Chivalry 2 is a medieval warfare game developed by Torn Banner Studios, and is the sequel to Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. The Mason Order was victorious in the last civil war and has ruled the land for 20 years. The Agathians are now launching a new offensive under the leadership of King Argon II, while the Masons counterattack anyone and everyone the least bit sympathetic to Argon. Or you can not worry about that and just focus on hacking to bits anyone who isn't wearing your team's colors.
The core gameplay of its predecessor remains largely the same. Players still take the role of medieval soldiers on some kind of battlefield, wielding many different weapons with a variety of properties. The premier mode is Team Objective, which generally involves one side attempting to overrun a town or castle while the other side tries to stop them. There are also Team Deathmatch, Last Team Standing, 3v3 Arena, 1v1 Arena, and Free For All modes, the last of which can also be used for dueling via an honor system.
Compared to its predecessor, the following major gameplay features are new:
- Each class (Archer, Vanguard, Footman, Knight) is divided into three subclasses, each with their own unique properties.
- All weapons may be thrown or dropped, and any class may scavenge any fallen weapon from the ground. Did you run out of arrows as an archer? No problem, pick up that huge axe and start swinging.
- All classes have an expanded list of basic moves, such as jabs, dodges, counterattacks, and special attacks unique to each weapon. All classes also have a support ability that charges up over time and by performing class-specific actions.
- Combat in general is more dynamic and mobile. At any given moment, there are more options to mix up attacks or survive longer when outnumbered.
Chivalry 2 was released on June 8, 2021.
Examples of Tropes in this Video Game
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: Most deaths either have the character instantly ragdoll or else enter a brief prerecorded animation that's a little more interesting to watch, depending on where the last blow was struck. One possible death animation when the last strike was to the stomach has the character stand there clutching their stomach for over five seconds before finally keeling over, the longest animation by far and a very long time for a game with such a frenetic pace.
- An Arm and a Leg: Rarely, a player dealt a near-lethal blow may lose one or both arms and continue fighting for a while in "only a flesh wound" mode. This starts a bleed out timer, but doing enough damage quickly will give the player a second wind and let them continue minus the arm(s) indefinitely.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: There are separate levels tracked for account, each class, and each weapon. The first few levels include some gameplay unlocks so you aren't overwhelmed by choices all at once, but the vast majority of unlocks are purely cosmetic.
- Annoying Arrows: Zigzagged depending on the bow. Longbow arrows are of the annoying sort, doing little damage but having a very fast fire rate. Crossbows are quite powerful, but require a stationary reload after each shot. War bows are also powerful, but have a long draw time. Anyone caught by the latter two is going to be looking for a bandage, not laughing off the annoyance.
- Armor Is Useless: It's not useless useless, but the knights clad in full plate take a highly unrealistic amount of damage from the light swords and goofy improvised weapons. The rapier, in particular, has no business being part of the battlefield at all, yet can pierce a knight's armor every time or even whittle him down with slashes.
- Ascended Extra; The Tenosians were previously known as a foreign realm and peoples who Agatha (which at the time included the Masons) launched a war against, only to lose to the Tenosian defenders badly due to (among other things) the Tenosians using pragmatic "unchivalrous" tactics that helped contribute to Malric being even more broken. Now midway through Chivalry 2, and they appear In Person, still livid at the invasion and hauling a military that is the equal of any of the other warring powers, along with gunpowder.
- Audible Sharpness: All over the place! Bladed weapons make exaggerated "sharpness" sounds when swung or drawn. Nobody's even wearing any scabbards.
- Back Stab: The Vanguard Ambusher has the unique perk of dealing extra damage when striking enemies in the back. It is also the only class able to start with the Dagger, which has a particularly strong special attack, a reverse-grip stab. An Ambusher who manages to pull off a Dagger special to the back will deal more damage than even a Highlander Sword to the face.
- Blown Across the Room: Crossbow kills at short range have quite a tendency to send the target flying and spinning head over heels. Being close to a bomb when it explodes on an objective, or being hit by a rock flung by a catapult also tends to send everyone nearby hurtling through the air like cannonballs. A person hit by a ballista bolt will be carried along with the bolt to wherever it eventually lands.
- Bow and Sword in Accord:
- As in its predecessor game, Archers carry a melee weapon and still have access to all of the basic combat moves. Their secondary weapons are a bit weak, but a skilled player can definitely score melee kills as an Archer.
- Although it can sometimes be difficult to find a spare bow, the melee classes are perfectly capable of picking one up and relying on their decent secondary weapons for melee. For the Vanguard Raider, that secondary weapon could be a Kriegsmesser (1.5 meter-long German war sword) in accord.
- Catapult to Glory: Being launched by a catapult will cancel any fall damage you otherwise should have taken, saving you some time compared to moving on foot. It's not realistic, but it is crazy awesome.
- Character Class System: The four classes of Archer, Footman (renamed from Man-at-arms), Vanguard, and Knight return, now divided into three sub-classes each. Class determines the armor and general role, while the sub-class determines weapon options, support power, and often a unique perk.
- Charged Attack: The basic attack moves (slash, overhead, stab) can be converted into a heavy attack. Heavy attacks have the same animation with a longer windup, but do a little more damage and continue swinging through even when blocked.
- Cherry Tapping: Scoring knockdowns or kills via jabs, fists, kicks, or ridiculous improvised weapons such as thrown fish or chickens. Some of them give an extra 10 points for doing so.
- Combat Resuscitation: Dropping below zero health due to a weaker attack may cause a character to fall to their hands and knees, only able to crawl and punch. A teammate may help them back up to their feet, or they may stand after successfully delivering a couple unanswered punches.
- Critical Existence Failure: No matter how many Battle Axe overheads received or Dane Axes caught with one's face, you can still fight and move perfectly fine with a sliver of health remaining. Any health damage is just one bandage or trumpet away from being completely healed (although no-one is reattaching any arms that have been lopped off).
- Death or Glory Attack: Special attacks on most weapons have a big stamina cost, long windup, and restricted aiming. The risk is that you might be left exhausted, interrupted, or with an outright miss. But if it lands on target, it cannot be counter-attacked and has massive damage potential.
- Destination Defenestration: In "The Sacking of Bridgetown", the Tenosians' final objective is to "toss" the Agathian nobles in order to kill them. Many of the nobles happen to be nearby windows leading to a long plummet below; you're not required to defenestrate them, but the map heavily encourages it.
- Dual Wielding:
- Katars are always wielded in pairs, mechanically counting as a two-handed weapon.
- Medium and Small Shields offer a slight increase in jab damage.
- Another improvement to the jab attack comes from holding a flaming chicken. While kind of a joke weapon, it does allow the tactical flexibility of using a right-handed normal attack or a left-handed jab that lights the opponent on fire.
- Emergency Weapon: It's possible to throw other weapons or be disarmed, but fists are always a weapon of last resort. It's not something you would want to use willingly, but a punch or two might be just enough to take down a wounded opponent.
- Escort Mission:
- In the "Escape from Falmire" map, the Agathians must escort another player in the role of war hero Thawne to a docked boat, while the Masons try to kill Thawne or exhaust the clock.
- In "The Assault on Thayic Stronghold", if the Agathians are pushed back to the brink, one player is selected to control King Argon II. The Agathians must escort Argon to make a counterattack by raising two banners, while the Masons again try to kill Argon or exhaust the clock.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Tenosians, a new faction introduced in the Tenosian Invasion update, are roughly analogous to both Crusade-era Saracens and the Ottoman Empire. Their armor and weapons notably have distinct Arab and Turkic influences. They also happen to bring cannons into the field to bring down large objectives as the Masons find out in Baudwyn.
- Fragile Speedster: The Archers main melee advantage once enemies are too close. Their sidearms are faster than the Vanguards large two handed weapons, and being unarmoured, the Archers is lighter on their feet than the Footman and Knight. A quick Archer who keeps close to and attacks as fast as they can can easily survive to shoot arrows another day.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Regardless of which side you sympathize with more, the Agathians and Masons have good and bad traits in nearly equal measure. Agatha supports loyalty and honor (good), but their hereditary monarchy lends itself to power abuse (bad). The Masons support self-determination and meritocracy (good), but their policy is to kill everyone who doesn't agree with them, including defenseless peasants (bad). Little is still known about the Tenosians, however, they are vengeful after being invaded by Agatha during King Argon's reign and are not above raiding and pillaging the Agathian countryside.
- Grievous Harm with a Body:
- Anyone's decapitated head can be picked up and used as a thrown weapon.
- Some maps feature baskets of severed arms that can act as a bludgeoning melee weapon (about on par with a cudgel).
- The Aberfell map features peasants and pigs that are intended to be carried to a boat, but they can be thrown at opposing players for damage as well.
- Live chickens can be picked up and thrown, or lit on fire to act as incendiary brass knuckles.
- Hammer Hilt:
- Jabbing with any two-handed weapon will strike with the hilt or haft.
- The longsword's special attack is a haymaker-like mordhau swung with wild force, dealing more damage than any of the longsword's other possible strikes if it lands.
- Stabbing attacks with the greatsword or highlander sword are performed with half-swording due to the blades' extreme size. If the Footman class performs a sprint attack with the longsword, kriegsmesser, greatsword, or highlander sword, he will half-sword it for the sprint.
