For Honor Lives and Dies on Its Fighting System

“For Honor’s” Marching Fire release is the best thing to happen to the history-remixing melee brawl ever since it first released back in February of last year. The release is split into two similarly named pieces of content: the Marching Fire Update and the Marching Fire Expansion. While the actual expansion itself only contains the new AI enemy-focused Arcade mode and Early Access to the new Wu Lin clan of heroes, the free update for all players adds in a bevy of graphical improvements, a brand new gear/perk system, and the wonderfully chaotic Breach mode.

Sony has revealed February's free slate for PlayStation Plus subscribers, which includes the service's last games for last generation's PlayStation 3 and the handheld Vita. The monthly selection free games is an incentive to get people to keep paying for the $10-a-month PlayStation Plus, which also gives you access to online multiplayer. Microsoft and Nintendo have similar services although Nintendo does not give out any Switch games, instead offering digital NES classics.

The third-person camera, the medieval settings and the melee weapons had caught me off guard, thinking this was an action-adventure, or a hack-and-slash somewhat like Ryse. Approaching it with those expectations left me disappointed. When I accepted it as a fighting game, though, my attitude changed. Rooted in a clear system of checks and balances that require varied moves and annihilate spam attacking as viable gameplay, For Honor delivers some of the most creative melee combat I've seen. I'm no Robocop in this game, but there's something to be said for actually facing the person who chopped me down, rather than being slower on the draw or picked off from a blind spot. For Honor still has some qualities to help novices or the fighting-game averse. And the truth is that most everyone in For Honor, a week into its launch, hasn't played anything like it either.

Sometimes the best parts of a game aren't where its heart lies. If you want to experience For Honor in its prime, make a beeline for duels. Here, you're free to savour the meaty wonderment of the game's weapon-based combat system without distraction, away from the chaos of the team-based modes. A quick overview of the basics, for newcomers: fighters switch between left, right and top stances to launch or block attacks from those directions, as indicated by a three-segment shield icon. Each move burns stamina, and draining the bar will leave you as helpless as a kitten, so knowing when to ease off and catch your breath is key.

PlayStation 4 is getting For Honor and Hitman: The Complete First Season. For Honor is a melee-based multiplayer action game from Ubisoft that came out in 2017. Hitman is a stealth-based assassination game that released in 2016. It's sequel, Hitman 2, just came out last year. PlayStation 3 owners get Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Divekick, while Vita gets Gunhouse and Rogue Aces. These are the last PS Plus offerings for both of the aging platforms. Finally, to enjoy all the features in the game, players can Buy FH Steel Credits from Mmocs at a reasonable price.