online multiplayer game, and one that I’m certain will have me honing my skills, and my blade, for months to come.

Mastering For Honor's complex, but brilliant Art of Battle control system takes time and effort, but doing so is very worthwhile. While its campaign is short and rather underwhelming, For Honor's multiplayer really delivers the goods, featuring strategic, involving, and brutal medieval combat that puts you front and center in some truly epic battles. Few games are as gritty and bone-crunching as this.

For Honor does a great job trying to find a new way of telling a very old and very familiar story. It accomplishes so much that it does provide an entertaining way to push you through the repetition of a hack and slash game. However, when you least expect it, you get impaled right through the heart by a broken multiplayer experience where the fragments of microtransactions and more splinter through the game, and while the blow isn't fatal now, if the connection issues aren't addressed, it will be.

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.

Though Ubisoft could have easily played it safe by focusing on any of their existing franchises, in choosing to develop a new IP, they created an admirable fighting game with thrilling action. Its single-player campaign is satisfactory at best, but it works as a great training tool to familiarize yourself with the characters and controls. Where For Honor truly shines is in its savage battles and multiplayer, as rough as the servers may be.

For Honor is a real surprise. In terms of gameplay mechanics it’s top-notch, visually it’s excellent, and there’s a decent if fairly formulaic campaign to play through. It’s in For Honor’s multifaceted multiplayer, however, where Ubisoft has has struck gold. Testing your combat knowledge against real players, either in one-on-one duels or in large conquest-style battles, is both thrilling and unique in the action genre.

For Honor is a remarkable game with a deep combat system. The campaign has a cooperative mode for two players and the multiplayer mode will give you tons of hours of fun. For Honor is a safe bet to have fun alone and even more with your friends.

The experience can vary depending on the game mode. Some aspects of the progression system are unbalanced and certain details, as a connection to the Internet that fails sometimes, can blurry the game. But when For Honor shines, the feeling it provides is authentic and brutal.

If For Honor were a game that [] didn’t rely so heavily on its internet connection, I could rave about it for hours. It is beautiful. The move sets for each character are well thought out and balanced, meaning people who put in enough effort will succeed with any of the available heroes. The campaign offers an interesting enough solo experience that lets people gradually face greater challenges. The multiplayer is extraordinary, when it’s working properly. It’s just that Ubisoft has once again not anticipated the needs of a game such as this. I feel like peer-to-peer wasn’t the right system for such a game, and that it would have been better for everyone if this had been a client-server game.

A unique multiplayer experience in spite of its flaws.

For Honor is a great idea dumpered by wrong choices. We love its combat, its visuals, and it's a very fun game. But we don't like the chaotic 4 vs. 4 battles, its F2P nature and the metagame Faction War is too shallow.

For Honor brings us a surprisingly deep and downright fun co-op / multiplayer fighter held back from greatness by an incoherent, mundane single-player campaign and the use of peer to peer networking for online matches.

An inventive premise and surprisingly deep combat system sits at the core of what could’ve been a great game—if so many technical issues didn’t surround it and detract so much from the whole of the experience.

For Honor is a unique game with an outstanding combat system. The problems it faces are its release window (I mean look at the games currently out or on the horizon!) and the dedication it requires. Casual players need not apply, as you will be slaughtered endlessly on the battlefield. I feel like For Honor will get a smaller, but highly dedicated fan base as it goes on, but for those looking for an approachable experience will likely fall on their own blade.