We last posed about Chivalry: Medieval Warfare more than a year ago, and gosh, it’s come quite a long way since then. Which, I suppose, is to be expected, since that’s how game development works. At any rate, the first-person knight-in-shining-armor-slayer is approaching beta, so Torn Banner Studios has opted to take you by the hand and wade into the thick of battle. Head past the break to see the full thing. Oh, and probably bring an umbrella. Otherwise, you might end up getting arm in your hair.



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I think this one’s definitely on my radar now. It looks like messy, nasty, ugly fun, but with a definite hint of one-wrong-move-and-you’re-done simulation. I’m digging the focus on mission objectives more creative than a thinly veiled “Go here, kill some dudes, move a thing,” too. Also – and this is probably the main takeaway – it’s first-person melee combat that actually looks like it can stand alone. A lot of thought’s clearly been put into weapon range, type, and relative power, so hopefully, it’ll sprinkle a bit of thinking into our hacking, slashing, and decapitating.

I do have some concerns about the general floatiness of combat, though. I mean, a few of those one-on-one battles looked like heavier hitting versions of herky-jerky Skyrim fights, so I hope Torn Banner focuses on tightening up the animations before sending this one to the frontlines. I also don’t quite get the same sense of embodying a character from this as I do from, say, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Everything seems a bit stiff in comparison – less like a skilled knight and more like Frankenstein’s monster caged in a suit of armor. Still though, there’s promise here.

Chivalry’s out sometime this fall, and the dev log says we should “look for a beta in the summer.” A post on the website, meanwhile, offers a sign-up email, but also claims the beta was set to kick off in June. Regardless, I’ve sent an email to clarify.

And now this, because it’s pretty wonderful.