War of the Roses is a third person, multiplayer, medieval action game developed by Fatshark and published by Paradox Interactive for the PC. Based around the 15th century war for the English throne.
The player is put in control of their own customisable soldier to fight for either the house of York or Lancaster in intense battles of up to 64 players.
The large number of combatants often means gameplay can move from intense, close quarter melee one minute, swinging your claymore into the steel clad figures approaching your lines, to a tactical experience the next, as your contingent of footmen move to flank the enemy archers, holding your brothers’ advance. Of course battles sometimes degrade into a gauntlet of swinging maces and swords, with men-at-arms flailing at anything they can see, which is also greatly entertaining.
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There are few game-modes and maps for a game that has such scale, with battles taking place under the standard ”team deathmatch”, capturing and holding points in “conquest”, or being the last knight standing in “pitched battle”.
Each of the skirmishes takes place in a recreated section of middle England, a village or hamlet with its overlooking castle, or the open fields of the counties.
Aesthetically the game isn’t great, with some textures looking flat but it’s very competent, and it’s the atmosphere of charging into enemy lines with your armoured cohort, hearing the cries of battle as steel meets steel – or flesh – that makes the game thrilling.
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Knock an enemy to the ground for the opportunity to execute them.
Initially the player is given four default classes to allow them to familiarise themselves with the differences in choices of armour, weapons and fighting styles, gaining more classes as you gain experience. The combat is similar to that of the Mount and Blade series. How you move your mouse denotes how you attack or parry, moving left or right to slash, moving backward to thrust forward with a piercing stab, or upward to wind up a powerful overhead attack.
Approaching melee combat means paying close attention to your enemy, take note of the way they are attacking, their weapon, and the armour, all of it plays a factor if you desire victory. A Steel-clad knight will brush off slashes of smaller blades but will definitely feel the pierce of a spear through their plate-mail, or a heavy lance ploughing into them from mounted cavalry. It’s an extremely satisfying combat system which rewards skill and technique over a player’s level or upgraded equipment.
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I would prefer to not eat your shield.
Ranged combat is a different beast entirely, with archers trying to find advantageous spots to rain death from above with their powerful longbows and crossbows, whilst keeping the distance from the armoured behemoths.
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Each combat style has its strengths and weaknesses, and these can be affected by perks and equipment quality. With a huge breadth of options to customise each soldier physically and cosmetically, allowing the player to choose not only their weapon, but how the steel is tempered, the fighting style, and even the quality of wood for an archer’s arrows.
All the perks and equipment options allow you to really define your class, and add some personality to it with the colour of your armour, or adding huge plumage to your helm.
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I would love to see War of the Roses fleshed out even more as it provides some much needed variety to the perk based, objective orientated action games. A game that feels both defined and chaotic, with tactical and arcade elements, rewarding unrelenting force as well as refined technique. Standing alongside Chivalry: Medieval Warfare as an underdog title that wasn’t afraid to try something new, you’ll get a lot of action for your money with War of the Roses.
