For Honor Reviews

For Honor's multiplayer is special, but as a whole it's let down by the less good single player, sometimes dodgy matchmaking, and a surfeit of microtransactions. The combat, though, is fantastic — it's gutsy and weighty, and you feel like a badass.

Republished on Wednesday 30th January 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of February's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows.

For Honor is a visceral and exhilarating melee-based multiplayer experience like no other. Take on the role of the knight, viking, or samurai and face off against other players to the death. Players can customize their characters and learn multiple different moves and combos to eviscerate their foes. Guard against incoming blows and strike back to defeat your enemies.

Honor and discipline.

For Honor sounds like something I’ve been wanting for a very long time indeed – a multiplayer game with melee combat, a variety of warriors taken from across history, and the ability to shunt players off a ledge causing an untimely, frustrating, and hilarious death. It honestly sounds too good to be true – and in some aspects, it is, while in others, it outshines all expectations.

Where a lot of other competitive games use melee combat as a secondary means, For Honor shows a respect and admiration for the art of combat that's as compelling and thrilling as any gunfight in a first-person shooter or battle in a strategy game. For the most part, For Honor is a competitive game with a unique, sharply-honed combat system that's easy enough to pick up, but filled with depth and challenge to truly master. While the game's fairly high skill ceiling and emphasis on micro-transactions might be off-putting to some players, For Honor is an experience that's truly fit for those that are warriors at heart.

For Honor is an incredibly fun online experience with fast and fun game modes and a fantastic battle system that is simple to use but almost has the depth of a fighting game. Unfortunately, the loot box system for unlocking important items for your characters and connection issues hold For Honor back

The ingredients for a great game are all there in For Honor, and many of those ingredients are put to good use. However, it is by no means a perfect game, and many of its flaws are fatal. There is an audience for For Honor, but it might be more niche than Ubisoft was expecting.

The 12 different heroes are divided into 4 classes, Vanguard, Heavy, Assassin, and Hybrid (4 for each faction, 1 of each of the 4 classes). The Vanguard class, has a strong defense and mediocre attack. Heavies fall in with large amounts of damage output and great defense. Assassin’s my personal favorite, are best at getting in quick, taking a few swipes at the enemy and retreating, before going back for more. The Hybrid class, as its name suggest combines the other three classes of each faction, into a hero capable of almost anything. Each one offering numerous attacks and counter attacks. My personal favorites have become the Peacekeeper (Knight Assassin), the Valkyrie (Viking Hybrid) and the Nobushi (Samurai Hybrid). The Peacekeeper’s combat style reminds me very much of Assassin’s Creed, and as pretty big fan I was instantly drawn to it. The Valkyrie sports a javelin and shield during combat allowing for all sorts of shield bashes and slashes. It hits home for me as well because of my fascination for Vikings and other seafaring nomads. The Nobushi, not very different from the Valkyrie carries a staff with a blade attached to the end. The Nobushi is my favorite of the four Samurai because of its lightning speed mobility allowing you to get in and get out as fast as possible.

For Honor has a premise that speaks to me and engages me instantly. Vikings vs. Knights vs. Samurai in an epic showdown with intense, violent hand-to-hand combat? Where do I sign up? What the game does so well though is not just its clever (if not a little bit silly) concept, but instead the incredibly intricate combat system that is the glue holding the experience together. The campaign only really serves as an appetizer for the main course that is multiplayer, which has more than enough mea...

Ubisoft have two game series that will always stick out to me for their debut games: Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed. The reason for this is simple: both games had interesting concepts but they weren’t fully realised until the sequel. For Honor is similar in this regard as there are clear things that can be improved with a sequel, however I still believe it is well worth playing. The combat in the game is fantastic, and though the learning curve may be steep, once you get the hang of it y...

For Honor starts with some great ideas, but will likely cater to only a niche of gamers.

I hope so. I hope in six months I’m excited about For Honor again. I hope people will throw this review back at me later and say For Honor just needed a few tweaks to achieve greatness. As it is, this is a game with a disposable single-player campaign, multiplayer matches that crash or disconnect as often as they complete, and a slew of fantastic mechanics that only rise to the surface in a single game mode out of a half-dozen.

One of the best new fighting games of the last several years, and all the more exciting because of its originality and accessibility.

For Honor is a game of two halves. One is underwhelming; the other is brutal, bloody, and brilliant.

However, it's worth playing For Honor right now, because it's an experience that's quite unlike anything out there at the moment. It brings together a variety of different influences, but puts them together to create something quite unique. It's a melting pot of elements from fighting games, MOBAs, and team-based FPS games, and while there are some rough edges here and there, anyone with an interest in multiplayer should definitely check this one out.

