Opening For Honor’s “Year of the Harbinger”

Ubisoft’s For Honor will continue to add new content in 2019. Dubbing this year as the Year of the Harbinger, the melee action game is set to bring new maps, new seasonal events, and four new heroes to its roster — one for each season.

The first piece of exciting new content has already been revealed. Just last January 31, the game rolled out the first hero knight named Vortiger for Year 3 pass holders. Meanwhile, those without a pass can unlock him for 15,000 Steel.

The new hero is the leader of the Black Priors, a heavy class of heroes who wield longswords and giant kite shields. The Black Priors were formerly knights of the Order of the Holy Balaur. But they were formed after Vortiger fell under the influence of the warlord Apollyon, who is responsible for causing the game’s central war among the knights, samurai, and Vikings.

Along with Vortiger comes a new Dominion Map called Harbor. The map is a key location for the Black Priors because this was where they once helped the Knights defend against their enemies.

There are also new updates in store for the Shugoki, Warlord, and Peacekeeper heroes. Another patch includes a change to the Skill Rating. This time around, only a win or a loss will affect a player’s Skill Rating in ranked and unranked matches. This is in contrast to the previous game mechanics, wherein other factors, like the number of kills, had affected the Skill Rating.

A Rapidly Growing Player Base

For the uninitiated, For Honor was first announced at E3 2015 and then released in 2017. Similar to other Ubisoft games like Rainbow Six Siege, For Honor had a decent number of players in the first few months of its launch. But the player base grew as years passed, and Ubisoft has managed to sustain the game’s community through patches and updates since then. By October 2018, Ubisoft revealed that For Honor had amassed over 15 million players around the world.

Melee Combat Prowess

Aside from pitting knights, samurai, and Vikings against one another, For Honor is known for its intricate melee combat system. It’s a largely skill-based game and button-mashing won’t help a player progress.

Each class has their own fighting style. In general, players get to choose what type of fighter they want, whether it’s a Vanguard who is essentially an all-rounder, an Assassin who excels in mobility and stealth, or a Heavy who has high defense and a high amount of health.

After that, players then choose a hero who could be a knight, samurai, or Viking. While each hero has unique features, similarities can be found in faction characters.

For instance, knights tend to have straightforward fighting styles as is often depicted in other forms of media like the film King Arthur. Meanwhile, the samurai excel in slower, more precise attacks. It may not be as cool as in the anime series Rurouni Kenshin, but it is rather grounded in the reality that the ancient Japanese warriors did have a unique fighting style. Then, there are the Vikings who are more savage in their approach as they use intimidating tactics. The Vikings are often portrayed as barbaric, due to historic records revealing how they loved to raid and pillage. On Sandlot Games, the Vikings Go Berzerk title brings to life their wild nature. There’s no fighting mechanics in the game, but the graphics clearly show the Vikings’ barbaric characteristics. These three classes of characters make for a unique dynamic when playing For Honor.

So, it’s no wonder there’s a huge player base, as For Honor attracts people who love the historical element of fighting as well as anyone interested in melee combat games. The game is out now on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.