Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II

Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II is a fun multiplayer game developed and published by Octoshark Studios.

There aren’t many multiplayer games that use pirates as protagonists, let alone Vikings and Knights in the same world. The developers from Octoshark Studios figured out that it would be fun to bring them all together, so it’s only natural for a game called Pirates, Vikings, and Knights to exist. It might not make the most sense, but wait until you play it.

Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II or PVKII is a game that pits three unique teams against each other in various modes. As you can imagine, their abilities are vastly different, which makes the gameplay both chaotic and complex at the same time.

Like any other multiplayer game, cooperation is always rewarded, so the better a team works together, the better are its chances of winning. All of the characters have their strengths and weaknesses, so any character you will pick will complete the abilities of others and vice-versa.

The game is divided into several modes, such as Team Deathmatch, Booty, Trinket Wars, Territory, Objective Push, and Last Team Standing. Some of the names for these modes make the goals clear, but others need a little bit of explaining. For example, Booty is about stealing the other teams treasures (capture the flag), and Trinket Wars is a modified version of Team Deathmatch.

Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II is also a first-person melee game, which means that most of the time you’re going to be slashing and stabbing. It’s a difficult skill to master, and new players will miss a lot. It’s also possible to parry hits and counterattack, and, if you’re an archer or have a musket, you might be able to keep the enemies at bay, at least until you reload.

Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II is based on the Source engine, and it started its life as a mod for Half-Life 2, but it evolved so much over time that it’s now a standalone title. Since Valve allows this to happen with their engine, the game is also completely free.

The Source engine may be old, but it has been upgraded a lot since the launch of Half-Life 2, so it still holds up pretty well. You might even spot a few of the familiar assets. In any case, the system requirements are pretty low, and most people with older systems will be able to play this without any issues.

If you’re looking for a fun multiplayer game that also happens to be free, then you should really give Pirates, Vikings, and Knights II a try. It might surprise you.