A closed beta for Ubisoft’s swordfighting game For Honor will launch in January 2017, the publisher announced today. You can register for a chance to play the beta here on For Honor’s website.
Also on that website you can pledge your allegiance to one of the game’s three factions, either Vikings, Knights, or Samurai. This ties into a promotion called War of the Factions. When the beta goes live, Ubisoft will track multiplayer progress for all platforms and the different factions.
When the beta wraps up, everyone who participated will receive a reward in the form of a badge for their faction, while players aligned with the winning faction will get something extra. This item was not disclosed.
The For Honor beta will let you choose from 12 different heroes across the three factions. The upcoming closed beta follows an alpha testing period earlier this year.
Ubisoft shared more details about two of the Heavy-class heroes and a new Assassin fighter. The full descriptions, written by Ubisoft, follow below.
Players can charge into battle with a cast of 12 unique heroes across the three Factions. Today, Ubisoft showcased two new Heavy heroes, the Samurai Shugoki and the Viking Warlord, and a new Assassin, the Knight Peacekeeper, which offer even 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 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’s shields are as versatile as they are strong and their sword, while simple in design, is sharp and deadly.
Finally, Ubisoft announced a new For Honor metagame feature called Faction War. This is a “persistent cross-platform conflict” between the three 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,” Ubisoft said. “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.”
Learn more at the For Honor website.
For Honor is due to launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on February 14, 2017. For more, check out GameSpot’s just-published preview video above.