The Greatsword of Artorias from Dark Souls is super unwieldy in real life

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In Dark Souls, the Greatsword of Artorias can be wielded with a single hand. In real life, as seen in this Man At Arms: Reforged video, things are a little bit different. The swordsmiths at Baltimore Knife and Sword recreated the massive blade in painstaking detail and at full scale—and then they had to struggle just to lift it.

The amount of work that went into making the sword is remarkable, and the process is fun to watch. And of course it all pays off at the end, when the makers use the blade to pulverize milk jugs, fruit, a case of beer, fake zombie skulls, and other such gooey explodables. But they don't swing it so much as balance it on their shoulders like some kind of grim, deathly caber, and then try to keep it steady while it falls. That sucker is big.

Dark Souls 3 will be out on April 11, but our review is up right now.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.