Hellish Quart

Found this game due to it's amazing soundtrack. Gameplay proved to be very fun as well.
And there's even a story mode! Story itself is unfinished, but even in it's current state it is very interesting.
I also finally understood why people enjoy using controllers thanks to this game.

The only desire I have is that the true tutorial was it's own option, separated from campaign, with tutorial's chapters available for replay and practice separately of each other. Because for me most stuff was easy, but parrying is hard and I'd like to replay those lessons as much as I need to understand the mechanic well.

while a simple premise this game is really fun while having a frustrating difficulty jump. the skill ceiling of this game feels really good and i can't wait to play more and get better

TLDR: I am addicted to this game, I enjoy it. But I also mean everything I say below. Cognitive dissonance:

At first glance, this game seems really cool; reading about the mechanics in the tutorials makes you think "Whoa, this actually takes timing and skill, this isn't just a button-mashing game." As it turns out, it's basically a button-mashing game. The controls and mechanics don't work as advertised. For example, your character is supposed to block automatically, whether he/she is standing still or moving...this simply isn't true. I've been hit by human and AI players numerous times while simply standing or attempting to move away from my opponent. The lack of a consistent blocking mechanic is a big problem. Furthermore, there never seems to be any consistency in terms of how quickly your character responds to control input. Sometimes it's lightning-fast, but most times it's frustratingly slow. There are tons of combos in this game--why? Your character gets exhausted after swinging the sword a dozen times, and attacking your opponent with more than a couple swings opens you up to getting inexplicably whacked. Winning fights comes down to either 1) spamming a single key/button at the right time, as your opponent is swinging (and hoping your character responds), or 2) smashing as many buttons as possible while moving around and hoping for a quick victory. This is not fun. Skill is an illusion. Character response is slow and inconsistent to control inputs. "Fighting" in the game is no more interesting than rolling dice over and over again. When I press "X" or "Y" or "A" or "B" on my controller, I should get an immediate response from my character. But I never do. It's like playing through persistent lag.

Despite all this...I would still recommend it.

Tournament mode please and cant wait to see the finished roster!

Excellent job by 2 developers making a passion a reality.

game is good fun but needs online, thats mainly the reason I'm disappointed.
That's just how it is nowadays, hopefully they will allow us to show them it can be a success.

Not played much of the game but just fyi to the devs. TYGH for main attacks is incorrect. RFVEGC are all acceptable options.

You ever played Bushido Blade? this game is similar to that but more realism into it

really enjoy the game. wish after five years theyd make more progress on the story besides chapter one

great game, especially watching a one-handed rapier hard block a zweihander

This game is NOT A VR GAME! It's a controller based combat fighting game (think Xbox controller with soul caliber style fighting game) The only VR option is you can view the game through your headset... if that classified as a VR game then Cyberpunk 2077 would be considered a VR game. Please re-categorize this game it's very misleading. This should never be listed in the VR category.

I thought I was getting an amazing physics based VR fighting game like Blade and Sorcery and what I got was historical a soul caliber button & joystick side scrolling fighter.

VERY Misleading marketing.

Massive potential here but feels like the outcomes are a bit random. Looks super good though!

A game that can't find it's identity about being realistic or not.

This game has a lot of promise and if you use the old version available in the beta section (2021) the combat flows nicely and would in theory with the current day improvements be an improvement.
But as stated in the title the game can't seem to figure out what it wants to do.
Physics based sword combat exists, grappling exists which is fantastic.
However characters are balanced entirely around this idea of being friendly to multiplayer and the scope of the characters in the game. This is where things fall apart entirely and huge inconsistencies start showing up.

Characters and their styles will be balanced as stated above and not as one would expect those weapons and styles behave in real life. Some practitioners will get gassed out with 2-3 swings while others will stand there and whirly bird their swords like a helicopter endlessely. Some have quick animation recovery times, others get stuck in self staggers. Some characters will fall apart with a block on the lightest of swings but others will tank a full force swing from full extension. The list of inconsistencies goes on. The biggest gripe here being that the reason for a character being good is arbitrary when the core mechanics expect you to expect realism.
So it's a janky simulator but only where physics and surface level sword fighting is concerned. And where fighting is concerned it becomes a tekken / bushido but only taking the best of those and mechanically executing those horrible.

