Half Sword
Half Sword screenshot 1Half Sword screenshot 2
ActionAdventureIndieSimulationGorePhysicsCombatMedievalSwordplay

740 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 1,613

Peak in the last 7 days: 1,940

Half Sword Early Access Steam store

Game description

Half Sword is a physics-based medieval combat simulator featuring historically accurate XV-century arms and armor. We are not afraid to show the brutal nature of medieval combat with in-depth blood and gore features.

Basic info

DeveloperHalf Sword Games
PublisherGame Seer Publishing
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateJan 30, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10 (64Bit)
ProcessorIntel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ, Ryzen 5 3500U
Memory8 GB
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB), AMD Radeon RX 580
Storage15 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 437 reviews from the past 1 year

62.6/ 100
Bottom 20%

Steam rating: Mostly Positive (73%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 25, 2026)

Clumsy physics based sword fights make Half Sword memorable, but it scores only 62.6 across 437 analyzed reviews as performance drags it down.

👍 Strengths

137 reviews still find it fun, the most upvoted saying it is very fun despite its problems. 31 praise the physics based combat as unique, with some seeing great potential in its depth. 30 speak warmly of the developer, saying they support the game and its future. Content Volume ranks 789th of 1351.

👎 Where it falls short

185 reviews say it runs poorly, describing stutter and frame drops even on high end hardware and the lowest settings, and some feel performance got worse than in the demo. Tech & Support appears in 82% of analyzed reviews and ranks 1357th of 1399. 47 report crashes and bugs, with some saying the game crashed their entire PC. 34 say the combat feel changed for the worse, describing floppy movement and weapons that twist out of control. Gameplay ranks 1148th of 1396, and Pricing & Fairness ranks 1123rd of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“very fun despite problems” · 137 reviews
“controls really well, most fun with melee combat” · 27 reviews
“gorgeous Late Medieval HRE aesthetic recreated beautifully” · 24 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 56% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel -1.01 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Negative “physics system rebuilt and flopped completely” · 34 reviews
Positive “controls really well, most fun with melee combat” · 27 reviews

Progression 17% · Difficulty 19% · Onboarding 13% · Freedom 5% · