New Update - 04/02/2025

[adrak]

Hello Players,

Based on community feedback, we recognize that maintaining two separate testing versions (Playtest and Abyss) on Steam introduced unnecessary confusion for many players. To streamline the experience and provide a clearer path for testing, we have made the decision to *discontinue the separate Playtest branch and merge its content with the Abyss into a single, unified Demo.*

This update aims to simplify access and consolidate our testing efforts into one accessible package.

Patch Notes & Key Changes:

• Added a new Gauntlet Mode, where you earn points to unlock new Ranks. Dying in that mode sends you to the Abyss. Dying in the Abyss deletes your current character, and you lose all your progress in Gauntlet Mode.
• In Free Mode you can now play all the Ranks (just like in Playtest) except the final one, the new Baron tier.
• Abyss has been updated with new physics, combat, armors, and weapons.
• You can also access Abyss from the main menu by killing your character in the main menu.

Context & Bug Fixes:

We acknowledge that yesterday's update resulted in a significantly more hardcore experience than intended, largely due to unforeseen bugs impacting player progression, particularly in Gauntlet mode. This patch directly targets those critical issues to restore the intended gameplay flow. Free Mode and easier Abyss access are also part of ensuring players have multiple ways to engage with the game.

Performance Considerations:

If you experience performance issues after this update, please consider the following:

Verify DirectX Version: Ensure you are using a compatible DirectX version.

Graphics Settings: The game defaults to 'Cinematic' mode. Lowering the graphics settings may improve performance significantly on some systems.

Accessing the Updated Demo:

To be crystal clear: you can access the latest, unified version of the Demo by clicking the standard download/play button on the Half Sword Steam page. Ensure your game is updated through Steam.

We sincerely appreciate your feedback and patience as we continue development. We hope these changes lead to a more stable, understandable, and enjoyable experience for everyone.

Enjoy the update!

- Half Sword Games

[Agent 46]

crazy how I beat the final boss right before this

[Alucard3600]

Yesterday was an interesting day to discover this game, lol. This update pretty much fixes all my gripes I had from first impressions of the game, except the physics when you're on the ground (should be able to kick, roll, move arms more than a nanometer, at least get up faster). Thx for your work dev team, looking forward to following this game!

[Sergeant Gundick]

i wish there was a option to turn off the exhaustion system, really gets annoying.

[stannard97]

Don't know if this is the best place, but here are my thoughts as someone who only started playing yesterday:

- It's pretty good, satisfying when you get a good hit and frustrating when you die.
- There needs to be more control over your weapons. Aiming seems very inconsistent and pretty much impossible, I feel like a more mount and blade style control system would be better. Obviously there's some bugs at the minute and your weapon gets stuck and stuff but the only really effective strategy seems to be flailing about like a madman. Trying to strike in a particular direction at a particular body part seems completely random to me. Thrust seems useless, always misses, even a down opponent that isn't moving.
- The beggar boss is completely disproportionate. The beggar fights are easy and he is pretty much impossible. I spent 90% of my play time here because I'd only get past him when I get lucky and chop his leg off without getting knocked down. Even when you rush to get close to him, you get knocked down very easily and he chops your head off while you're down (which is funny a few times then quickly gets boring). Had to lower the difficulty to reliably beat him and unlock the higher levels.
- I don't know what your plan for the final game is but it can be slow to restart gauntlet mode, in my opinion you shouldn't go into the abyss mode, and you shouldn't go back to the menu. Should just immediately choose another fight like when you give up and losing rank progress.

Anyway pretty fun demo, looking forward to seeing how the game turns out

[FlyingPan]

Originally posted by kyrbys:

You guys cried so much they had to make the AI dumber. Typical

They shouldn't have made the AI dumber, they should've made the BOSSES a bit easier.

Normal AI was actually cool because it actually blocked and parried

[FlyingPan]

Suggestions:

- Make the "0.3 Beta" available via the "Beta" tab in the game's proprities
- Add an option to make stamina infinite in slow motion so we can mess around
- Add specific graphic options since that way some things can be turned down to improve FPS without making the game pixelated and ugly.

