For Honor was stamped as “dead” by many players as early as 2017. How does the online melee game fare in 2018? Is anyone still playing it?
Massive hype around For Honor: When I saw the first trailer for For Honor during E3 2015, I was bouncing excitedly in my seat. This could finally be a cool, realistic melee game, I thought. I envisioned my knight career, marching through the medieval setting, swinging swords and fighting for glory and honor.
Many other gamers felt the same way: “Goosebumps,” “Awesome,” or “I’ve been waiting for this for 10 years” were the first reactions expressed to the trailer. You can watch the world premiere trailer here:
The release in February 2017 was a great success for Ubisoft’s sword fighting epic. Even the beta phases set new records. There was a glorious and long future in sight for For Honor.
Massive criticism in 2017
But then everything changed. For Honor quickly revealed glaring weaknesses and problems. Players left the game early on. Social media and gaming magazines were full of criticism. After the hype came the sharp decline.
What problems did For Honor have?
- The matchmaking and server infrastructure caused frustration. The peer-to-peer connections were too unstable. There were lags and disconnections.
- The gear stats were unbalanced – especially Revenge caused discussions and had to be revised.
- The heroes were not balanced.
- For Honor had little long-term motivation.
- Horrendous steel prices drove players to revolt.
- There were all sorts of bugs, glitches, and exploits.
So my “For Honor” career went like many others: I went all out at the release of For Honor, often reaching my frustration limit, played the game for a few weeks, and shortly after all my friends gave up on For Honor and even resold it, I stopped as well. Sometime in April, I ended my For Honor journey.
In May 2017, I wrote a rather ruthless article about For Honor – as Season 2 had started with numerous changes and no one was interested. In the weeks prior, it was reported that For Honor had lost 95% of its player base. Google Trends painted a clear picture that Season 2 could not stop this trend.
The interest in For Honor from February 2017 to May 2017 did not noticeably increase with Season 2: Ubisoft resisted and publicly stated that reports about the player decline were “fake news. “ However, in the community, this statement was more perceived as if For Honor had failed and Ubisoft was too stubborn to admit that.
So For Honor limped along in the second half of 2017. Although some updates and new content came out, most of it appeared under the radar of gaming press.
How does For Honor fare in 2018?
Is For Honor entirely dead now? Is anyone still playing it in 2018?
No, For Honor is not dead. And yes, there are people playing it in 2018. For instance, me.
A few weeks ago, I checked in on For Honor again. Just out of curiosity to see if I can still handle my Orochi. And because I had nothing else to play.
And since then, I have been playing For Honor again with great enthusiasm!
I was then fully motivated to learn a new fighter – the Shaman – since the battles in For Honor are primarily about one’s own skill. Without studying the fighter’s abilities and having numerous practice matches, one will not be happy. You have to master your fighter and automate your movements to be successful.
And I was really looking forward to that again. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the matchmaking times are relatively short. I feared that I would be stuck in the player search forever – since “For Honor is dead.” But lo and behold, teammates are found quickly.
For Honor lives
Indeed, For Honor is now in 2018 in significantly better shape than it was in April 2017 – just two months after release. And the trend is upward!
The Steam charts reveal that For Honor currently has about 5,300 players online on Steam – on average. For comparison:
- In February 2017, the release month, there were 28,000 average players.
- In March 2017, there were 8,700.
- In April 2017, there were 3,500 – significantly less than now.
- In July 2017, there were only 1,250.
- The bottom was reached in October 2017 with 1,180 average players,
Since 2018, there has been a clear upward trend:
- In January 2018, For Honor had an average base of 2,100 players on Steam.
- In March 2018, this was 3,200.
- In June it was 4,900.
- And in the last 30 days, it was 5,300.
The player numbers on PS4 and Xbox One cannot be viewed, but they are probably positive as well. Because, as Ubisoft announced, in 2018 more than a million players are active in battles every month. Last week, there were new numbers from Ubisoft: The number of registered players has now risen to 10 million.
For Honor is in excellent health in 2018! Although Google interest is still low, it increased noticeably during E3 2018: There are players who are again interested in the future of For Honor.
For Honor does it like The Division
What are the reasons for the trend change? There are many reasons why it is worth playing For Honor again in 2018. Various fresh and free content has come in the form of new heroes, new maps, new modes, and new cosmetics. Ranked matches have been introduced, bugs and exploits have been fixed. Ubisoft worked on the gear system and the hero balance. An important innovation that enhances the quality of the gaming experience is the introduction of dedicated servers.
A development like The Division: It must be credited to the developers that they did not abandon For Honor but continuously improved and expanded it. Ubisoft also approached the much-criticized The Division similarly, which even the developers said was no longer fun. But then they addressed all the issues that players disliked, so today many agents still play The Division.
What is planned for For Honor in 2018?
No end is in sight: The developers are still releasing new cosmetic content and are still regularly hosting livestreams. The community is passionately involved, organizing tournaments – and growing.
A big update is planned for October 16, 2018: Marching Fire is coming and brings a new faction, new modes, and some improvements.
For Honor will continue to receive content in the future. And I am sure that I will check out Marching Fire in October. Because yes, someone is still playing For Honor in 2018.
You can read more information about the October update here:
