You can pick up For Honor free in Epic Games store right now.
Normally $39.99
For Honor is a medieval multiplayer game that is heavily inspired by Dark Souls combat. Combat is fast and exciting but has a very high skill cap.
The most common mode is called Domination where 4 players face off against another 4 players. Combat typically turns into 2v1, 3v3 and sometimes even 4v1 as you fight to control 3 different zones on the map.
What makes For Honor difficult is how intricate combat is. Each hero (currently 25 unique heroes) has its own moveset and unique weapons. Playing one hero is a completely different experience than playing another. Although each hero is unique they share common classes (Assassin, Vanguard, Hybrid, Heavy) which generalizes the style of combat the hero does.
Like Dark Souls you can block and parry incoming blows. Unlike Dark Souls though you need to specify the direction of your block and parries. This means even if you successfully time your parry you need to be correctly aiming left, right, or top for the block or parry to work. Combat is extremely fast-paced (typically moves are 400-600ms) which makes defense extremely difficult.
Also, like Dark Souls characters have stamina and this dramatically influences your combat ability. Run out of stamina and you are a sitting duck, you can't even if hobble away out of combat to save yourself.
There is also a guard break mechanic that prevents "turtling" defenses. Guard break can be used to initiate combos and some game-changing maneuvers.
One of the things I love about For Honor is how unfair engagements (2v1, 3v1, 4v1) is handled. For Honor has a system called revenge. As you engage in combat your revenge meter fills as you make defensive moves (block, parry, dodge). Once the meter is filled you get a sudden burst of health, you no longer consume stamina, and your attacks are unblockable. This only lasts for a few seconds but it can give someone a chance at surviving and even winning unfair engagements. You are only able to gain enough revenge meter when engaging 2 on 1 or more. I have won many 1v2 and 1v3 fights by fighting smarter and well-timed revenge moves. In many cases, it is best to allow your teammate to fight someone 1v1 rather than join in as the enemy will charge his revenge meter. There is a split second when activating revenge that incoming attacks will cause the attacker to fall prone.
There are two additional elements to combat that makes defending yourself difficult. Each character has certain moves or portions of their combos that are unblockable or uninterruptable. These moves can typically be parried (risky) or dodged but can not use the quick deflection (blocking), mechanic. These moves are typically slower (800-1000ms) than the quick moves but timed well can be devastating.
I've been playing a lot of For Honor lately with my son. I originally tried the beta version but never bought the game. We recently picked it up on Steam sale for $6 and now it is free on the Epic Games Store for a limited time.
You don't get all the heroes at once, you need to grind the in-game currency steel. It does take a while to unlock a lot of heroes, but you are able to play with quite a few before unlocking others. Be mindful when you unlock heroes as you will need to grind to unlock another.
When you defeat an enemy you have the option to perform an execution if your timing is perfect and you defeated them with a heavy attack. Successful execution will give you a glorious kill animation and a small portion of your health back. These executions are violent, bloody, and sometimes funny but are always humiliating to the victim.
I highly recommend this game but it will require you to put your big boy pants on and take an ass whooping for a while until you git gud.
Check out some gameplay on YouTube
You can pick up For Honor free in Epic Games store right now.
Normally $39.99