- Heal Thyself: Everyone starts with a single-use bandage for healing themselves, and a replacement can be grabbed from any supply box. Certain subclasses can throw down a bandage box that is consumed on pickup or sound a horn that restores health to multiple nearby allies.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: At each player's discretion, you can customize your avatars to wear helmets or not. The helmets look good, but they also obscure any facial customization. Helmets can be knocked off by strikes to the head, but they serve no gameplay purpose.
- Hold the Line: The basic premise of most objectives in Team Objective mode. One team has an active objective (kill targets, destroy constructions, push siege weapons, capture a zone) while the other team tries to hold the line until the timer runs out. There are multiple "lines" throughout the map, giving the defenders multiple opportunities to successfully hold for victory.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: You can pick up food and eat it with the battlecry command to restore a small amount of health. Bandages are faster, but food is sometimes available distant from any supply box.
- Immune to Flinching: All VIPs such as the Mason Heir, Thawne, the Galencourt warrior monks, and the Aberfell druids do not have their attacks interrupted by damage.
- Improbable Use of a Weapon:
- Weapons can be used in ways they're not meant to be, such as thrusting with a blunt weapon like a cudgel or hammer, although it can sometimes do much more damage than it realistically should. Bows can be swung as a melee attack, but this is meant as a desperation move rather than something practical.
- In general, the developers have publicly stated that Chivalry is not meant to be taken as a historically accurate combat simulation. Rather, it's more like a bar brawl where everyone is Unskilled, but Strong and puts their full strength into every attack.
- Improvised Weapon: Maps are packed with miscellaneous objects such as brooms, branding irons, chickens, fish, and more. All of these can be swung and/or thrown for potentially lethal damage.
- Instant-Win Condition: While this trope is quite normal for any game that makes heavy use of Hold the Line, it's amusing that VIPs are allowed to die after victory is declared. In the "Escape from Falmire" map, Thawne only needs to get one foot on the escape boat in order to declare victory. It doesn't matter whether the Masons kill him immediately afterward, or if he even leaps into the nearby deep water.
- Also applies in the last phase of "Slaughter of Coxwell", where the Agathians mount a last stand in the garrison, it doesn't matter if the last Agathian soldier is killed after the countdown, as long as there is a single Agathian that is living before the time runs out, the Masons will receive a match defeat. Savy Agathian players can take advantage of this by hiding or playing dead.
- Invulnerable Civilians: Unlike other maps featuring very-much-vulnerable peasants, the peasants in "Raid on Aberfell" cannot be harmed. Justified in that they are subservient to the Masons (so the Masons have no reason to hurt them) and the Agathians are trying to steal them (so the Agathians have no reason to hurt them).
- Jousting Lance: Spawning in as cavalry will grant you a jousting lance with special properties, and spare lances can be found on certain maps. While on horseback, the lance enables a powerful charge attack. On foot, it acts as a two-handed spear with long range. In any case, the lance breaks after delivering damage three times.
- Killer Rabbit: The Raid on Aberfell map has an area slightly off the main path that includes bones strewn outside a dark cave mouth. Approaching the cave may result in a rabbit flying out and instantly killing your avatar in a Shout-Out to the original Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.
- Large and in Charge: The VIPs such as the Mason Heir are larger and more physically imposing than any of the common soldiers. Even without the identifying icon above their head, they stick out in any crowd.
- Low Fantasy: Although billed as involving medieval warfare (1300-1500 for the late medieval period), there are a number of things distinctly Renaissance, such as morion helmets (~1550), petards (1579), and rapiers (1600). However, the setting is also openly based on the Middle Ages as seen in Hollywood movies rather than a 100% realistic setting, so it's plausible the Agathians and Masons invented these things early in this alternate history.
- Made of Iron: In the "Escape from Falmire" map, Thawne is an Agathian war hero who had been imprisoned by the Masons. He wears no armor, yet he has a huge amount of health that outdoes the durability of a fully armored knight several times over. At half health, the Agathian announcer calls out that he's "gravely wounded", despite being able to take about ten more axe swings to the face without dying.
- In general combat-capable VIPs like the Malric's Heir or Argon II are like this, often with much higher health than the norm, but with the consequence that if they die, the match is lost.
- Melee Disarming: Attempting to parry an attack while out of stamina will result in your weapon being disarmed and a brief period of vulnerability. This makes the choice of secondary (and/or tertiary) weapons important, as you may be forced into using them if caught in this situation.
- Multi-Melee Master: Everyone! Not only does everyone start with at least two weapons, there is no restriction on picking up any fallen weapon. Every class uses every weapon with nearly equal skill, with just a few exceptions.
- Order Versus Chaos: The Royalist, orderly Agathians versus the social Darwinist Masons.
- Parrying Bullets: The timing required is very tight, but it's possible to counter attack arrows to nullify their damage. Any other thrown weapon (including javelins) can be simply blocked.
