For Honor is an exciting, action-packed fighting game. Despite a rough start after release and several setbacks, For Honor has rebounded and is performing better and better. We give you five reasons to take a look at For Honor – especially now that it is free for PS4 through PS Plus in February 2019.
What is For Honor? For Honor is a fighting game that focuses on duels and battles with up to four versus four players.
In various game modes, you prove your skills. You besiege castles, capture territories, and take out your enemies to achieve victory.
Why should I check out For Honor? For those with a PS Plus subscription for PS4, For Honor is even free starting February 5, 2019. However, there are several additional reasons to dive into For Honor.
Update on February 5, 2019: For Honor is now available for free download in the PS Store*.
Reason 1: The unique gameplay of For Honor
In For Honor, you battle as a Samurai, Knight, Viking, or Wu Lin against other characters in exciting matches. The gameplay mechanics are unique and provide a different experience than most other games can deliver.
For Honor is based on armed close combat and martial arts, which are partially accurately drawn from real existing martial arts.
Authentic close combat and spectacular finishers
The focus of For Honor is on the combat between two heroes. Therefore, the animations and fighting styles are impressive. Each hero has their own style and fights with their own characteristic weapon.
The combat system is based on blocks, feints, quick and heavy attacks, as well as dodge steps.
Many heroes bring unique features such as ranged attacks, special feints, or hard counters.
Additionally, For Honor offers spectacular and sometimes very bloody visuals. If you defeat your enemy with a heavy blow, you have the opportunity to execute them afterwards.
These finishers, known as executions, eliminate the opposing hero and prevent respawn by their teammates, providing a clear and spectacular conclusion to a duel.
No matter whether you’ve won or lost, an execution is a worthy ending for a fight.
Executions are one of the main features of For Honor. You even have the option to purchase and equip special executions for the heroes to use your personal favorites.
Diversity through game modes
For Honor offers a lot of variety in different game modes. Duels emphasize perfect mastery of the character, sieges enhance teamwork with others, and point matches require strategic thinking and collaborative efforts.
In addition, For Honor offers a story and PvE modes for solo players. In a long story, you can experience how the eternal conflict of the factions began and face many different bosses.
In PvE matches, you can play for yourself, train, or collect experience and equipment alone or with a friend in the arcade.
Reason 2: For Honor has improved significantly
For Honor had a tough start. After its release in February 2017, it lost many players and was considered a “dead game” for some time. However, Ubisoft did not give up and continued to work hard to improve For Honor.
Those who quickly left For Honor at launch and decide to check back in today will find a significantly better game.
New faction, new heroes
Despite much criticism, new heroes and even a completely new faction have been developed further. The Wu Lin, a faction inspired by Chinese fighters, was introduced with the DLC “Marching Fire”. (additional purchase required)
The faction provides four new playable heroes, expanding the roster with their unique fighting styles:
- Shaolin, a hybrid fighter with staves and high agility
- Tiandi, a strong Vanguard with a sabre and hard hits
- Jiang Jun, a heavy fighter with a spear
- Nuxia, a swift fighter with two hooks as weapons
Additionally, more heroes for all factions have been added in various updates.
A new game mode
Along with the Wu Lin, a new game mode, the Arcade, was also added with the “Marching Fire” DLC. This is a PvE-based solo and co-op mode. (This DLC is also required)
In the arcade mode, you face off against AI in various scenarios. The mode is designed to offer “endless replayability”. There are several modifiers that can affect your life or your attacks.
You complete quests with multiple chapters and receive experience and equipment for your chosen hero. Both can be transferred to the multiplayer modes.
Reason 3: Wonderful graphics
The visuals of a game are a key reason for many to play it. For Honor boasts truly great graphics that even look superb on not-so-modern PCs.
Details like scratches on armor, blood stains, and artistic paintings on the war masks of the heroes and NPCs as well as impressive buildings and siege weapons enhance the gameplay wonderfully.
The animations, especially the depiction of the popular executions, are further enhanced by the details and immerse you in the battles. It is simply fun to dive into a good fight with such a great look.
Ubisoft has even continued to improve the graphics with the “Marching Fire” update. Compared to the game’s early days, there are now:
- redesigned textures with more details
- more realistic reflections of the sun
- a correct skybox
- more intense colors
Additionally, all settings have been optimized. For Honor should not only look better due to these innovations but also require less performance, thereby running more smoothly.
Reason 4: Many active players
If you want to start playing For Honor, now is an ideal time. After recovering from the initial setback, according to Ubisoft, in February 2018 over a million players were playing For Honor simultaneously each month.
When our author Tom, who truly loves For Honor, wanted to jump back in after a break, player shortage was one of his concerns: Would I have to wait long for a match?
However, it turned out that so many players still play For Honor that there was hardly any waiting time.
Many people still regularly play For Honor on Steam as well. In January 2019, there were an average of 5,590 players on Steam. Through a free promotion, in August 2018, the number of concurrent players even temporarily rose to 210,000 – just on Steam.
A similar success could come to For Honor on PS4 from the PS Plus promotion. So now is particularly worth checking it out, as you are likely to be playing with other newcomers and not immediately get beaten up by pros.
According to the quarterly report from July 2018, the PS4 is also the most important platform for Ubisoft.
Reason 5: The development of For Honor continues
If you want to start playing For Honor now, you do not need to worry about server shutdowns in the foreseeable future. Ubisoft has already released plans for the future of For Honor, and there is no end in sight.
On January 31, the “Year of the Harbinger” begins, where Ubisoft has already announced the Black Prior as the new hero for the Knights. Ubisoft has also shown a roadmap with further content for 2019. Other planned contents include:
- a new Samurai hero
- a new Viking hero
- another Wu Lin hero
There will also be seasons where players will continuously compete against each other. With each victory that you achieve, you supply your chosen faction with more support for an overarching battle for control of the most territories.
This battle is overarching across all platforms. The strongest faction will receive special rewards at the end of each round and for each season, consisting of cosmetics, chests, or steel. The losers will receive something as well, but less. (Steel is needed for purchases in the in-game shop)
For Honor is suitable for you if…
- … you are eager for a unique fighting game in a medieval setting.
- … you liked Assassin’s Creed and want to experience that feeling in a multiplayer battle.
- … you love challenges and enjoy getting into the mechanics of a game.
- … you are into Knights, Vikings, Samurais, or Chinese fighters.
- … you like to dominate opponents with particularly impressive executions.
For Honor is not suitable for you if…
- … you can’t handle defeats. It will take a while before you become good.
- … you are looking for battles with many players, like those offered by Chivalry.
- … you lose patience quickly or get angry while gaming.
How can I download For Honor?
If you have PS Plus, you can simply download For Honor for free from the PlayStation Store starting Tuesday, February 5, 2019, and play as long as your subscription is active. If your subscription expires, your progress will remain, but you can only play again once the subscription is reactivated or you purchase the game. The game is approximately 32 GB in size according to the PlayStation Store.
Rating: 4/5 stars from 9968 ratings.
Metacritic: 78% for the PS4 version.
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