There is something about hearing the loud thud of a mace slamming into your shield from someone who wants to kill you that brings a smile to your face. That is Mirage: Arcane Warefare, toe to toe against your foes, blood on the ground next to you, sword and maces slamming, and the occasional ally or enemy getting their head severed from their body. Yeah, it’s a good time.
Mirage: Arcane Warfare was developed by the creators of Chivalry so you can expect that single person fighting style. You can play first person or third person depending on your preference and there are a total of 6 classes, each with 6 abilities and you can have 3 equipped at a time. There are some different types of game modes like Team Objectives and Team Death Match so you can mix it up a bit. But really it’s a game where you seriously just try to murder the other players before they murder you, and it can be brutal!
All classes have their strong points and I suggest playing them all until you find what you like. Once you do get ready for some fighting! There are some key aspects of fighting that I like about Mirage: Arcane Warfare. First, I like that there is a block option but it’s very strategic. You can’t hold it forever and it only lasts about 1-2 seconds so you really have to time your block. If you mess up a block, you’re going to be toast to someone who is half way decent. You can block sword attacks and melee projectiles but it’s all about timing. There are also a variety of swing types, you can slash, over head, under swing, jab forward, and probably more I didn’t try. Considering you can get “headshots” where you instantly kill someone or cut off their head you choosing the correct swing makes a difference.
In every team death match there is that moment where you see five enemy players running at you over the corpses of your fallen allies and you know that no matter what, you’re about to die. You can try to run, jump into them, block, but in a few seconds you’re dead. It’s awesome. Anyways, another fun aspect of the game is as you play you’ll unlock “skins” in the form of armor, clothing, and weapons. This gives you a unique appearance so even though you may be playing the same class as other people you feel unique. It’s purely cosmetic but it’s a nice touch.
One thing that was interesting when I first stated playing is finding a server. There is no “join now” button that throws you in a match so you need to browse the community servers. At first I filtered out all full 20/20 servers but came to realize you should be joining those as they are never actually full, close but not quite. Wish I knew that sooner because I was joining low population servers and that wasn’t fun. Once you get in a good server it’s quite fun though and most Team Death Match games are close; within 10 points or less! I never felt like one team steamrolled the other. Team Objectives can be stacked a bit, but still enjoyable.
Overall I really enjoyed played Mirage: Arcane Warfare. As with most games I can see this being more enjoyable with a friend or two, especially in Team Objective, but even for the solo player you’re going to enjoy the combat system. As one player said, “This game is best as an ‘in between’ game” which means you might not play this all day every day as your main game but it’s a great game to throw in the mix. I mean you can play this as your main game and I know some people will. However, for the more broad player base I think this will be a great addition to the collection but no the crown jewel. Sometimes though you just need to jump into a game, get in some multiplayer and cut off someones head. So get some friends, crack open a beer, grab your mace, and start fighting!
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