The medieval MMO Conqueror’s Blade is now free for all players to play on PC. But is it any good? We took a look at the strategy-action mix.
What is Conqueror’s Blade? My.com’s latest game is a mix of an action MMO like Mordhau or For Honor and a strategy game like Total War. You initially play as a commander that you control directly in battle. You have various skills and weapons at your disposal to take down other players and their troops.
At the same time, you also command a unit of soldiers that follow your commands and are essential for victory. Later, the game also opens up a strategy mode where you conquer fortifications and lands, founding “houses” like in Game of Thrones alongside other players, leading to epic wars on a large, open map.
This is as far as I, Jürgen, got in the first hours and battles of the game, but what I experienced up to that point, I want to share with you here.
The First Steps in Conqueror’s Blade
This is how character creation works: Conqueror’s Blade starts like a typical MMORPG with a character editor. There, you select gender, hair color, face, and other details.
Interestingly, there is also a kind of questionnaire for character creation. It tells the story of how your young hero meets an old knight who asks him various questions. Depending on how you answer, you receive different bonuses to your character stats.
I think it’s a nice and atmospheric way to distribute mundane game stats.
How does it work with weapons and classes? Instead of a class, you must choose a weapon in Conqueror’s Blade. This determines what skills you have. Initially, the following options are available:
- Sword and Shield, for a balanced combat style
- Large swinging weapons, like a Chinese Guan Do polearm or the massive Nodachi sword
- Two daggers for quick attacks
- A heavy musket that packs a punch but takes ages to reload
At first, you can only use and level one weapon, but later there is the possibility to equip additional gear and thus gain other skills. In the tutorial, I can test all the weapons at my leisure before I decide on my first one.
This is how you command troops in battle: Once I have learned the basics of combat in the tutorial, I can finally command troops. As a troop leader on the battlefield, you are rarely alone.
The spear unit assigned to me follows me dutifully everywhere. With the push of a button, I can send them anywhere on the battlefield, change formations, or command a charge or a defensive position.
This works pleasantly simply, and the AI has, at least in my previous experiences, not been too foolish.
“My First Battle” or “What Not to Do in Conqueror’s Blade”
Slowly, the many tutorials are getting annoying, and I’m itching for a proper first battle! Luckily, that’s coming soon, as at the end of the training phase, I participate as a subordinate leader of a large mercenary army in the battle against a traitor who has barricaded himself in a castle.
This is how the first battle goes: There, I see for the first time the great strength of Conqueror’s Blade, as the game creates a truly strong battlefield atmosphere. Hundreds of soldiers run towards the front with raised weapons, siege towers rumble through the mud, huge trebuchets hurl rocks at the enemy positions, and arrows whiz through the air.
And I am right in the thick of it with my loyal soldiers. I am supposed to storm the enemy gate, which is currently being attacked by a battering ram.
This is why Conqueror’s Blade is NOT like For Honor: I eagerly run forward just as the gate gives way with a crash. I used to enjoy playing For Honor, and nothing gave me more joy than mowing down those silly little AI soldier mobs by the dozen.
Well, while Conqueror’s Blade resembles For Honor in some ways, no one told the AI soldiers that they are supposed to be harmless cannon fodder. I take them down fairly quickly with a few blows, but they are far from the harmless straw dummies of For Honor.
How dangerous the battles are: Rather, the opponents fight back fiercely, and after I take down a few, I find myself in the middle of a swarm of angry soldiers who are furiously hacking at me with axes!
“Help! Get me out of here!” I shout to my own soldiers! The lazy cowards must be hiding somewhere?!
They indeed do, but the poor guys have to fight their way through the crowd of enemies to reach me, while I, despite desperately trying to defend myself, cannot escape because the hordes of enemies block all movement. It doesn’t take long before my once proud hero falls in a whirl of blades. Stupid.
This is why dying is stupid: After a while, I can respawn, but what is this? My soldiers are gone, and I must choose another unit from a limited pool. My spear carriers must have been completely wiped out by the enemies while trying to retrieve my corpse in my absence. And unlike me, the hero, the regular infantry don’t have respawns and stay dead!
And if I keep pulling off such stunts a few more times, at some point there will be no troops left to choose from after I respawn, and I’ll have to enter battle all alone. Considering the killer soldiers on the other side, that makes me pretty uneasy.
Therefore, I will proceed more cautiously next time and first observe what the opponents are doing and what my allied bots are up to. And lo and behold, there is a gap in the enemy ranks, and I brutally break through the front of my formation and chop my way through the enemies. Finally, I encounter the enemy commander, and a fierce duel ensues amid the chaos.
This is how the fights play out: Even in one-on-one combat, it quickly becomes clear that while Conqueror’s Blade looks a bit like For Honor, it definitely is not. The duels are more a frenzy of skills and attacks. Occasionally, I dodge attacks. Blocking doesn’t seem to work too well.
But my wild clicking has success, and the opponent eventually lies in the dust. The battle is won, and I can finally leave the tutorial for the real game.
This is what happens after the tutorial: After the tutorial, my character is released from the mercenary unit and can pursue his own career as a warlord. In a large city, I accept quests and enter matchmaking for instant battles, where it essentially works the same as in the tutorial.
I can team up with players to fight against the AI or venture into a 15v15 match with other players. Since each of the 15 players brings along a unit of soldiers, it amounts to quite a bit of troop strength, making you really feel like you are in a medieval skirmish.
The goal is to capture and hold points. There are often fierce brawls for the points, which are frequently won by sheer force of numbers.
From time to time, however, a clever player has the idea to flank the large mass, which can quickly determine the outcome of the battle. Such tactical moments break up the otherwise often chaotic melee.
These are the RPG elements: After the battle, there are experience points for the character as well as for the troops, as well as money and items to upgrade your hero or soldiers.
Because Conqueror’s Blade does not skimp on RPG elements. You can improve your hero, learn new stats, equip gear, and utilize completely new weapons.
The same goes for units. You start in the regular game with shabby peasants, but you can upgrade them and eventually replace them with more competent units from the research tree.
So, the peasant scamps eventually turn into elite troops like pikemen or heavy infantry. And your hero, who initially runs around in tattered rags, later dons shining armor and wields razor-sharp steel.
My Conclusion on Conqueror’s Blade
What I liked: Conqueror’s Blade is fun because you really feel like a commander when leading troops into wild melees, hacking and bashing your way through until finally facing the enemy leader in a fierce duel and gaining the upper hand. Then, his troops flee, and you can enjoy the victory, exhausted but happy.
I also really like the many RPG elements as an MMORPG fan, and I love fine-tuning my troops and optimizing my hero.
What I liked less: Unfortunately, you can also tell that Conqueror’s Blade has some quirks. The animations often seem quite clumsy compared to games like For Honor, and the controls are awfully clunky. Often, I miss my target because the controls mess up, and in the thick of battles, fights often degenerate into a spam of skills.
I have also noticed the dominance of ranged fighters who constantly dance out of reach and shoot with ranged weapons.
But despite the errors and flaws, I am currently having a lot of fun with Conqueror’s Blade, and I won’t be putting this medieval MMO down anytime soon. Especially since I still want to experience the promising strategy part with the open world.
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