The game contains a strange mix of realistic and unrealistic elements. It isn't a simulator, but sometimes behaves like one. A typical example of this weird half-simulator half-game status is that one cannot save the game at will indefinitely, rather, it requires a consumable alcoholic beverage. Quests seemingly randomly care or do not care about when their contents are completed, leaving the player reeling in a strange mix of ignoring people for weeks without repercussions or punishing them for not responding immediately. In a seeming attempt to turn the combat of Chivalry or Mordhau into a single player pseudo-realistic game-sim mashup, the devs have created a strange and inconsistent game world around combat. For instance, the armor you are wearing does not really effect how much hitstun you incur when being struck, but it does mitigate the damage. The most dreadful foe one can encounter is a dog in combination with any humanoid enemy; despite wearing full plate, the dog's bite can completely restrain you for long enough for the dog's owner to kill you outright. A grazing blow from a peasant's stick can send you careening off your feet and stun you for about 3 seconds, even if the same NPC is basically incapable of injuring the player. The game wants you to choose what direction to swing your weapon in, this hardly matters at all because unlike Chivalry or Mordhau, the attacks themselves having significantly different hitboxes really does not begin to matter. The end result of the swing direction choice mechanic is just that it facilitates fakes and "combos", pre-planned sequences of swings. These two mechanics are extremely important against enemies because just about nothing else damages difficult opponents at all. Once you connect with one of these otherwise impervious enemies, you may kill him outright or need to repeat the process a dozen times, seemingly decided by chance alone. Beautiful world. Too bad it's obnoxious as hell to explore.
