Steam's Next Fests are a magical time, where we get to delight in the latest bite-sized demo appetizers for upcoming games from developers of every scale—or at least, that's what usually happens. According to Steam's charts, what's getting the most attention in the current Next Fest is an old tech demo for Half Sword.
But really, can you blame anyone? Videogames are nothing if not proof of a near-universal fascination with the idea of people hitting each other with objects, and Half Sword's physics-based simulation of 15th century martial combat takes that grisly spectacle to a bloody, often clumsy extreme.
Created in consultation with practitioners of Historical European Martial Arts, Half Sword aims for authentic representation of historical weaponry, armor, and techniques from historical combat manuals. And the results of when those hits land are simulated with similar realism, as evidenced by Half Sword's regular dismemberments and disembowelings.
In my case, a few of those dismemberments have been self-inflicted. Turns out your sword doesn't get any less sharp if you have a rough landing while your physics-enabled limbs get tangled with your opponent's. Who knew?
In a Steam news post, Half Sword's development team says it had intended to line up some new demo content, "but the truth is, the team’s had their hands full. Between polishing existing systems, adding new features, and improving performance, we didn’t want to rush out something that wasn’t ready," Half Sword Games said.
Clearly, that hasn't hurt anyone's interest. But as penance, Half Sword Games is posting "a new sneak peek from upcoming maps, weapons and new gameplay systems" during each day of Next Fest through additional news posts on Steam.
While physics-based medieval melee might currently reign supreme, that doesn't mean there's any shortage of promising new demos this week. Also ranking high on the charts are typing-based battle royale Final Sentence, surreal demonic skating psychedelia Skate Story, and hardcore survival shooter Road to Vostok, along with hundreds of other new demos.
As for Half Sword, it doesn't yet have a release date, but you can wishlist it—and try the demo yourself—on Steam now.
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