For many aeons Pirates, Vikings and Knights II was a small and quiet mod. The community was close-knit, familiar names in every server and as little as three active servers if you were lucky, as well as some dedicated fans who would push the mod to the limit with brilliantly innovative custom maps.
Flashier games would come and go, but it always felt good to return to PVK and thwack an axe in another player’s skull. Everything was peaceful and predictable, until last week. Now a major update has arrived in version 2.3 and there have been so many changes that I am almost certain that Ragnarok has been and gone in the world of Pirates, Vikings and Knights.
For those who have not heard of PVK before, it is a multiplayer online first-person mod for the Source engine, mainly centred on melee combat between three foes with an insatiable drive to kill each other. The wide variety of game modes puts many commercially produced games to shame and along with custom maps, this game has a potentially huge longevity. With the introduction of 2.3 however, many custom maps are not working and it could be some time before they are ported to the Orange Box engine.
Each team has 2 classes to choose from, with the exception of Vikings who now have a third class named the Gestir, a spear wielding Viking. So with 7 different characters, each with their own arsenal of weapons, it is no wonder that PVK has often been criticised for being unbalanced. Despite these criticisms, I think that the mod developers have done a pretty good job keeping the game play as balanced as possible, whilst keeping each character very unique; this slightly odd rota of characters is definitely a refreshing change to game industry trends.
There are essentially two things that have always made PVK a great mod: the melee combat and the humour. The melee combat is a nice mix between hack-and-slash and tactical manoeuvres which make for a good quick paced game play speed. With 2.3′s release, melee combat has changed slightly making it easier for new players to get to grips with the mod, but whilst still being tactical enough for the community old gits, like myself, to let out a menacing cackle as we dance around the terrified nooblets.
The humour of the game is lightly peppered throughout; this is probably the game which makes me smile the most. The light-hearted character models and pleasing art direction make for a very enjoyable experience. The voice acting is great too, no matter how many times I spam “You are no man!” as a Viking or “Yarrr! Take that ya landlubber!” as a Pirate, it still remains funny.
The health system doesn’t tell you percentages either, that would be far too boring, instead other player’s health statuses range from “Not a scratch” to “Pushing up the daisies”, it’s attention to the finer details like these which makes PVK original and fun; surely these are two of the most important qualities for any game.
Amidst the many changes for PVK in version 2.3 which include bug fixes, big map updates, a new map, a new class, over 100 achievements, gameplay changes, perhaps one of the biggest changes was to the community. Before 2.3 there were generally less than 100 players online at a time, within 24 hours after the release of 2.3 this grew to over 1000, with many new servers appearing. I think the main increase in players has come from the fact PVK can now be downloaded directly through Steam and this has generated a lot more publicity and accessibility.
Some may miss the slightly more intimate ‘good old days’ of PVK, but really, I think given a bit of time the new version will be accepted. Overall, PVK is one of the finest mods I have ever played. Original and satisfying melee combat combined with some shiny Orange Box effects makes PVK just as desirable as any other Pirate’s Booty.