Ubi's For Honor Out Valentine's Day, Gets Pair Of Trailers

If there's one thing I really don't like about E3, it's the expo's ability to make me feel old. "There's no way that was announced a whole entire year ago," is a phrase I've become accustomed to saying, and Ubisoft Montreal's upcoming hack-n-slash murderfest For Honor [official site] is the latest game to make me do so. Why? Well it's now got a release date and two new trailers 12 months on since its reveal. The first is a typically made-for-E3 story cinematic, and the second a more gameplay-y look at its single-player campaign with Vikings and samurai scrapping.

You see, that's what For Honor's all about: clans of Vikings, samurai, and knights generally not getting along and fighting one another in brutal displays of melee strength. Along with competitive multiplayer, it has a singleplayer campaign with co-op support (online and split-screen) too. The campaign's the focus of these latest trailers.

While the gameplay trailer is more interesting, the story short does show us Apollyon - a mysterious warmonger who's seemingly pitted the Vikings, Samurais and Knights against one another for thousands of years, even when they've attempted to reach for peace. Nasty:

The story campaign is a "tale of warriors that takes place in a turning point of the age-old war among our three factions," level design director Geoff Ellenor explains as he provides commentary in the following campaign mission trailer. It focuses on the Vikings and allows us a better look at For Honor's single-player mode, as the horny beards lay siege to a samurai settlement.

Pretty fast and furious throughout, then, however I was particularly impressed by the player's ability to trap enemies against walls and/or hurl them off roofs in their quest for victory. This isn't a game about strategic warfare but instead one of obnoxious in-yer-face battles, so I like that the idea that fights are messy and environments can be used to your advantage. The samurai captain Saburo is apparently one of "many bosses that you'll encounter in For Honor's campaign", and I'm now interested to see what variations the other factions have.

I guess I'll find out when For Honor launches on February 14th, 2017.

Catch up with all of our E3 2016 news this week.