Whether you prefer, multiplayer or story, Dominion or Duel, viking or knight or samurai, there’s something for every gamer in For Honor. With a compelling story, beautiful customization options, competition, community, this game is both a triumph and a damn good fight.unity, and a damn good fight.

Overall, For Honor is a unique multiplayer experience that brings the art of intimate combat mixed in with the fan faction of your favorite warriors clashing to the death. Ubisoft has another great title under its belt that has a long life ahead of it, with seasons to see which faction is the victor and looming on the horizon is the Events mode, which is sure to add even more of the competitive spirit among player factions. Although, it isn’t without its faults, that doesn’t deter from the quality you are sure to have with the game and the fun of chopping off a vikings head with a samurai’s blade.

A fighting game unlike any other, For Honor is an experience that grows increasingly enjoyable and rewarding the more you play. A game in which Knights, Vikings and Samurai do battle, For Honor is exactly as awesome as it should be.

For Honor has some dents in its shiny armor, such as the mediocre campaign, the frugal economy, and the snowballing victories in team modes. But it’s hard to be mad too long when I consider that the melee combat system is second to none and a joy to learn, take your licks, and then learn some more. I could feel myself becoming a better warrior with this deep, flexible, and complete fighting system. The more I play For Honor, the more I want to play For Honor. I hope Ubisoft doubles-down on support, because it’s something truly special.

For Honor joins Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch, and Destiny, as a game that is destined to grow over time. Right now it offers a strong core experience, but will ultimately be defined by months of rebalancing and a steady flow of new content. Having such a long tail will make For Honor even more enticing further down the line as it continues to snowball. That said, it’s refreshing and addictive enough at present to lure in anyone looking for a multiplayer game that defies the norm.

For Honor will inevitably be a favorite of mine. It combines easy to pick up, complicated to master fighting and action-style gameplay with compelling gameplay types and there's nothing quite like it. However, if you were looking for a single-player game, you might not want to purchase this title. The heart and soul of For Honor are its multiplayer modes, and unfortunately, at this time, there are enough issues with matchmaking and peer-to-peer connections that you may want to wait until Ubisoft has some time to fix those problems. However, once For Honor has a solid networking backbone I can say it'll be one of my go to multiplayer titles for the next few years to come.

A horn sounds in the distance, signaling that our army is at its breaking point. I look down at the grassy field from the relative safety of a crumbling wall. One of my comrades is clashing with a knight, doing his best to block the unrelenting swings of his opponent’s morning star. Two of the knight’s allies come, and it’s three against one. I could run down and help, but even then we’d be outnumbered. Instead, I call in a volley of arrows. The projectiles rain down on our enemies, slaughtering them in seconds. Our ragged forces regroup, and we manage to narrowly pull a victory from what seemed like an inevitable loss. At its best, For Honor lets you live out the fantasies you had as a kid, where every stick was a blade and your backyard was a roiling battleground waiting for your swordsmanship to save the day.

At around the 5 hour mark something finally clicked and I stopped treating For Honor like a glorified Dynasty Warriors game. Throwing out flurries of heavy attacks and easily telegraphed rolls wasn’t working and, until then, I couldn’t easily grasp why. Nothing in my gaming vocabulary could make sense of what exactly For Honor wanted from me. It wasn’t until I slowed down, took a deep breath, and lengthened my patience, that I came to realize that For Honor was quietly offering the deepest and most satisfying third person combat ever devised. That’s on me. I hadn’t been following the game up until now but I’m glad that I’ve come around because For Honor is special and worth some attention.

After an absurd overload of information and a, frankly, too-short tutorial, nobody could be angry at you for not delving deeper – but, if you decide to stick with it, For Honor has depth and some good ideas and unique gameplay beneath the surface.

Violence solves everything on these brutal battlefields.

Although the campaign falls well shy of the mark, the innovative Art of Battle system makes for a great multiplayer brawler.

War is ultimately part of the nature of humanity. There are many causes as to why it occurs, be it greed or differing ideals, and it often brings out both the best and worst of mankind all at once. Combat being at the core of everyone is one of For Honor‘s main ideas, and it’s why samurai, knights, and vikings are all duking it out in Ubisoft’s latest major release.

For Honor is a brilliant new hybrid fighting game that's only issue is connecting to servers.

For Honor offers up one of the most visceral multiplayer experiences in video games. The single player campaign is a nice diversion, but won't satisfy those seeking a full experience. Once you hit multiplayer though, you'll be hooked and finding time for other video games will be the real problem.

For Honor is a gorgeous game filled with brutal combat. At times your armor will become red soaked in the blood of your enemies. PvP is fun and can be fast paced but at times you’ll be best served to slow it down and be more strategic. As an arena sword fighter For Honor does an admirable job but it falls short in supporting an epic campaign. Hopefully the eternal war meta game can keep the players satisfied for the long haul. It’s easy to see the novelty wearing off for a lot of players ...