When I had seen that Chivalry II was announced, I instantly remembered fond memories of being in high school and playing the first one with my friends. Purposely mispronouncing it as Chive-alry, it was a great game to play together. It was one of those titles where once you saw some gameplay, you immediately went and purchased it. You’d imagine my excitement then when I finally had a chance to play it and see just what it had to offer. The end result is a fantastic experience that you honestly won’t find anywhere else.

Gameplay

Coming from the first game to this one felt like a night and day experience for me. I’m not sure if it’s just because I was younger when the first one came out but I stunk at it. With Chivalry II though, I’m a killing machine. The learning curve for combat is pretty easy to pick up but hard to master. It’s an extremely intuitive system where your momentum and the position of your character are everything.

I absolutely love the game’s combat system. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before. The movement is incredibly smooth, making combat one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done in a video game. Combat consists of using attacks such as normal, heavy, and jabbing. There’s also an awesome archer class if that’s more your speed.

You can also use a sort of special move such as turning over your sword and hitting people with the other end or even lobbing your weapon at them. It’s a great thing to utilize especially when the game lets you throw almost anything you can see. You can throw weapons, shields, food, candelabras, decapitated heads, and even animal dung. It’s completely bananas and that’s part of what makes it such an amazing experience.

There’s also a defensive side to combat. You can use shields to block incoming attacks as well as your sword. Pulling off great ripostes will be your best friend as it’ll allow you to get an opening on your opponent. There’s nothing more exhilarating than fending off a group of enemies with you back up against a wall.

For both offensive and defensive fronts, it’s important to move your character around as you’ll be able to hit on different spots of your enemies as well as block attacks just before they hit you. You have to be watching your back at all times because things happen surprisingly fast in Chivalry II. I can’t remember another game since Red Dead Redemption 2, where I loved the combat as much as I do here. I’ll sit down for hours just playing without any breaks from the action.

As you play the game and level up each of its classes, you’ll unlock more sub-classes as well as additional weapons for each one. The 4 classes each have their own obvious pros but they also have some cons and it isn’t until you get used to playing with each one that you learn them. I fell into using the knight class the most and would bounce over to archer every once in a while to change up the pace and see if it worked better for me in that situation.

Part of the amazing action comes from the moments that Chivalry II puts you in. On Xbox Series X|S there are currently three different game types to choose from. There are 64 player modes, 40 player modes, and free-for-all. Free-for-all is just as you’d expect and it became just as fun as the 64 or 40 player modes that have actual mission structure. It’s just unadulterated fun of running around and cutting people down as much as you can.

There’s something hilarious about what happens during each of these matches. Even after being overcome by an enemy and having your own cut off, you’re still able to put up a fight ala Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It’s apparent that there’s a ton of heart put into the gameplay of this title, and it shines through phenomenally as it’s just a joy to partake in oddly.

Chivalry II’s maps are fantastic and they’re characters in their own right. Each one has a specific tone and things strewn around for you to interact with. The Pit specifically is an incredibly unique small map where you can use just about every inch of it to do damage to your enemies. Knock them into spikes, pits, or fire traps, it’s all up to you to choose.

There’s actually a bunch of cool customization options available in-game. From character looks to their armour and color schemes. I enjoy having the customization and it’s great that you don’t have to spend money on in-game currency to unlock things even though you can in order to get it quicker. I’d personally rather earn it so it’s cool that it’s not a necessity to have to shell out cash to get stuff.

Visuals

This game boasts some really great visuals on next-gen consoles in every aspect. You really can’t talk about this game though and not bring up the gore. It’s honestly gloriously crazy. There’s always blood all over the ground as well as corpses and the occasional dismembered limbs. Body parts get lobbed off and there’s no escaping the screams of your enemies because of it. It reminds me a lot of Rune from back in the day in that regard.

Audio

Dialogue is hilarious, as it feels like Robinhood: Men in Tights, The Princess Bride, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail all rolled into one. It meshes really well with the bloody affairs that take place around, in order to lighten the mood. You can even give a battle call whenever you want and it gets only better when everyone around you joins in, creating a symphony of shouting.

Replayability

Photo of new Galencourt map announced at E3

Besides the already apparent reasons to keep coming back, Torn Banner Studios has also announced that the game will double in size over the next year and give players even more content for free. The first is Galencourt, which will bring a new map. You can check out this video from E3 where they talk about everything that you need to know.

What It Could Have Done Better

The game has a few small bugs that don’t interrupt the gameplay. They are actively being patched out by the devs and are really only limited to things popping up on-screen, spawning locations, and some dialogue being quiet. It’s cool to see the devs actively patching these small issues though.

Verdict

Chivalry II more than lived up to my expectations. The combat is extremely satisfying and you really won’t find anything like it, especially on console. I’ve never experienced such smooth gameplay and it’s probably the main reason why I keep coming back. It’s an addictive game to jump into as it’s fun to play because of everything that the devs have put into it. Seeing that the dev team is actively taking care of the game and giving its players even more free content in the future, you couldn’t ask for a better experience. So journey forth and give this one a try!