- Pinned to the Wall: A possible outcome for anyone killed by an arrow while standing next to a wall or scenery object.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: In addition to the other usual benefits of VIPs (increased health and stamina, immune to interruptions), King Argon II has a special sword with an incredibly fast swing and high damage against any armor class. Anyone who is good enough to earn the right to play as him will likely cut down many Masons in record time, regardless of ultimate victory or defeat.
- Regenerating Health: Under some circumstances, health will partially regenerate on its own. There is a soft minimum that each player will regenerate to (about 1/4 of max) if they haven't taken damage for a while. Damage dealt by friendly fire will also regenerate after a few seconds.
- Shown Their Work: As with its predecessor, the top priority is Rule of Fun, but there are quite a few nods to realism.
- As was the case during the late medieval period, shields are a rarity rather than something used by half the army. You can bring a shield if you choose, but most soldiers are wielding two-handed weapons like greatswords, halberds, poleaxes, and mauls — weapons that would have an actual chance to defeat the enemy's armor. Secondary weapons (typically one-handed) are often notably weaker and are treated as backup when the primary weapon is lost.
- Weapons are still at their best when swung correctly. Thrusting with a blunt weapon or axe is still possible, but it does much less damage than using the proper attacks.
- The amount of armor worn by each class still reflects the amount of punishment they can endure, and the system has been simplified from the prior installment. Archers are essentially unarmored. Vanguards wear a few bits of piecemeal metal, with their relatively low health making them most vulnerable to arrows and cutting weapons. Footmen wear some plate and chainmail, with decent all-around durability but some vulnerability to chopping and blunt weapons. Knights wear full plate, making them very resistant to arrows and cutting weapons, but take a lot of extra damage from chopping and blunt weapons.
- Shows Damage:
- At certain health thresholds, player avatars will have increasing amounts of blood spatter on their bodies, which will disappear again if healed.
- There's a subtle change in the posture of player avatars as health decreases. During certain animations, such as when standing idle or walking slowly, the avatar will become increasingly hunched over in proportion to the amount of missing health. This is a good indicator to allies as to who needs help and healing, and to enemies as to who is easiest to finish off.
- Simple Rescue Mechanic: In the "Escape from Falmire" map, the Agathians only need to break open the prisoner cages in order to accomplish their objectives. The safety of the escaping captives is completely irrelevant. Only the final prisoner (controlled by a player) needs to be escorted to safety intact.
- Slobs Versus Snobs: In addition to the Order Versus Chaos dynamic, the Mason and Agatha conflict has shades of this. Levels owned by The Masons have an aesthetic that leans towards The Dung Ages, small villages filled with mud and filthy peasants or large military citadels filled with blood and torture devices, and their soldiers often have a more haphazard style of dress. Meanwhile, Agatha live in cities that are practically Crystal Spires and Togas levels of beautiful, their farming villages look like Arcadia, and they dress in neat and polished armor sets.
- Super Drowning Skills: While a lot of water hazards are quite deep with no easy way out (not to mention all the steel that everyone is weighed down with), the player characters will instantly die if water even touches above waist height.
- Sound-Coded for Your Convenience: The sounds made by your enemies are much louder than the sounds made by teammates. If you're ever running along and hear loud footsteps right behind you, it'd be a good idea to turn around.
- Sword and Fist: One available combat move is the jab, a quick strike that does little damage but can interrupt an enemy's attack. While wielding a one-handed weapon and no shield, the jab is animated as an offhand punch. Kicking also returns as a way to stagger a blocking opponent.
- Sword Sparks: For gameplay purposes, yellow sparks fly on a successful parry, and blue sparks fly on a successful counterattack. And, yes, this occurs even when the two weapons making contact aren't made of metal.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works:
- The entire arsenal can be thrown for decent damage, including the biggest halberds and two-handed swords. Although the throw is somewhat inaccurate and may miss, it always lands blade first.
- The Dane Axe is a potent melee weapon but is specifically suited for throwing as well. It has a quick release, flies quite far, and does a lot of damage. Axes in general throw better than swords do, which throw better than polearms do.
- Unbreakable Weapons: Zigzagged. Weapons are still unbreakable, but they can be knocked out of your hands by trying to block with no stamina. Shields do splinter and break after absorbing too much punishment.
- Unusable Enemy Equipment: Completely averted. The battlefield will be littered with weapons from both sides that can be picked up. If you're particularly desperate for a weapon, you can pick up the claymore that enemy Knight just threw at you. In fact, the usability of equipment extends to the head that was so recently separated from their shoulders.
- Warrior Monk: During the last phase of the Galencourt map, several Agathian players are given the option to respawn as warrior monks. The monks are physically imposing, carry two-handed clubs, and their attacks cannot be interrupted.
- Worthy Opponent: Upon being killed, a button prompt allows players to 'commend' their killer if they feel it was a particularly skillful kill, awarding the enemy player in question 50 experience points.
