Chivalry: Medieval Warfare coming to PS3 & 360

Award-winning PC title Chivalry: Medieval Warfare will soon be coming to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. The game is going to be published by Activision, and it’s in development over at Torn Banner Studios in collaboration with Mercenary Technology. Now refined for consoles, this 12-player online action game will be digital-only, and will be released “later this year”.

“Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is a fast-paced online multiplayer action game which will have players turning in their guns and grenades for battle axes and swords”, reads the game’s official description. “Chivalry: Medieval Warfare combines a sharp melee edge and familiar competitive gameplay along with the genuine look and feel of open-field combat in the Middle Ages. Players can choose between one of four classes – Knight, Vanguard, Man-at-Arms and Archer – each balanced to offer a unique set of strengths and vulnerabilities in any given situation. An extensive armoury of more than sixty period-authentic weapons, including swords, shields, daggers, maces, axes, javelins, longbows and crossbows, delivers deadly choices for decimating foes.”

Melee combat in Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is more than just hack and slash. Players will use different attacks, blocks, and counters, insuring that combat is tactical and chaotic. Raid peasant villages, burn crops, siege castles, defend the royal family, or fight to the last man in a gladiatorial arena. Multiple modes provide opportunities to fight as a team for the greater glory of the realm, or for personal honour in duels to the death.

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare’s PC version had received generally favourable reviews, with a Metacritic score of 79/100 based on 24 different critics. Some have praised it for its ultra-violent multiplayer gameplay, while criticizing it for its relative lack of number of classes. Surprisingly (or not?), Torn Banner Studios had also been criticized for its total lack of female models. The lead developer – Steve Piggott – had made a statement saying “adding female characters to a game like this would make it appeal less to females”, due to the “maturity level of the FPS community.”