The quest difficulty levels will range from common, rare, heroic, epic, and legendary, and the chosen difficulty has a significant impact on how tough the AI opponents are (and how much of an impact the modifiers will make). Each quest will feature several battles, with the more difficult quests featuring more battles before gamers can lay claim to their loot. These quests also have small backstories, though the real focus is on how each battle ends up feeling unique: some combinations of modifiers (which have both positive and negative traits) will make fighting feel like a breeze, but an unlucky combination will have players scrambling to defeat their foes before temptation to give up on the entire quest sinks in.
Gamers can take a look at Arcade Mode in the video below, which also features the two new previously unseen Wu Lin fighters:
The end result is a mode that adds a good amount of replayability to For Honor, and that’s something it didn’t necessarily have before. The modifiers do a great job of keeping each fight interesting, and the attachment to gear levels means players will be encouraged to grind out the mode. Tying in the gear levels to a shared pool between PVE and PVP characters makes sense, and so does allowing 2-player co-op (although this part wasn’t available in the Gamescom build). The modifiers make the biggest impact, as they introduce a huge level of strategy throughout Arcade Mode. Players may end up fighting an enemy who constantly takes flame damage and another who has increased stamina, so it makes sense to gun for the increased stamina opponent while the other fighter chases the fight taking bleed damage. Modifiers introduce an endless supply of these tactical challenges which make the mode unpredictable and fun.
Of course, this isn’t the only new game mode coming in with the Marching Fire update: there’s also Breach Mode, a multiplayer-focused update involving siege weapons, castle defenses, and protecting an AI-controlled VIP. Both of these new game modes, along with the all-new Wu Lin faction and some graphical enhancements, will all arrive in the Marching Fire update this October.
Ubisoft will certainly be hoping that the new For Honor modes bring some of its players back into the fold. Unlike Rainbow Six Siege which has risen consistently since launch, For Honor has seen its player count dwindle since it released in February of last year. The title should get a significant boost in active players this August when it features as an Xbox Games With Gold title, though it’ll still be two months before Marching Fire and its Arcade Mode content arrives to consumers. Whether Breach and Arcade Mode are enough to pull in gamers is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for certain: there’s plenty of new content on the way for For Honor fans to test their mettle in.
For Honor is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The Marching Fire update will arrive on October 16, 2018.