[BadJokeJoel]

Unironically I thought it was an April Fools update lmao, like the changes were intentionally bad as a joke or something

[Mr Can't Say]

Originally posted by Agent 46:

crazy how I beat the final boss right before this

Did you beat him as soldier tier class?

[▼-▼]

This mockery of Chivalry is garbage. You aught to be sued for copy right infringement till you work for someone that already makes this game. Only idiots look at the wheel and say they can do better then come back a year later with something worse and brag.

[Marth41]

Originally posted by ▼-▼:

This mockery of Chivalry is garbage. You aught to be sued for copy right infringement till you work for someone that already makes this game. Only idiots look at the wheel and say they can do better then come back a year later with something worse and brag.

bait used to be believable

[KMBak alias Bumblebee]

What happened to game performance? Playtest worked almost perect. Now on Higj or Epic only 40FPS on RTX4090 (Brave Stand mode). Really?! :( DX12 is even worse! I dont even try turning on Cinematic settings.

[Dark Ninja]

When boss surrenders I can't claim victory, which makes getting 8th tier impossible. Tier 7 boss is on the ground surrendering but there is nothing I can do, hitting him with the warhammer doesn't kill him

[Grunwald]

The AI isn't the problem. The weapons are.
The edge alignment is atrocious, swords behave like lightsabers, requiring ZERO force to thrust in or slice through (especially with bosses, dunno who's idea that was).
You can make a big swing with an axe and barely do any damage, while AI grazes you with their edge in a clinch and your limb goes off (adjusting damage in settings does little to remedy this)

[Sloppenheimer]

So far I think the update is pretty cool, but the combat and game performance definitely took a nose dive on this round.

I run the game on a 4070, Epic settings, and Grotesque gore and was getting smooth gameplay before the update, so that's a bummer for sure. Definitely not unplayable for me, but 100% needs some more work. Haven't really messed around w/ the settings much yet, so hopefully I can get some more frames out of it. Abyss is still playable for me as well, but performance is noticeably worse here. Seems I'm lucky in this regard reading through the forums lol.

Just gonna bullet point my thoughts on combat:

Pros:
- Bones are a lot more crunchy which is awesome. Super cool that neck breaks and back breaks are a thing now. Blunt weapons feel meaty now as a result. That being said, the new floppy physics makes this harder to enjoy. Hopefully they can strike a good balance on the sense of control and power with tweaks to the physics model.
- Slo-Mo button rocks. Would love to see it as an option in the settings to personally tweak the exhaustion mechanic, so the player gets to decide how fast or slow (or just outright disable) the stamina drains.
- I think the new Gauntlet game mode is cool. Definitely adds to the replayability, but is overly punishing IMO. I think adding meta-progression would help alleviate the frustration of losing everything. A good way to implement that could be "reach ____ rank 5x = permanent unlock" or something, with an added "Permadeath" box on the side you can check for the players who enjoy the All-or-Nothing feel the current version provides. Also Freemode is still an option, so dealing w/ the frustration is entirely optional as is lol.
- New weapons, Armors, and Class are always a welcome addition.


Cons:
- Feels a lot looser in a bad way. Not as much precision and control as before. Weapons feel floppy as a result. Previous version was much preferred.
- Knockdown timer. I understand where they feel the need to add one, but I'd really like to see this as an option in the settings, like a slider from 0-60 seconds, where 0 = no timer. Everyone wins that way.
- Weapons phase through enemies a lot more. Probably a mix between the new physics and frame rate issues, so hopefully this gets ironed out w/ those.
- I seem to fall over a lot more often now. Adds to the issues w/ the knockdown timer. Wouldn't be as much of an issue if ground controls were an option, but still gets frustrating.

Overall I like the update, but would really like to see the physics and performance be addressed soon. That being said, I understand that this is still a really early access version of the game, so I'm eager to see what comes next and what fixes they roll out. Keep up the good work!

[poorfamily117]

i would like to say that i really enjoy the update and the direction the game is moving