The Ubisoft booth at TpGS 2017 is basically a giant For Honor area for players get a feel of the game. During TpGS 2017, Ubisoft held a daily Tournament for visitors to try the game, and experience the games competitive large scale battles. Visitors could also take pictures with the various props provided by Ubisoft to take home with them a special For Honor exclusive keychain.
For Honor is Ubisoft’s upcoming online Action Hack-n-Slash game set in a medieval fantasy setting. Players choose between 3 factions, The Legion (Knights), The Chosen (Samurais) and The Warborn (Vikings). In each faction, players can choose between 4 classes to suit their own play style. The class definition are quite similar to many other action games, a fast rogue-like class, a damage dealer, a tank, and a bruiser (a hybrid between a tank and a damage dealer).
In terms of gameplay, to define the game as just an Action Hack-n-Slash is a little inadequate. The game features online multiplayer game modes which requires players to work together as a team to achieve different goals. From straight forward game modes like Skirmish and Elimination that encourages Player vs Player (PvP) combat to more strategic modes like Dominion which is a 4-vs-4 team match where each team must capture and hold different zones on a single large battlefield, For Honor is more like a virtual war game with sword, axes and katanas.
Although the game can be categorized into Hack-n-Slash, when players engage each other in combat, For Honor has a special little feature called “Art of War” which allows players to control which direction they want to swing their weapon, or defend against an enemy blow. This really gives players a more immersive combat during PvP moments in the game, through looking at the stance of your opponent, players can swiftly change their stance to try to gain the upper hand.
Thoughts
Judging from the description and gameplay, For Honor is a great game with a unique and compelling system that brings together Hack-n-Slash with Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA). The fantasy/historical setting is enough to make For Honor something worth trying. The variety of different game modes is perfect for solo queues as well as forming a party with friends online to experience a team co-op experience similar to shooting games like Overwatch.
The straightforward-yet-complex gives players a great amount of control over smaller details which makes the game more than just a simple co-op Hack-n-Slash. Putting together your immediate objective, class and opponent into consideration, players don’t always have to engage in battles with other players in certain game modes like Dominion. If a Rogue is matched against a Tank, the Rogue can always just try to outrun the Tank with their superior mobility and help another teammate capture a different objective, this strategic element is quite refreshing in the Hack-n-Slash genre which is why the game is so highly anticipated.
Although from previous experiences, the game seems to run smoothly and Ubisoft seems to have done a great job in making sure that all classes are equally useful in their own fields. However, Ubisoft is quite good in creating a hype for their upcoming titles, but at launch various problems would appear utterly breaking a highly anticipated game. a perfect example of this would be Tom Clancy’s The Division which was released early 2016. At launch the game performed far less that anticipated causing the game to quickly lose player base. We can only hope that Ubisoft does not make the same mistakes they did with Division.