Mordhau is a P2P multiplayer melee primarily close-combat slasher fighting game set in the medieval era that released on April 29, 2019. It was developed by the independent international company Triternion on the Unreal Engine 4. The title come from the German medieval combat style called ‘Mordhau,’ that entailed holding the sword upside-down by the blade in order to use it for blunt force assaults. It’s PEGI 12, but with the violence, gore, language and presence of much older players who are able to voice-chat, it would probably be wise for parents to leave this to older kids. It can be bought either through Steam or the official Mordhau website.

Mordhau Gameplay

The Mordhau game is currently a fps game, although the developers are working on the third-person perspective that will not give tps players an advantage over fps games. As for damage, there are no-holds-barred. Unlike Fornite, damage isn’t simply indicated by a health-bar – it is visually expressed. As player’s hack at their opponents, they will see body parts flying and blood gushing out of wounds, with the dismembered corpses remaining strewn around until the end of combat. Players can opt to turn off the gore, if they find that it’s too much for them.

The developers have stated that they have no plans for skill-based matchmaking, as they want the combat to feel as ‘organic and brutal’ as possible. Similarly, there is no battle-bus equivalent. Rather, players spawn randomly on the map and can try to run to a defensible position while waiting for other players to spawn in.

Combat

While there are many attacks and abilities that are controlled by key-bindings, the direction of attacks and primary attacks and parry ability are controlled by the mouse, meaning that the direction of the mouse determining the direct of an attack or block. However, blocks can only be maintained for a limited time, so players need to time their parry attacks carefully. There are no locked attacks, so players can adjust their attacks mid-combat in order to make the combat as realistic as possible.

Attacks can be cancelled be fore they’re fully committed, thereby giving players a window period to trick opponents into parrying, and therefore wasting their stamina and opening them up to a quick follow-up attack. Players can also morph one attack into another by toggling between them, which can help to throw their opponent’s timing off.

  • Mouse controls

    The mouse controls are for the three basic attacks:

    • Left button – The players can perform a sweeping cut attack with their weapon, with the direction being determined y the mouse movement before pressing the button. These movements will determine whether the player carries out a thrust from below, above, left or right.
    • Scroll wheel – This is the thrust attack and is controlled in the same way as the ‘cut’ attack.
    • Right mouse – initiates a parry. This must be aimed at the opponent’s weapon to be effective. It also needs to be carefully timed as they cannot be held for long. Parrying drains stamina, so it is important for players not to simply be on the defensive. Furthermore, if players block from the wrong angle, they will leave themselves open to the attack.

  • Key Controls

    Players can set their key-bindings according to their own preferences. These abilities include kicks, which can only be blocked with kicks or attacks.

Modes

Battle Royale

17 – 64 players scramble to find equipment and weaponry with which to hack down their opponents until they are the last player standing.

Frontline

This is a 64-player two-team (Red and Blue) mode, where one-set of players attempt to capture the other team’s land from their opponents, ultimatly forcing them to retreat to their home base. The game ends either when this is achieved, or if one of the teams is annihilated by the other.

Team Deathmatch

Battle Royale team-style.

Skirmish

Best-of round-based team deathmatches.

Horde

This is a 6-player co-op mode, where players need to survive hordes of AI knights that attack in waves. Each wave is increasingly more skilled and therefore more difficult to defeat. The only goal is to survive as long as possible and to beat either their own or the leaderboard high scores. Additionally, players will earn gold with each kill.

Single Player

The closest mode to single player is the offline practice mode where players can play against bots.

The FAQ states that they will allow for mods, so it is possible that community-created mods may crop up in the future.

Armory

Mordhau game

In the Mordhau game, players start out with a selection of nine class-specific characters with preset skins. Most of the initial customizations are based on the character themselves, although they can also select the type of armor (light, medium or heavy) as well. Although the game currently only features European armor and weaponry, Triternion have stated in their FAQ’s that they may consider introducing Japanese weaponry and cosmetics at a later stage, which will only further contribute to the chaos of the game. Aside from appearances, players can also choose the voice that they would like their character to have. These include English and Scottish accents.

Weapons

Weapons do matter in this game, as they greatly affect a player’s playing style. Different weapons have different ranges and damage capacities. Heavier weapons inflict higher damage, but they also slow the character down and have slower reaction times.

However, while there are some weapons available to the player from the onset, some are only accessible after they have been unlocked. There is a wide variety of customizable weapons currently availabel including the Axe, Bow, Longsword, Shortsword, Spear, Eveningstar, Halberd, Zweihander, Bardiche, Poleaxe, Greatsword, Maul, War Axe, Battleaxe, Estoc, Short Spear, Bastard Sword, Messer, Billhook, Mace, Rapier, Warhammers, Falchion and Armingsword.

All weapons have alternate attack abilities. For instance, the longsword can be used for Mordhau attacks. This entails gripping the sword by the hilt and using the hilt as a heavy, blunt hammer-like weapon. Other weapons, such as axes and spears have two sides to their heads, with one side being better for spearing and the other for hacking. Smaller weapons, such as shortswords can either be used traditionally or thrown at opponents for mid-range attacks. The good news is that whenever a weapon is flung in this manner, it will magically reappear in the character’s hand once it has mad contact. 

Mordhau also allows players to equip shields and horse. However, shields add weight and so slow the character down. They can also find horses, which will increase their speed and range, although players will need to ensure that they have the appropriate weaponry equipped.

Players can also try out a variety of combinations, as there currently seems to be no cap on the number of characters that a player can create. To make things even easier, players can clone their existing characters and then tweak them however they would like to.

Proficiency Trees

As players progress, they will receive points that they can distribute on the proficiency tree in or order to unlock new abilities and perks. These proficiencies also apply to weaponry and armor, meaning that more advanced armor and equipment will be unlocked as layers level up. Different classes have different perks that can be used to enhance a player’s gameplay.

Currency

Gold is the in-game currency used to be new cosmetics and weaponry. It can either be earned through in-game achievements, such as killing opponents, or purchased with real-world currency. The good news is that whenever an item is bought or unlocked, it will become accessible to all of the player’s characters.

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