Chivalry 2 review: A gorgeous but common battlefield

Title: Chivalry 2
Developer: Torn Banner Studios
Publisher: Torn Banner Studios / Tripwire Presents
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4 (reviewed on), Xbox One, PC
Release Date: June 8, 2021

Chivalry 2 is a really well-made game with very little substance to it. The graphics are great and the gameplay is smooth although flawed. But it’s overall a common online experience. This game’s potential is vast and has amazing connectivity even in larger player game types.

Chivalry 2 has the potential to be a lot of fun, with game modes involving burning and pillaging a village, sieging a castle and killing the Duke, and even rescuing members of your army. The issue with game modes on vast battlefields is that the objectives don’t matter cause it’s hard to hold them.

These could be fun, but they are marred by the fact that in most matches your team is only worried about getting the most kills (as of the time of this review no way to go to strictly deathmatch in team-based game modes). Combining these with the fact all of the maps are kind of just flat land with some bridges and the occasional siege machine leads to Chivalry 2 feeling quite a bit more like battle royale (especially in the 64 player game types) than I would care for. There are cool things like trap doors to drop them instead of fighting.

Chivalry 2 is sold as a first-person fighting game, and as a huge fan of fighting games I was intrigued by this. Overall, the game’s combat is pretty quick and easy to learn but really hard to master the timing of when to use all of the techniques.

Defensively you can choose between a block, riposte (which lets you block as you counter-attack) or the simple counter which creates an opening while swinging back. Offensively you have your basic swing, which has a nifty mechanic where you can increase the speed by turning your head toward the opponent; a stab, which is exactly that; and the overhead, which is the most powerful attack against guards. All of your attacks can be charged to help break guards, shields or give that extra punch of damage. You can always pick the archer class, which allows you to keep your distance but you’re at a huge disadvantage up close to only being able to use a sidearm. The tricky thing on the battlefield is that the only way to block arrows is with a shield, which at times can prove frustrating when you’re about to get that final blow and all of a sudden a crossbow takes you out.

While Chivalry 2 is a great attempt at creating a first-person fighting/hack-and-slash game, I can’t help but feel it’s a bit lacking. It has stellar combat with good ideas held back by the fact it’s limited by its inability to feel like a strong sword fight. There is also a class system similar to the Battlefield series. So as you gain levels with say a knight you get new weapons, like war hammers, axes, and the like. A really cool thing is that the pacing is accurate as it is rather slow and cumbersome as you’d imagine you would feel in plate mail and full knight’s armor.

Chivalry 2 is a lot of fun but the lack of options if you have a bad team against an enemy that sticks together hinders some of the experience. It’s hard to have a sword duel and test your mettle when someone snipes you with a bow or comes up from behind or the side of you and just mercs you. This was a problem in For Honor as well but it wasn’t so prevalent in that. I recommend this if you have a friend to play with who will have your back and you have the time to practice the techniques together. In closing, if you’re looking for a great sword fighting game to play alone this isn’t it.

All of this leads to gaining coins to get armor to customize your character which most of it is the same until you gain several levels. You eventually can look like a white knight or something a little more legendary, which makes senes because no one starts as such. These coins can also be purchased as a microtransaction currency to get what you want.

A copy of this game was provided to App Trigger for the purpose of this review. All scores are ranked out of 10, with .5 increments. Click here to learn more about our Review Policy.