Revisiting Mordhau — Historical Realism Never Felt This Good

The medieval period is the subject of many dramatizations and romanticizations in the modern period. The period, which was also called the "Age of Chivalry," is often portrayed in high fantasy and historical shows, such as "A Knight's Tale," "House of the Dragon," and "Vikings."

Although many video games allow gamers to role-play and experience what it was like in such a period, medieval combat involving knights in shining armor wielding swords, maces, spears, and lances into battle captured the imagination of many people worldwide.

As such, it is no wonder why Mordhau became as successful as its spiritual inspiration, the Chivalry series.

Here's what Mordhau offers gamers who wish to try it.

Mordhau History, Gameplay

Mordhau is a hack n' slash game developed and independently published by Triternion, a small team of international developers based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, per the studio's official website.

The game has a few game modes to choose from - Invasion, Frontline, Horde, and Deathmatch.

To be specific, Invasion has players be divided into two teams, with one team assigned to complete certain tasks, while the other is assigned to prevent their completion until a timer runs out.

Frontline is a different take from Invasion, with it acting like Battlefield 4's conquest mode. Players are divided into two teams, with each being tasked to capture and hold specific areas of a map to prevent their limited set of tickets from draining. The first team to lose all their tickets loses.

Deathmatch is a free-for-all mode wherein players have to fight until they reach a certain amount of points to win with unlimited respawns.

Finally, Horde mode has six players go up against hordes of NPCs in 25 waves of increasing difficulty. This game mode may be the most expensive in terms of time spent to make it to the 25th wave, but it is the most rewarding.

Players who wish to join any of these modes may do so by choosing a mercenary to play as. For beginners, the game provides a series of default mercenaries or layouts for them to try out. These mercenaries' layouts range from a knight's, a campaign veteran's, an archer's, a crossbowman's, or that of a battlefield engineer's.

Unlike its competitor, the Chivalry series, melee combat is more realistic and comprehensive, allowing you to attack players from all possible directions (and not rely solely on vertical and horizontal strikes). You can even parry, riposte, and chamber attacks to beat your opponent with skill and brute force.

Aiming any kind of bow is similar to real life, with the player needing to keep in mind the arrow's trajectory for it to hit while not taking too long before the reticle drifts upwards to imitate arm fatigue.

Meanwhile, battlefield engineers can build fortifications that could either help teammates or harm enemies and even build catapults to hurl boulders toward enemies with wild abandon.

Soundtrack

Mordhau doesn't have much of a soundtrack apart from its main menu theme, which ends after a few minutes. As such, it could be very quiet while customizing your mercenary.

Character Customization

What Mordhau does have, however, aside from its comprehensive melee attacks, is its customization. Players can mix and match as many pieces of armor, weapons, and perks as much as they want.

Interestingly, some melee weapons have an alternate way of using them. For instance, a bastard sword can be used one-handed or two-handed, while a pole-axe can be rotated to use either its blade to slash open guts or its hammer to deal blunt damage to enemies with heavy armor.

However, players must keep in mind that the armor, weapons, and perks they select have cost a certain amount of loadout points, of which all players have 48 regardless of their player level.

This limitation is necessary to keep the game balanced. Otherwise, the game would be too broken to be enjoyable.

As such, try not to go be the medieval equivalent of the fashion police if you're playing with other players.

Verdict

Mordhau is a medieval hack n' slash game that makes you feel like a proper medieval soldier thanks to its dedication to realism. Every mechanic in the game takes some time to get used to, but what doesn't?

Although the game was last updated in 2021, the game still holds up a year later as a fun game to play casually or competitively.

The game gets an 8/10 from me, along with a recommendation for anyone looking for a medieval hack n' slash to enjoy after a long day's work.