Many writers, directors, and other content creators dedicate their work to something, or someone, important. For Hanako: Honor and Blade‘s Matt Canei, that person was his mother, who lost a five-year-long battle to cancer. What started as a class project will release to the masses after a fourteen-year development life. For now, let’s show what Canei’s team spent nearly a decade and a half working on.
Hanako: Honor and Blade Hurls Players into Immersive Battle
+Mpact Games’ release pits players into 24-player battles set in Feudal Japan. Players have four multiplayer modes to pick from, like Team Deathmatch and Castle Raid. Some modes, like Team Deathmatch, are traditional, mainline multiplayer modes. To fight these battles, there are some options to pick from both playstyles to tactics.
Both sides use four classes: Samurai, Ninja, Spearman, and Archer. Even though each class uses directionally based combat, abilities, and spirit-based skills, that’s where similarities end. All four classes use their own skillsets, so don’t expect to master the game with one character. Further, the gameplay goes much deeper than just class options.
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Every level forces teams to strategize and work together. Destructible objectives and dynamic environmental changes ensure strategy and teamwork, but also prevent monotonous gameplay. Add in different systems for close and ranged combat, and this is more than just a hack-and-slash.
Despite the Multiplayer Focus, Life and Death Themes Stand Out
To start, the two factions players can control, Hanako and Yamai, exude life and death-based imagery respectively. These motifs extend to the art and backstory of the game. It won’t take players much time to recognize how Canei’s mother is memorialized here. Life and death are unavoidable parts of living. This game uses multiplayer systems to explore that relationship.
Hanako: Honor & Blade, scheduled for release on PC via Steam this summer, is developed and self-published by +Mpact Games. More information on Hanako: Honor and Blade can be found on their Discord, Twitter, Facebook, and Twitch channels.
