Half Sword: Beat ******* to Death with Sticks

[Brother Michael]

Game of the year edition

Anyone else trying the early access now? I’m on the Veteran tier at this point. Will post some screenshots later.

My initial impression of the new game feel was that it was worse, but I think it’s a significant improvement after a few hours. Weapon control is more precise, although stabbing accurately remains tricky. Weapons seem to deal greater damage by default. Early tiers are more deadly, and I find it easier to land knockout blows in armored fights. They’re still slugfests but in the right way. Polearms still dominate, but that’s more a success when the goal is emulating real combat.

Progression mode has replaced the gauntlet, adding new maps, combat scenarios, and respawn system. You still only have one life, but you usually have the opportunity to surrender and pay to heal up before the next match. Dying will prompt you to “save your soul,” which will either directly resurrect you or send you to the abyss. It’s a black void like the beta, except the number of enemies you face depends on how many you killed in previous rounds. Killing all the undead will let you continue on the character. I haven’t actually lost a character yet (although I’ve come close). The increase in forgiveness is welcome considering the demo could border on being a rage game.

The elephant in the room is the performance. It’s terribly optimized on some maps, particularly the slums. My i9 4090 laptop gets choppy even in a 1v1, although I am on high settings. There are also gaps in the terrain that you can easily trip over, so you should really avoid them in favor of the cellar fights in the early ranks.

In all, I’m enjoying it.

[Oyster Sauce]

The EA is **** from a butt. I keep playing the demo.

[Finarfin]

They were literally sitting on a goldmine with this game and then took a big fat **** on it by releasing an awful Early Access Title.

[Brother Michael]

Hear the cry of the poor!