There was a time when I was really into competitive multiplayer games. I’d try to get to the top of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 scoreboard, and try to have a positive k/d r. That faded as I grew older and, well, less good at action games. I began to feel like a weak link in team matches, and got sick of getting steam rolled in free-for-alls. It got even worse when battle royale’s appeared on the scene because then I became one of only three-four people on a team, way too much pressure to perform. So I drifted away, but still found myself wanting to get into a new multiplayer game from time to time. Then Chivalry 2 showed up running and screaming like a beacon of hope with its head cut off.
On the surface, Chivalry 2 is a mindless mess of blood, bodies, and broadswords. It’s like those massive battles from Braveheart, and you’re just one of the random soldiers. You run around, often screaming, holding a giant sword or mace or axe and hack away at people wearing red or blue. At the best of times you get engaged in a one-on-one dance of death with another solider as chaos ensues all around you. This usually ends with you, or them getting, stabbed in the back by three other enemy soldiers who just charged in screaming, with no idea of just how dramatic and important the scene was that just unfolding. But those brief moments of one-on-one action is just enough to scratch my competitive multiplayer itch. This was a real person I was fighting, not some AI that I could take advantage of.
Of course most of the time you are just running around, chopping arms and heads off, only to have your own head inevitably removed from your flailing torso. There’s a leaderboard, but it’s only shown if you bring it up yourself. There’s actually a pretty deep set of fighting moves that make one-on-on encounters exciting, and crowd control a valuable skill. You can also just chuck firebombs and yell “FOR AGATHA!!” as you blindly swing your great sword, hitting both enemies and allies alike. The point is that the game is what you make of it.
The battles are so large with 40-60 players spread over huge battlefields that one person rarely stands out. It’s certainly rewarding to play well and help bring your team to victory, but it’s totally possible to just sit back and let someone else do the heavy lifting. There’s little to no pressure for any individual to perform, and the game never makes you feel useless for having a bad one. At the end it’s either your team won or lost and it was because of your collective actions… or inactions. Sometimes people do get all worked up if their team loses, but they can go cry about it on the battlefield.
In all seriousness, Chivalry 2 solves almost all the problems I’ve had with multiplayer games over the last few years. It takes all the pressure I feel to perform by casting me as a no-name extra in a Game of Thrones battle scene. It doesn’t require a high level of skill or reflexes to perform at a moderately competitive level. Finally, it doesn’t even take itself seriously enough for me to think I’m doing it all wrong. It strikes a perfect balance between challenging and casual, allowing you to flip between them at any given moment. I’m not sure how long I’ll stick with it after the novelty wears off, but until then you can find me in Chivalry 2 telling some dolt to sod off whilst getting stabbed in the back by a knife throwing lunatic with an arrow in his arse.
