Hundreds of hours were poured into this Mordhau in-game fan film

There is drama within every Mordhau battle, but most of them don't feature betrayal, family, and boisterous pub goers. All are prominent in the latest work from "Frost The Canadian", a film maker dedicated to creating in-game epics with stupid sword boys. It's machinima, except better than usual because you know everyone you see is a real person making use of Mordhau's daft voice lines and emotes.

Come and watch this tale of sad blue people chopping up sadder red people. May it distract from modern times.

I didn't fully follow all that, but I liked the bit where the crossbow men lined up their shots in sync. It makes me wish co-ordination was more of a thing in the actual game, and you'd get people bossing about shield regiments and the like. Carnage is fun but it gets blurry.

In film-land, though, all the best scenes are the non-battle ones. Where you see people arguing in the pub, dancing, joshing, or whacking carts with mallets. There's something joyful about improvising around a limited tool set, an explicit playfulness that casts a warm glow on creative output. It's amazing what you can do with goofy necks and awkward nods.

Let's raise a glass to the heroic tavern man who takes on two armed soldiers with his fists - as well as "Frost" and his extensive troupe of actors, whose work here is just one part of a wider story.

Even without the emotes that make this sort of thing possible, Mordhau would have earned its place in the RPS advent calendar.