Recently I helped judge some maps in a Team Fortress 2 Medieval Mode mapping contest, a byproduct of this being that I was exposed to hours of TF2 melee only gameplay. As a result of this exposure, it helped me to better identify which type of layout/gamemode combination does and doesn't work for this style of play. This post is mainly going to highlight maps from the contest that I thought did well at accommodating the medieval handicap.
I'm pairing these maps together because they both use a game element introduced in Scream Fortress 2024 with the map Freaky Fair, that being a MOBA-esce style shop system allowing players to buy upgrades for their weapons and stats.
The main issue with medieval mode is that strips most of the complexity from the game, melee as a system in TF2 is not a focus and forcing all classes to only melee equalizes them in a way that is very unfun. The shop system that these maps introduce add enough depth that is otherwise absent.
Between the two I enjoy Fopdoodle more, it changes the balancing in a way that makes the scaling on the money gain in a way that makes becoming OP faster. It also introduces some custom upgrades that enable some classes. Pithaul is fun but it's also arena, doesn't give you as much time to feel strong.
I think asymmetrical modes in general work well with medieval, and A/D CTF is a very interesting mode. It creates VIP-like gameplay that deviates enough from standard A/D to make for pretty interesting gameplay.
The layout features some pretty tight chokes which I think enables it to play well. Medieval tends to cater to a more mosh pit style of gameplay, so players funneling into these chokes create a natural defense. It feels good as an attacker to manage to push through and cap and it feels chaotic as a defender trying to push out of the base, it's fun.
The flag also acts a pretty eloquent barrier to how many players can actively capture the objective. Without engineer's area of denial, a normal attack/defense map would get ran through pretty quickly by players just managing to sneak through.
Compared to the other maps in the contest Joust is standard, it's simply a medieval arena map. I really enjoyed the pathing through the map. The underground route leading to the other base was fun to contest and felt pretty good when used effectively
I think one of reasons I enjoyed this map more Jarl, another standard arena map, is the lack of height in it's layout. I feel like medieval plays badly with varying height, it's just not fun to be able to see someone standing on a tall ledge and have no way to actually fight them. Also, Medics and Snipers can abuse height and be generally pretty annoying.
Tour does a lot of heavy lifting with its implementation of CTF. I think CTF works well in a medieval context but there's a lot of minor adjustments it needs to actually have it play well. The main issue is Scouts and Demos can steal and capture the flag reliably due to their movement options. The control points in Tour completely fix this issue, forcing players to capture it first lets nerfs Scouts and allows other classes to defend effectively.
