Recent reviews by Hoops

I've played a fair bit of this game, and I think that some of the negative things people say are fair. The worst (and best) thing about this game is the ridiculously steep learning curve, where you have to play at least 50 hours of the game before you even feel like you understand the mechanics and can hold your own in a duel. The depth of the combat is such that newer players will feel totally out of their depth against anyone who's played the game more than the requisite 50 hours. Unfortunately, this means that most new players get discouraged and stop playing, so the only people who actually play the game are people who have already put in their hours. I expect this to improve with the release of ranked, but at time of posting they have not yet added a ranked update.

That being said, swordplay in this game is a dream. When I tried to play Kingdom Come: Deliverance a few weeks ago, I had to put it down because of how clunky the swordplay is in that game compared to Mordhau. Not that Kingdom Come was ever designed to be a competitive slasher, but Mordhau puts its mechanics to shame. Swings are just right, parries, kicks, chambers, and drags all feel responsive and crisp (but not overpowered - The amount of broken mechanics in Mordhau is very small, with the numbers reducing every update).

The gore and flavor of Mordhau are also just right. With a rich outfit customization interface and a wide variety of armor, shirts, hats, helmets, etc, players can go all in on making a badass knight, or they can go the more silly route and make meme builds with annoying voices and silly colors. The emotes and voice lines available mix silly and serious in just the right way - You can insult your enemy, you can spam the "Hello" voice line until peoples' ears bleed, you can battlecry forever, but you can also tell your friends to fall back in battle, yell at a teammate for friendly fire, or ask for backup. Emotes range from a silly dance to flourishes and fist pumps, making the game richer and more entertaining to play. Beheading someone or crushing someone with a maul is comical but also satisfying, with a wet crunch and a nice ping from the damage indicator letting you know you've done a good job.

The community in Mordhau can leave a bit to be desired sometimes, but I've had just as many good experiences with nice dudes as I've had dealing with someone TKing and generally being an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. If people really want to spice up the chat with offensive language, motivational mute (replacing all of a player's messages with positive ones) can make you feel a lot better about it. I personally don't think the community is any worse than any other online game, and while improvements with chat filtering and making kicking obnoxious players could be made a bit easier, I have faith that Triternion will figure it out.

I would heartily recommend Mordhau, if you're willing to put in the time. It can feel a bit overwhelming, but once you get to a point where you understand the game and its mechanics it really is an excellent buy and fun to play. A word of advice - Play some Frontline, but duel servers (deathmatch servers where players flourish at one another to initiate 1v1 duels) are the best way to improve your skills at the game. Watch a couple of youtube videos on the mechanics, and then play a bunch of duels. It really pays off and is often the best place to get good advice on how to get better.

This is one of the best single player games I have ever played. It still holds up really well considering it was made in the early 2000s. It can also run on a potato really well. Gameplay is amazing and the game can actually be pretty difficult at times.
TL;DR buy the game you'll thank yourself

Decent game, but my save files broke 9 hours into story mode and I stopped playing