If you're of the opinion that Chivalry: Medieval Warfare can only be improved by the addition of gigantic fireballs and even more outlandish yelling, you'll most likely find what you're looking for in Torn Banner Studio's upcoming Mirage: Arcane Warfare. As you might expect from the name alone, Mirage is a skill-based multiplayer FPS (probably need to replace the shooter with slicer there) that's all about tearing your enemies limb from limb with either magic or good ol' fashioned melee combat.

With the closed alpha test just around the corner, Torn Banner has decided to post a rather lengthy gameplay teaser showcasing Mirage in its current state. You'll find the video below, but do keep in mind that all of this is still early alpha footage:

While I still think that Mirage is full of potential, the current alpha build is quite clearly lacking when it comes to animations and the general fluidity of combat. Some of the attacks feel completely weightless, the characters often react to blows in a strangely unnatural way, and overall the whole thing feels a bit too sluggish, especially the walking animations.

The graphics on the other hand do look pretty damn good, even this early on. The character designs are great, the map is quite simple yet lovely to look at, and most importantly, its fairly easy to tell what in the world is going on given the frequent use of vibrant colors. My only real complaint with the presentation lies in the voice acting as it just doesn't seem to fit most of the characters and their "brutal killer" persona.

This small critique aside, it is well worth mentioning that Mirage: Arcade Warfare is currently in a pre-alpha state, so most of these issues are probably going to be corrected by the time launch rolls around. Chivalry had similar problems during its release and they eventually got resolved, so here's to hoping that Mirage manages to sidestep this whole mess entirely through the use of numerous public alpha/beta tests.

If you would like to learn more, or just sign up for the closed alpha, head over to the official website.