Medieval duelling simulator Half Sword was a whole hit during last October’s Steam Next Fest. Its goofy, grisly tech demo was the most popular playable snippet of the entire showcase, with players going haywire for its elastic, haphazard duels where your weapons were as much a threat to yourself as your opponent.Unfortunately, the demo’s popularity has seemingly come back to bite developer Half Sword Games in its early access launch. Although Half Sword attracted a big audience upon its alpha release in January, the response by players has been as divided as a human skull when struck by a Zweihander.The issues cited by players are numerous. But the main problem is that combat in the early access version feels very different from the tech demo, with some Steam reviews claiming that the system is harder to grapple with, and much easier to send your character into a flailing ragdoll. The developers point out that the tech demo was based upon a much older version of Half Sword, and its system have been built out much more in the interim:”After development branched into Early Access and away from the tech demo, the locomotion and combat systems have changed significantly” writes the Half Sword team in a Steam post. “Every new procedural animation such as grips, stances, or damage reactions introduces new variables that must be tested and rebalanced. Because of this combat can feel different between updates while those systems continue to evolve. An improvement in the controls on our end…
