Third-person brawling doesn’t really get the multiplayer treatment it deserves. Sure, occasionally, you’ve got a game like Anarchy Reigns, but most of the time, third-person multiplayer is all about the guns. Not so in Battlecry.
Admittedly, pretty much everything about Battlecry is utterly ridiculous. Here’s the first trailer, which basically looks like Quentin Tarantino’s Frozen:
Did we mention that all this happens in a world where gunpowder has been banned as a direct result of World War I? Hence the clockwork swords and coilguns. Also apparently all international disputes are decided with squads in close-quarters combat as well, although the game does promise a huge war mode where apparently everybody runs around kicking everyone else’s ass.
Aside from the steampunk aesthetic and brawling, though, there are some nice touches that are involved. For example, after the match ends, you can run around congratulating other players and giving them medals, so being a poor sport is somewhat discouraged, at least. It also appears that the free-to-play features of the game are going to be limited largely to customization options, and that you can earn any sort of fancy doodad you want strapped to your character by killing other players in-game.
Still, the free-to-play point is a concern, and hopefully nothing you’ll actually use in a fight is locked away behind a paywall. We’ll find out in early 2015; the game will go into beta for PC at that point.