Not many video games can declare to boast a demo rely that is stayed within the hundreds for nearly a full 12 months, however Half Sword is a particular beast. Steam gamers have been revelling in its brutal, gory tackle medieval fight because it first went viral over two years in the past, however a serious replace again in April 2025 noticed its reputation explode once more. Ever since, the Half Sword tech demo has held onto greater than 5,000 energetic gamers, making it one of the crucial persistently fashionable trial variations on the Valve retailer. Now, it is lastly popping out for actual.
Should you’ve spent hours wrapping your head across the deliberate intricacies of fight in Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Half Sword will really feel like a breath of contemporary air. It embraces the elegant simplicity of mouse controls to wield your chosen arms, adopting a fight system inbuilt coordination with historic European martial arts specialists into an intuitive, physics-driven simulation you can shortly decide up and play.
Mix that with a powerful array of lovingly crafted weapons and armor that rivals the very best medieval video games, and a way of high-lethality stress the place one well-struck blow can finish a combat immediately, and the result’s a fight sim that staggers and dances on the road between life like and ridiculous. It is easy to begin and a pleasure to grasp. It is also relentlessly graphic and bloody, albeit in a method that manages to really feel extra gleeful than gratuitous. Plus you’ll be able to flip it down in the event you actually need.
As a way to turn out to be the champion of the sector, you will have to begin out from bare-knuckle fistfights and work your method up the ranks. Every success earns you cash and fame, progressively build up your gear and incomes potential in form. No quantity of renown can prevent from a stiff spear to the intestine, or a hammer blow throughout the cranium, nonetheless, so maintain your wits about you always. Struggle soiled, use the setting, do no matter it takes – simply be sure to’re the one standing when the mud settles.
Half Sword launches into early entry on Steam Friday January 30. Stick it in your wishlist now if you wish to be notified when the day arrives. “Thanks for ready for this additional month,” Half Sword Video games writes, acknowledging its delay from the initially proposed 2025 launch. “We hope you rested nicely in your holidays and now you might be prepared for all the brand new stuff we ready for you.
“As you perceive, we’re nonetheless engaged on the sport and new content material will likely be added as we proceed our option to the total launch,” the developer provides. “Bugs, efficiency, occasional crashes, and different issues are being actively ironed out as quick as our tiny workforce can deal with. Please be at liberty to tell us of any points that have an effect on your immersion within the skirmishes of Half Sword.”
