Update log
Full Chronicles: Medieval update
The complete published notes, normalized for clean reading and source attribution.
Repeated intro
Hello everyone, seasonal greetings from our hall to yours! Before the year comes to a close, we wanted to share one last small glimpse of Chronicles: Medieval with you. Think of it as a little end-of-year snack from the team, something to enjoy before we all step away for the holidays and gear up for what's up next. This update takes a look at the underlying structure of our combat system and the iterative process that guided its development.
Extracted changes
- Balance
- Gameplay
When development began on Chronicles: Medieval, it was clear that combat would require careful iteration to get right. It has to feel rewarding every single time, whether you are engaged in a duel or fighting in a larger battle with hundreds of enemies around you. It should not only feel fun. We aim for something plausible and flexible enough to support a wide range of encounters, rewarding to master, and built from the ground up to be moddable.
Of course, that is easier said than done. Game development is constantly in motion, and we’ve gone through countless experiments, some that worked, and others that looked great on paper but didn’t feel quite right when put into practice. We are still moving things around, so treat this as a peek behind the curtain. Everything is still subject to change. But we still wanted to shed some light on the foundations we’re building stuff on.
Historically plausible, not Hollywood flashy
Medieval combat is often portrayed in exaggerated form in various media as elegant duels or endless sword-clanging. But in reality, as we stated in our previous FAQ, polearms ruled the medieval battlefield because their long reach, leverage, and diverse heads, like blades, hooks, spikes, and hammers, allowed troops to control space, stop cavalry charges, pierce or crush armor, and kill efficiently while keeping the enemy at a deadly distance. Knights carried swords as they had social, legal, and cultural meaning, but when facing heavily armoured opponents, the knightly pollaxe was a far more effective weapon. This perspective is rooted in HEMA, which draws directly from period sources rather than modern interpretation.
HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts, meaning combat based on historical sources, such as Medieval and Renaissance fencing manuals written between roughly the 14th and 15th centuries. Instead of relying on fantasy moves, HEMA uses authentic techniques taught by historical masters.
From the very beginning, Björn Rüther has been a constant part of our combat development. As our HEMA expert, he advises on historical fighting techniques, weapon behaviour, and battlefield use, and performs motion capture to bring those movements directly into the game. In the video below, he focuses on the pollaxe, explaining why it became such a valuable weapon from the 14th century onward and how it was used in combat. If you don’t know him already, you should totally check out his content!
For our game, drawing from these HEMA sources means that the combat system and animations are inspired by these original manuscripts, aiming to give players a sense of how real European swordfighting may have looked and felt: effective, tactical, and grounded in history.
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Source: Snapshots from the raw mocap recordings by Bjorn, side by side with old manuscripts
Built for adaptability
Designing a combat system that performs across all scenarios required a focus on adaptability. The same mechanics that drive a duel also need to function when hundreds of characters collide on a big battlefield. That’s why we emphasized clear combat signals, consistent timing, and strong feedback, so players stay aware of what’s happening, even when chaos
Source