Chivalry 2 will release this June
The medieval combat game is near the top of my most anticipated 2021 games.
After being pushed out of 2020, Chivalry 2 was expected to release sometime this year, and now we know that it'll be out on June 8, 2021, with a closed beta starting March 26. The news was announced during this week's Epic Games Store Spring Showcase.
Large-scale medieval combat was briefly a hit back when the first Chivalry released in 2012, and then again when Mordhau clomped onto the scene to become the prime medieval mosh pit in 2019. The genre's popularity has fallen off since then—Mordhau doesn't get many Twitch viewers these days—but after briefly playing an in-development version of Chivalry 2 about a year ago, I'm excited for it.
As I said in that preview, the complexity of its sword fighting controls impressed me. As enjoyable as these games are when you yell a battle cry and charge into a mass of other players blade-first, Chivalry 2 seems like a game one could become very skilled at—you can parry, you can feint, you can throw in sneaky jabs, and so on.
Nice to maul you! ???? #Chivalry2 pic.twitter.com/V9VTVg3AQwJanuary 15, 2021
Torn Banner Studios told me that, although the combat can be complex as I observed, it wants medieval warfare in general to be represented in the game. Ideally, you can have fun being an expert swordfighter, or just a guy who runs around screaming. There'll be big, 64-player objective-based maps, as well as smaller deathmatch bouts. Hopefully it all turns out to be as cool as my first impression led me to believe it could—though, even if it's just a brief fad where we all get really into yelling and hitting each other with steel for a month, I'd probably be satisfied by that, too.
Chivalry 2 will be exclusive to the Epic Store when it releases, but will come to Steam after one year. The March 26-29 closed beta will be open to those who pre-order—head to the Epic Store page for more info.