The official closed beta for Ubisoft’s upcoming historical sword fighting game, For Honor, will be launching sometime in January 2017, according to what the publisher announced today. You can register for an opportunity to play the beta here on For Honor’s website.
In addition to simply signing up, on that website you can also pledge your allegiance to one of the game’s three main factions, namely the Vikings, Knights, and Samurai. This will tie into the promotion system called ‘War of the Factions’. When the beta goes live next month, Ubisoft will be tracking multiplayer progress for each and every one of the platforms and all of the different factions.
When the beta finally wraps up, anyone who was part of it will be receiving a reward in the form of a badge of honour for the faction they chose, while specific players aligned only with the winning faction will receive something extra. This item has not been disclosed.
The For Honor multiplayer beta will let you choose from up to 12 distinct heroes from across all the three factions. The closed beta next month follows the short alpha testing period that took place earlier this year.
Players have the capability to charge right into battle with a cast of 12 unique heroes across the three Factions. Yesterday, Ubisoft showcased two new Heavy heroes, the Samurai Shugoki and the Viking Warlord, and a new Assassin type warrior, the Knight Peacekeeper, which offers more depth to the competitive multiplayer experience:
- Peacekeeper (Assassin): Selected from the desperate, the humbled or the devoted, they are sworn to secrecy by unbreakable oaths. Quick and lethal, they fight with a short sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. Peacekeepers are the deadliest duelists of all Assassins, capable of winning a fight before their enemy even knows they are here.
- Shugoki (Heavy): Once the guardians of the Samurai, they have become as a family. Massive and fierce, their weapon of choice is the kanabo, a huge stick that they only can wield efficiently. The Shugoki might not have the same agility as the other Samurai, but their rock-like resistance and demon-like strength make them an unavoidable force on the battlefield.
- Warlord (Heavy): Warlord is a name from an ancient Viking tradition, a name that is earned by only the true leaders in combat, those who are ready to spend their whole life servicing all who need it. Warlords’ shields are as versatile as they are strong and their sword, while simple in design, is sharp and deadly.
Apart from all this, Ubisoft announced a brand new For Honor meta-game feature named Faction War. This is a “persistent cross-platform conflict” between the three named factions. Here’s how it works:
Players begin by pledging their sword to the faction of their choice. Every multiplayer battle in For Honor impacts the world as players earn War Assets based on their personal performance in matches, these War Assets can be deployed and spent helping players conquer and defend territories.
Every match makes a difference as all players contribute to the glory of their faction during each 10-week competitive multiplayer season. Once the season ends, all For Honor players will receive rewards based on the rank of their faction. At the end of each season the Faction War resets and resumes after an off-season period.
