on year of release I'd have given this game the full 5-star treatment, but the unfortunate reality of corporate greed and inaction mucked up those chances some time ago. Chivalry, in its day, was one of the most fun PC multiplayer games around (no different than its Source-Engine predecessor) and was widely known for both its cartoonish yet charming voicework and its addicting hack-and-slash gameplay. while not the newest of combat systems, the physics and mouse-drag-based swordplay of Chivalry is what kept it feeling new and markedly different no matter when you were jumping in. hell, at time of release one of its only real competitors was the classic Mount & Blade: Warband. but though it had its similarities with those other games, the approach to combat still felt different enough that it felt unique.

of course, a combat system as versatile as this also opened it up to various forms of playstyles. and further on into the game's history, the cracks were exposed and people were able to freely exploit the obscurities of the combat system to its maximum potential. if you've played the game or seen much of it post-release you probably know where this is going. the exploits allowed for the absolutely ridiculous-looking ballerina dances, as most would call them. wherein a player darts his mouse up or down rapidly in conjunction with swings. this would give a doubly positive effect of sending the swings past their intended area of effect and in or over the hitbox of the opposing player, while also giving the user an ever-shifting hitbox of their own that makes them far harder to hit. this became a staple in the game and is infamously one of many factors that led to the game's extreme decline in players.

I can't prove it with empirical evidence, but I would wager that the devs of the game let this bug, and that is exactly what it was, go unfixed so that they could keep the e-sports and competitive gaming side of things alive. around this time these exploits really exploded in use and popularity, Torn Banner studios had already begun work on trying to make the game a huge e-sports hit. they were funding tournaments, teams, prizes, etc. this series of exploits had given a LARGE amount of players the feeling of being able to compete in spaces where they otherwise wouldn't have lasted. so, that said, I feel it's all too convenient that the devs' irresponsible tolerance of said exploits happened to just fester for as long as they kept getting that e-sports money.

the exploits existed for months. and then months became years. long after their e-sports attempt had already pretty much failed and left them no rewards, they did try to alter some of the animations and hitboxes but this patch received extremely negative reactions. the exploiters, who by this point were at least half of the playerbase if not the majority, didn't like the threatening feeling of their winning strategy going bye-bye. it wasn't long after that pretty much every aspect of that patch had been rolled back, with exception to the added 'premium' cosmetics of course.

and so, with years of neglect and further monetization of the game's cosmetic features, most players had either become too bored with the game or simply just had enough. and they left, in very large swathes. the last time I looked, the game gets somewhere around 200 players a week now. a few years ago that number would've had an extra zero or two.

after this whole kerfuffle TB studios went on to make another game, in what they would hope to be a successful 'Chivalry-like' series, called Mirage: Arcane Warfare. in its most basic form, it was basically just Chivalry + wizards and magic. it got decent reviews, but the lack of any real marketing or sales did it no favors, nor did the bogged-down lackluster recreation of the previous game's combat. within a year it had lost nearly all their players, and the year after that it had been shut down and taken off of Steam completely. luckily it's not all doom and gloom, as a spiritual successor to Chivalry by the name of Mordhau had been kickstarted some years prior and finally got its full release in 2019. it exploded in popularity when it released in June, far more than the devs ever could have hoped or intended, and has enjoyed steady success ever since. in most ways it really is just "Chivalry, but y'know, better" with a no-tolerance policy on exploits or bugs and a marginal improvement over the original groundwork that Chivalry had set. getting rid of the class system for a more personal and customizable player loadout system was also a very big upper-hand.

and then the trailer for Chivalry 2 comes out and it looks like it wants to steal Mordhau's thunder in every way imaginable. pretty much took every improvement Mordhau made, crowbar'd it into the traditional class-based gameplay of Chivalry and called it a day. maybe it'll be good but mehhh, I think I've had enough of this IP and its incompetent handlers. some people never learn, as TB studios have exemplified time and time again.

ANYWHO, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare was good in its heyday. it was really good. it is a shame that those days didn't last very long, and an even greater shame that it became what it did. but at the very least it inspired some good games to do better.

Note: This review was written in April of 2013 and reflects the state of the game up to that point.

While everyone is playing Black Ops II and Battlefield 3 there is a little multiplayer game called Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. This knight-in-shining-armor online only game pits players against each other and lets them have at it with deadly swords, crossbows, flaming pots, shields, and various other Camelot era weapons. This is a different multiplayer game and will keep you hooked for dozens of hours.

There’s no story here at all so don’t worry about that, this game doesn’t need a story. You open up the game and you are greeted with a server list. There’s a tutorial that shows you the ropes of this game. There’s a bit more to it than just swinging around weapons. Each one has range, damage, and speed that you have to think about. In a small arena, you probably want a short and fast weapon, while the more open maps you should use a javelin and a giant polearm. There are three basic attacks which are overhead, side by side, and jab swings. You can feint attacks as well to trick your opponent which is a key move you have to learn to master. You block, but you have to time it and you can’t just block aimlessly. You have to be looking at the weapon or the block won’t really connect. This is really a knight simulator and the game is just so much fun.

It doesn’t stop there though, there are some projectiles. The bow is great to use and has an arrow cam which helps you adjust your aim. There’s also a crossbow but reloading is very slow and you can’t see around you when reloading. Larger classes get axes to throw, while smaller ones get knives and daggers. I found a strategy where I’d use up my projectiles and try to get some kills that way before going in. There are 4 classes, Man-at-Arms, Knight, Vanguard, and Archer. The Vanguard is the biggest class and can kill in just a couple of hits but is extremely slow. He, and the Man-at-Arms have a charging attack that will devastate anyone in its path. If you use a kite shield with these classes it protects you from rear attacks which is actually how I died the most. I would be battling an enemy and I’d get creamed by two guys coming up from behind that I couldn’t see or hear.

Some levels have traps in them that you can activate to help your team or whittle down someone’s health before going in for the kill. Each class is a lot of fun to play and I found myself constantly switching between them, unlike other multiplayer games. I just wish there were more classes. Four isn’t all that much, and there aren’t enough maps. Torn Banner is putting out free content, but it’s been slow coming since release last year. However, I still find myself coming back and playing a few rounds at least once a week, the game is very addictive.

The game modes are also lacking. There’s just Team Deathmatch, Free-for-All (Deathmatch), Capture the Flag and Dueling which is 1v1. There are a couple more, but these are typical modes found in other games. One mode that is unique to this game is a siege type mode where you use battering rams, trebuchets, and various other long-range siege weapons to break into the enemy’s fortress and take it over. That is probably the most fun. On one map my team was trying to push a battering ram through a small village. We were trying to fight off the other team and it was a constant back and forth. Once we got to the front doors their archers made easy work of the battering team because their moat didn’t allow us to surround the team and defend them. We just had to do archer battles or hang back and wait for people to come out.

As it stands, Chivalry has proven to be a very popular and well made multiplayer game. The graphics are fantastic and everything looks superb. Hopefully Torn Banner can continue to dole out new content to make players happy and continue playing.