Have you heard the latest For Honor rumor? Well, this is more of a leak than something unsubstantiated. Screenshots of the brawler’s first two DLC heroes have been released. One is a ninja, a character that has honestly been hinted at for quite a bit. The other is a Roman centurion. Wait, what?
Okay, taken on their own, this might sound a bit weird. For Honor is a game with three defined factions. There are the Knights, Samurai, and Vikings. Adding a ninja to the cast makes sense, as ninjas did actually exist at the same time as both knights and samurai in real life. The time period lines up, especially since ninja may have been allies to some samurai factions.
Seeing a Roman centurion brought in could be one of those things that make you go, “Hmm…” Yet, as unorthodox as a unit from around 100 BC may be, it does make sense within For Honor’ s history. Ubisoft set up the Knight faction in such a way that the centurions were considered their precursors. Some of the war technology used by the Knights in the game was apparently designed by the centurions. While this wouldn’t work in the real world, video game logic makes it plausible.
Yet, is this centurion setting a possibly dangerous precedent for For Honor? Here’s the concern. While the Knight, Samurai, and Viking factions do give Ubisoft quite a bit of leeway for classes, will there be too much fudging to make more exciting and unorthodox options available for players? Will there be some sort of Celtic warrior, because the Knights hail from Europe and it might be convenient? Or maybe someone from another member of the Celt-Iberian group, the Lusitanians, will show up since Vikings did happen to reach Spain, the provinces where those warriors resided. Could For Honor lose some of its purpose if the additional DLC characters get too crazy for the sake of attracting additional season pass sales?
The reason For Honor works so well is that the game remains consistently plausible. While it wouldn’t have been likely for knights, samurai, and vikings to run into each other in our world, Ubisoft has put together this game in such a way that the idea works. It makes sense and seems plausible. The DLC should build on that, like the leaked ninja and centurion both actually do. But, this is a game that already does have four Knights, four Samurai, and four Vikings, not counting the ninja that will rather obviously be counted toward the Samurai side and centurion for the Knight faction. Both of these classes stand out and are both very flashy, notable, and different from what we have so far in the game.
How many possible, plausible character options can you think of for the Viking side? Or for future Knight and Samurai characters? Ubisoft is going to need to think practically to keep the game balanced and respectable. While it may be attractive to attempt to make up some lore that suddenly makes a Shaolin master possible for the Samurai side or Highlanders for Knights, one can only hope they continue to remain grounded for this awesome game.