Half Sword is a premium simulation game for PC developed and published by Half Sword Games. It's a combat simulator set during medieval times, where players engage in deadly duels. Embark on a journey as a simple commoner, fighting your way to becoming a renowned and honored knight.  

Much like For Honor and Chivalry 2, Half Sword features physics-based combat mechanics to deliver an immersive, realistic experience. Newcomers can try out the free demo to get a clear sense of how the gameplay feels in action before committing to purchase the game. 

For knight's honor 

Half Sword takes place in 15th-century Europe, where kings rule the lands and chivalry is paramount. Here, the simple folk dream of putting on the armor, proving their worth through duels, and gaining fame and honor. You are one such commoner, and you're looking to show your mettle and acquire the coveted title of knight. Become the champion of the Arena to solidify your name in history, or die trying. 

The core gameplay revolves around one-on-one melee fights that span across back alley brawls and prestigious tournaments, spectated by royalty. Combat takes inspiration from Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) practitioners and allows you don and use historically accurate armor and weapons in duels. Devise a combination of offense and defense that suits your play style, complemented by intuitive mouse-based weapon control for swings and parries. 

To enhance realism and immersion, the game features permadeath, which means losing results in game over. It also increases the stakes and forces you to think and strategize about every duel. However, the game suffers from major technical issues and still requires significant optimization. It runs poorly even on the lowest settings, and weapon handling can feel less responsive due to performance problems.

Hotfix updates 

Half Sword received a batch of hotfix updates focused on stabilization and performance improvements. Players are encouraged to update GPU drivers and switch to DX12 when supported, which resolves many widespread performance issues. While the Slums map still struggles, partial foliage optimization has begun. Additional foliage passes and blood optimization help smooth gameplay across Forest areas, signaling steady progress toward broader technical refinement through careful iterative development efforts and ongoing updates. 

Several gameplay and system bugs were addressed, improving consistency and flow. The retirement bug, causing constant character creation, was fixed, restoring proper progression. Forged weapons no longer exhibit strange physics behavior, making combat feel reliable. Balance tweaks adjusted ball crushing damage while keeping its impact noticeable, complemented by a new sound effect and the addition of liver hit detection to deepen feedback during close combat encounters across all melee situations. 

Environmental and interaction fixes rounded out the update with meaningful changes. Slums map colliders now function correctly, ensuring rounds end properly when boundaries are crossed. NPCs respond to taunts, allowing enemies to be talked into submission and adding personality to encounters. Minor bug fixes further enhance stability, reinforcing immersion and demonstrating continued attention to player-reported issues through steady patches supporting long-term development goals for the evolving core experience overall stability. 

Brutal and bloody 

All in all, Half Sword is an impressive combat simulator if you like one-on-one melee fights and medieval themes. You can come up with your own fighting technique as you rise through the ranks and become an arena champion. The fighting mechanics are realistic, and the historically accurate gear is a nice touch. It’s a title worth keeping an eye on if immersive medieval combat is your thing.