Griefhelm vs Mount & Blade
Griefhelm
Griefhelm is a realistic 2D medieval sword-fighting game with a Slay the Spire-like progression and a pretty brutal difficulty level in the sense that if you let your opponent get in a couple of hits, you’re dead. Offering several game modes and perks, the game focuses a lot on timing your actions to best your opponent on the battlefield.Since timing is crucial in this game, you’d best be vigilant of the several combat cues your enemies may make a split second before the animation starts. If you do it precisely right, then you might just survive the attacks and even find a few openings of your own to strike. This game is definitely not the mindless hack-and-slash that many other games seem to offer. Every action you take in this game is deliberate and this makes every successful kill so much more satisfying.
Now, all of these fights are scattered across nodes in a progression map that’s somewhat similar to Slay the Spire. What this means is that you’ve got a choice as to which path you want to take and, in this game, you’ll usually have at least 2. Different paths offer different levels and types of challenges, and hence, different rewards so it’s important for you to decide which reward is most worthwhile for you.
To sum up, Griefhelm is truly in a class of its own. I’ve seen many players compare the game disfavorably against Nidhogg and that may be true, but for someone who has only played For Honor before, Griefhelm really brings swordplay to a different dimension… literally (Hint: 2D as opposed to 3D)!
Mount & Blade
Mount & Blade is the first game in a highly popular game franchise that boasts of being an RPG with one of the most sandbox-like gameplay ever. In this game, you can play as anyone you like be it a lone adventurer, a military commander or even the "mayor" of a small town in Calradia. The game also provides a rich and open world, allowing you to travel anywhere you like and discover all manner of points of interest ranging from farm villages to massive castles. You even have the freedom to interact with hundreds of characters, some of which will likely be hostile towards you. Due to this, the game provides you with an intuitive combat system that includes both sword-fighting and fighting on horseback that you can use to dispose of the hostile.Mount & Blade is an old game, and as such, its graphics may be a bit dated and its controls feel rather clunky. Thus, the game by itself might not be worth the money, but if you can get it along with Mount & Blade Warband or Mount & Blade With Fire and Sword - the two other and much better games in the series, then it'll be worth getting it.