Hellish Quart

Terrible updates for the past year, very slow development and general lack of content, game-breaking "small update" recently, developer doesnt communicate or listen to repeating community feedback, obsession with adding almost only polish characters, prefers making instagram reels than actually working on the game. List could go on.

Man, I freaking love this game. If, like me, you played Bushido Blade until the PS1 stopped reading the disc, you'll probably a bit of that joy here. It's definitely got a lot of early access jank to shake off, but there's a real gem underneath it all. I hope we get the complete product one day because there's really nothing else like it.

Came in expecting historically accurate swordplay. Got janky mechanics and cringe. Shame.

Fix your game please. My pc runs on cosmic dimensional nuclear fusion and the game won't load past the opening load screeen. Refunded. Thank you.

The Pros: Hellish Quart is an accurate and well crafted HEMA simulator, the fighting is realistic, and dueling styles are varied. The game has a lot of immersive atmosphere and plays well at first glance. Hellish Quart shows A LOT of promise, features like a level builder, unlockables, first person mode, and Mortal Kombat-esque arcade mode towers demonstrate this; the game has all the hallmarks of a successful fighting game, even in it's infancy. Overall, fun to play and worth your time to do so. I'd like to color the rest of this review with the knowledge that this developer has put a lot of love into this game, and it is a good game, it has a long way to go though. Please don't allow the negative parts of this review to cause you to completely ignore this game, if anything, keep it on your watchlist. The Cons: This game is unrecommendable in it's current state. First and foremost I must mention the massive flaws that are seemingly baked into the game, likely never to be changed, the fact that characters often move in a way that is impossible in reality (hands spinning around, arms slingshotting back and forth, etc.). For a game so focused on realism and the challenge inherent to the duel, the physics, hitboxes, and movement/attack mechanics are significantly poor. While the game handles and functions fine about 50%-60% of the time, the rest of the time swings feel uncontrolled and more like a preprogrammed strike than a swift and skillful swipe, a.i. will often randomly receive priority or what can only be described as divine providence from the game tower boss Samuel visibly TELEPORTING AWAY FROM YOUR STRIKE/otherwise executing movement IMPOSSIBLY fast to dodge you, a.i. predicting your movements as soon as the input is detected rather than when your character begins to move (there shouldn't be a delay anyways...), sometimes your character just decides not to guard even if the enemy visibly has not slipped your guard, a.i. managing to force your blade out of the way to hit you, even if you have moved less and should therefore have more "stamina." There are far more examples a.i. bulls****ery, but these are the most prominent. In the same vein however, in about 65% of the duels I've fought, either mine or my opponent's hand will magically spin around in the precise direction required to make an attack successful; this is so common and so jarring that I would call it this game's biggest issue right now. This issue ruins any chance of fun or reward when it occurs, and being engine level, is highly unlikely to ever be resolved. A dueling game with any sort of physics cannot have bad physics. There are few other major issues, but they stand out. For example, there are several hidden features, which you will find ZERO reference to anywhere in the game or spoken of by the developers; features such as: push actually executing a cut when in close range (WTF?), low attack executing a kick or some other form of unbalance/pinning when in close range, and character auto stancing (especially after your guard is stricken), possibly among others. Conclusion: I would love to recommend this game, with a lot of work, this could become a great game. What I would like to see most is the developer transition away from adding in non-features like LARP plastic swords or stick fighting and buckle down and focus on ironing out the controls and the smaller issues that contribute to a frustrating or unrewarding player experience. Hellish Quart could quickly become a favorite game for any new players, and despite it's many issues, I still use some of my valuable free time to play a few duels. For such a game to have been made by one man or a small team is no small feat, and I wish the best for them in their continued efforts to perfect this passion project. Edit: Latest update made this game so much worse, I'd go so far as to say ruined it. All problems listed above amplified tenfold and new problems introduced that make the game feel like something that is happening to you rather than a game you are controlling. Edit: Core features are also broken. Enemies sometimes inexplicably get multiple strikes on you when tempo is yours and you have responded correctly. Bad game in it's current state.

Overall, I love this game, despite it still being in "early-Access" after 5 or so years. Pros: + Best and most realistic swordplay I've seen in a game so far. Kingdom Come is close, and Half-Sword deserves a mention just for how entertaining it is. But no game seems to have the reverence and respect for HEMA that this game does. + Graphics are decent. Not overly pristine, but well-optimized, I think. (I have a friend who tried this game with slightly less powerful hardware, and he reported the game running on slow motion for him.) + After about an hour, you get a feel for the game's tempo and it makes for more interesting looking swordfights. + Developer includes options they consider obsolete. A mixed bag for some, but I like that the option is there. + Lots of Gameplay options. + As someone who plays on a mouse & keyboard, the layout is easy to change and get the hang of after a short while. Cons - Models can sometimes bug out. Hands stretching out; hair clipping through body models... Not game breaking. - In Auto-distance mode, I noticed sometimes there is significant input lag, which can easily cost you a duel. - (Personal Preference) More than a dozen sabre characters, and only two longsword characters, and one of them acts drunk. Kinda wish the devs would add a few more longsword characters that were more orthodox in their style. - Replay value of the game is kinda short. Once you've played all the characters a little bit, you feel like you're done. - No slow motion replay. One thing I always enjoyed about the old Tekken series is the option to see a slow motion replay of your sweet moves. This needs to be implemented YESTERDAY (IMO). Even if you're not into HEMA, it's fun game. But if you are, you must absolutely try this game. Get it on sale. It's worth it.

Bought Hellish Quart thinking I'd become a master swordsman. Turns out getting stabbed is a surprisingly effective strategy. Every duel ends with either me looking like a fencing champion or a medieval kebab. Best UK simulator I've ever played. 10/10. Would get kebabed again.

Purchased by impulse and at a early stage of development, so i was highly sceptical. But this indie game turns out a real gem, i AM positively surprised: concept, design, movement control tickle my gamer nerve. Keep on the good work Kubold. Props