So you say so it's a multiplayer game and to which the developer says: no it's not and you will use parsec and steam remote to play multiplayer because it's unfeasible. So you say it's a PvE game and I say: no it's not because if you force the game into slow mo you will watch the simulation of the AI reveal that it can and will input read. And it can and will execute defence and offence not on the principles you're constrained to but by a seperate subsystem which lets it script it's next move directly. You'll notice this in sword clashes and feints where the AI compared to you has the ability to move at a rate of 3-4x your speed upon switching the attack or block. You're constrained to inputs and animations, they can chain and switch them.

To really sweeten the brown cake this game prides itself on auto-block. Saying, "no never" to a block button but making blocks one dimensional and so player agency about defence in a realistic sword fighting game is left to:
- Don't be attacking
- Don't be off axis (good luck when half your attacks are tied to 2-3 directional inputs to execute and therefore degrade you moveset into single face button inputs)
- Don't be in long guard

Don't magically be in the wrong place at the wrong time because a bunch of the characters will ignore your block and slice your guard anyway because again you have no agency in your defence and a lot of the sword weight and "PhYsiCS" of footage you see from 3 odd years ago have been worked almost entirely around a few keystone interactions.

It's a novelty of a thing. Buy it to see something akin to a cool tech demo. There are early editions available through steam if you liked what you saw from footage from 2021 (you get one version from that era available) so that combat is available.

I couldn't recommend this to anyone looking for a realistic HEMA sim nor a decent HEMA game.

I got to 14th on the leaderboard for the survival mode though so... Sword go bonk and mo cap though I guess.

UI/interactions and key binding with mouse is especially bad and super janky.
if this game is on PC, it should not force me to play with controller.
I booted in today, and was struggling even just to get out of the keybinds menu because everything is so unintuitive. The reason i was there in the first place is that i couldn't even get past the character selection despite hitting virtually every button available to me. I was stuck on selecting a character variant, and changing keybinds evidently didn't change anything. Uninstalled.

One of the more frustrating games I've played in a while, so if that was the goal, good job.

Good game, The physics are fun and i like how many moves there are

Love this game so much, the realism and skill honing, only drawback is the lack of an online mode to play against other people, I get bored playing against ai bots because after a while they become predictable. I know the this has been answered before by the devs stating that it's still a small community and they want it to remain a game to be remembered for years and not one to be forgotten with and online mode ruining it, but that is far from the case, an online mode will actually take it to new heights and build a fan base of competitive players trying to see who's best and that's what we love as gamers

Bought the game expecting some skill to be put behind the fighting and there is none (Most unrealistic swordplay ever) not only that but their is no defensive strategy the game tells you to back up to block and or avoid getting hit which is laughable they must've paid the people who reviewed it positive I played for 68 minutes then refunded.

Extremely unpolished, game mechanics feel more like suggestions then playing the character, the combat is laughably unbalanced, enemies will get free hits in for no reason while your blocking, you will instantly die while blocking.

Yes something something realism something something immersion you cant always block, yeah well enemies cant take multiple saber hits to the skull and shrug it off like they do in the story mode.

Actual garbage, im refunding this.

I don't see how you win 1-5 ducats a fight and then lose 40-50 when you die. Stupid

Edit: Lost 70 this time on fight 5, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY Stupid. Cannot recommend this game to anyone.
Save your money and wait for Half-Sword to release

Fantastic!
Also works on deck and looks lovely in VR!
Price is right
In a perfect world there would also be HDR and motion controllers would work as a normal controller at least but it is what it is.
9.5/10

question is story mode that short and what do you do with ducats????

For such a small team, this game is an incredible triumph. I've enjoyed fighting games, being a game developer, and being a sword martial artist for decades each - and I'd be extremely proud of the achievement here.

Awesome game fun to watch it progress in development.

This game slaps SO HARD. I didn't think I'd like it when I first bought it because of the learning curve, but after finding a character I liked and learning their play-style, I started really getting into it. I mainly play Alexander, but all the characters (with a couple exceptions) feel really good to control and have their own unique tactics and personalities.

It is fun but man they let it die. the story isn,t finished and the characters arnet all unlocked. it just say coming and to be continued. i could get past that if it atleast had an online 1v1 fight but nope just arcade and even then the boss at the end is mad cheap. i think they did it on purpose so u have to fight over and over so by the time u realize the game isnt finished u put an hr or 2 into it which lowers ur chances of a refund.

This is quite literally the best fencing simulator of all time! Trust me, you won't find anything better! Just imagine how amazing this game will be in the future. I highly, highly recommend this game.

