Multiplayer games like Chivalry 2 have to strike a fine balancing act. Their competitive nature attracts a core audience who want to become the most efficient players possible by learning every strategy and climbing to the top of the leaderboards. Their pick-up-and-play gameplay attracts those just looking to blow off steam, a casual audience that just wants an hour of chaos before logging off. There are few games as adept at striking that balance as this new medieval first-person slasher from Torn Banner Studios.
A sequel to one of the sleeper multiplayer hits of 2012, Chivalry 2 continues to focus solely on deathmatch and objective team modes with a tiny bit of free-for-all action thrown in. There are eight maps in total (five for objective and three for deathmatch) that cycle automatically once players load into a server. Matchmaking s lobbies of either 40 or 64 players, but either option produces chaotic battlefields that require quick wits and deft combat precision to survive.
Although Chivalry 2 seems simplistic at first, the highly recommended tutorial strips away that notion quickly. The control scheme was definitely designed for a controller, but it's commendable just how many actions Torn Banner Studios managed to fit on a gamepad thanks to double taps and button combinations. It all becomes second nature after a few rounds, although asg certain actions to the paddles of an Xbox Elite-style controller might make things even better.
There are three attacks players can perform with each of the many different weapons available, and picking up a shield or throwing knives will change up those moves to compensate for the new status quo. Once players have a general sense of the controls, it's easy to get a handle on new weapons they find strewn about, but figuring out the precise placement of each attack takes a lot of time.
Chivalry 2's unique combat produces an impressive smooth onramp to get weekend warriors onboard for the long haul. Players will initially spawn in and spam attacks, pick up the random objects on the battlefield and have fun with the in-game emotes. A few hours in, anyone who's still around will know what they're doing enough to start noticing what works best. A few hours after that, it's easy to spend time role-playing after kills with voice lines in the same way one might in more social games like Minecraft. It's a progression system that just works, making the game highly accessible and highly skill-based at the same time.
In those same few hours, it's also easy to notice just how quickly the maps cycle in each server. A roster of eight maps is alright, but it's not a lot of content for a game like this, especially when compared to other modern multiplayer-only releases. This also hurts considering the lineage of the series on Steam. The original Chivalry was the type of game where each custom server featured maps and weapons that were far beyond what the base game provided. Chivalry 2 is a tightened-up release that's exclusive to the Epic Games Store on PC, so none of that variety is achievable at this time.
Even if dedicated warriors will have the maps memorized within a few days of play, Chivalry 2 does promise combat that never goes the same way twice. There are truly unique options like launching teammates into the heart of the battlefield with a catapult or grabbing a pitchfork and pushing enemy soldiers off a bridge. The amount of seemingly unique animations meshing together into a cacophony of carnage is the reason that Chivalry 2 truly shines. With some updates and proper mod , it will easily sur the first game and its impressive medieval game imitators, and as it stands now, Chivalry 2 is already immense fun.
Chivalry 2 is out now on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. Screen Rant was provided a PC copy of the game for the purposes of this review. Additional testing was done on Xbox Series X.
