First-Person Melee Games To Play While Waiting For Chivalry 2

Those wanting to dive into the highly anticipated follow-up to 2012’s Chivalry: Medieval Warfare got bad news this week, as Chivalry 2 was delayed to June 2021. The developers at Torn Banner Studios have been working on the sequel for a long while, and Chivalry 2 is one of many games and films delayed due to the global pandemic forcing teams to work from home. While there will be a Chivalry 2 closed beta at the end of March for players to sample, those itching to grab a sword have plenty of great first-person melee game options while they wait.

The original Chivalry came about in a time where the Steam marketplace was much smaller, so players were eager to try everything. Torn Banner Studios benefitted from that immensely, growing its game from a simple idea to a complex multiplayer free-for-all. Chivalry was also one of the first games to take this style of combat and give it the massive deathmatch treatment, inspiring many other games in its wake. However, Chivalry wasn’t the first to replace a handgun with a broadsword – not by a long shot.

Ever since Doomguy first picked up a Chainsaw in 1993’s original first-person shooter, melee weapons have been an integral part of the genre. With the continued popularity of FPS games of all sorts, it’s only natural that some would differentiate themselves with a focus on melee combat. While the feel of swinging a sword in first-person can vary wildly from game to game, a well-polished combat system can produce an experience just as addictive as the latest Call of Duty.

First-Person Melee Games: Shadow Warrior

While lead character Lo Wang can wield an impressive arsenal of firearms in both of Flying Wild Hog’s Shadow Warrior games, his skills with a katana are especially satisfying in the original 2013 reboot. Chopping heads off demons, performing whirlwind attacks, and dashing through smaller foes are all satisfying enough to make some forget the other weapons even exist.

First-Person Melee Games: City of Brass

A first-person roguelike set in an Arabian Nights-style desert world, City of Brass combines the many uses of a whip with swordplay for a unique combat experience. Pushing foes into traps or just drawing them in from afar adds strategy to a game where the price for death is always high.

First-Person Melee Games: Dead By Daylight

While survivors in the asymmetrical horror game Dead By Daylight wield little more than flashlights, their tormentors come packing hatchets, knives, chainsaws, and all manner of blunt instruments. Learning how to utilize Dead By Daylight‘s killer tools may be gruesome to some, but it’s certainly a unique experience.

First-Person Melee Games: Dying Light

The spiritual successor to Dead Island, Dying Light is a huge open world, where players have to scrap together machetes and axes to defend themselves against the zombie horde. The game is still getting small content updates six years after it released, and a Dying Light sequel is on the way, so the time is right for anyone interested.

First-Person Melee Games: Mordhau

While the team at Torn Banner Studios was off making games that didn’t feel like Chivalry, the developers at Triternion decided to carry the banner. The result is 2019’s Mordhau, a game very much inspired by the original medieval first-person slasher. It provides an alternative to the Chivalry experience, with combat focused around a high skill cap, but there’s still plenty of madcap fun in beheading opponents one after the other.

First-Person Melee Games: Dark Messiah of Might & Magic

No list of first-person melee games like Chivalry 2 would be complete without Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. One of the first games created by Dishonored developer Arkane Studios, Dark Messiah is still remembered for both nuanced combat and a mighty, completely game-breaking kick ability. Players can engage the game on its own terms or just kick opponents into spike-walls, and it’s a lot of fun either way.

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