Pirates, Vikings and Knights II is a multiplayer team-based first-person action video game, developed as a total conversion modification on Valve proprietary Source engine. The game is currently in beta development stages, with its first public release on 1 January 2007. The second major public version was released a year later on 7 February 2008.
The game is a sequel to Pirates, Vikings and Knights, which was created by three UC Berkeley students (Garrett Moore, Matt Bishop, and Kris Hauser). The original was a modification for Valve's earlier GoldSrc engine. The game is set around three teams, the pirates, the Vikings and the knights—each with distinct classes and abilities—battling in a variety of game modes across various Medieval, Norse and Caribbean environments. As of the fifth major release eight of the eighteen planned classes have been implemented.
The game has been received positively by the industry's critics, being praised for its originality and graphical quality. By the end of February 2008, the game has acquired over six and a half million player minutes per month on the Steam content delivery system.
Gameplay
Pirates, Vikings and Knights II is based around three teams competing for an objective. These three teams, themed around pirates, Vikings and knights, are distinct in classes and capabilities. As of beta 2.3, players can choose one of two classes on each team (the Vikings have a new third class), giving them access to different weapons and abilities. Although beta 2.3 only includes seven classes overall, a full complement of eighteen—six classes per team—are planned in the course of the game's development.
The objectives in a Pirates, Vikings and Knights II game is defined by the game mode that is being used; at the moment there are four game modes implemented out of a planned nine. In "booty" games, teams must collect or steal treasure chests distributed across the level and bring them back to their own base to activate a countdown timer to victory. The more chests a team has in its possession, the quicker the timer decreases. A variation on this is the "booty tag" mode, in which there is a single chest and the teams fight for control of the chest to decrease their timer. The third game mode is "territory", in which teams fight for control of a strategic area of their surroundings. When one team holds the territory, their countdown timer activates unless they are displaced by another team. The final game mode is a straight team deathmatch where the teams simply try to kill as many of the opposing teams as possible.
Combat in Pirates, Vikings and Knights II is achieved through melee strikes, blocking and ranged attacks. Melee is performed through directed mouse movements for different directional of strike, that can be parried or blocked by other melee weapons with a corresponding mouse movement depending on the properties of the weapons involved in the fight. A successful parry leaves the attacker momentarily slowed and incapable of attacking or blocking, allowing for a counter-strike. Ranged attacks allow players to attack enemies from afar, usually at the risk of lowering their close combat defences. Ranged attacks can be blocked by players with shields.
The game's maps span a variety of realistic and unrealistic settings and environments, such as Medieval castles, Aztec temples and Caribbean islands and towns. Maps are generally built around a particular game mode configuration and are designed with eighteen players in mind. Further maps are to be added in subsequent releases. In addition to the official maps, the game's community also actively creates custom maps and content for the game.