Not a bad game, had fun challenging hardest difficulty in arcade, but the story mode... damn slow and unbearable!

everything is just rigged in the enemies favour on story mode

This game is addicting! Invite your friends over for this game and they will love it! Host a tournament and ban sore sports (there will be sore losers)!
Seriously though, it is fun, especially when you do your first grab. There are many modes ranging from hema, wood swords, to blood and gore. But if you don't like blood, this and many other aspects of the game, can be modified. You can modify everything down to character strength and health up to if you don't want people to get up close and kick you and punch you. Try to grab someone with the axe man, look away if you don't like disturbing images.

Another unique and very fun sword play game, I highly recommend this game if you like brutal realistic combat. I waited a long time for a sword fighting game like this, I was a big fan of Bushido Blade which captured the brutal essence of sword play and I think Hellish Quart does this even better, it's really fun and intuitive to play and the music is a really good fit.

Button bashers will love this one, you'll whip someone's head off and you will have no clue how you did it!

This game kicks ass, full stop. This feels like a fighting that was tailor made just for history nuts like me.
Even if you're not a history nut, this game's combat feels genuinely so rewarding, and it's so in depth yet so simple.
Every single match feels as fresh as the first.
I love fighting games, and I am in love with Hellish Quart. If you're a fan of fighting games and you're not playing Hellish Quart, I actually feel sorry for you.
I'll say again, this game kicks ass!

pretty good game 5/5 swords and shields

Cool physics based fencing game, works great on deck

Its a fun fighting game with gameplay complexity and restrained particle effects. idk what else I could say.

This game is great, Technical, but not too much. Satisfying to win, Nice fighting styles, I hope they keep developing it!

The development is continual and consistent.

Gra jest bardzo przyjemna lecz nie mogę jej teraz polecić bo to nie jest skończony produkt. Niech deweloperzy wezmą się za robotę.

Game Mechanics are just fucking garbage

I hate fighting games with dumb combo memorization. A lot slower and tactical approach with the original seting (not Japan). Easy to learn, hard to master and fun to play against friends. Online multiplayer not available due to physic simulations.

challenging at first but with practice, learning the moves, and selecting a character/weapon/style that suits you this becomes a fun and satisfying dual where a single move can result in victory or defeat.

Good so far. An online PVP mode would be desirable.

Buy this game if you like the following:
-Medieval history
-Soul Calibur
-The Princess Bride
-Halfsword
-Don Quixote
-GOT books
-Serotonin rushes

Long way to go, the Ai simply cheats half the time, reach is extremely inconsistent often the Ai will run straight onto your attack and take no damage, needs alot of work as of yey

Love it. Very unique fighting game, works great on the Deck.

Cool game but needs serious work.
It will always mess up when I'm backing up while parrying. Which is how you are meant to do it. What's the point if he swings so fast it won't let me block in time or if his blade goes through my block.

I'm giving this a bad review due to this game been in the oven for too long and they still adding unnecessary stuff instead of just finish off the game and then add the rest as updates (things like stoye mode, a ton of chars when 6-7 char would been fine, etc)

Okay, I actually never write reviews on Steam, but this is so good, that I simply have to.

Hellish Quart is an easy to learn, hard to master game. The combat feels great, the visuals, although still a bit rough around the edges, are alright (gore is pretty good if you're into it!). The swords feel dangerous, and because sometimes one hit is enough to end the fight (no health bar bullshit!) you insincitvely try to avoid the blade at all cost, as you would IRL. The story mode is compelling and does not feel like an afterthought (looking at you Battlefield and COD), and my only complaints are that there is only one chapter at the point of writing this review that ends on a cliffhanger (DEVS PLS HURRY, I CAN'T WAIT) and that the horse riding feels bad.

Overall, if you like fighting games, definitely worth checking out (though in the current state I'd wait for a sale).

8.5/10 - would behead a dude again.

Game tries hard to be as realistic as possible + you have a Tekken 3 type of combinational attacks listed during the pause menu.

Seems they're trying to implement VR option, but that will be buggy for many years no doubt :>

Only drawback - long loading time.

To avoid that - I play with synthetic weapons.

Such a cool game!! The more realistic, the better!

By the former Witcher 3 developer. Very realistic look at the medieval sword fighting. The game is still in early access though, they are expanding the characters story and adding a story mode. If that is what you like, Buy it.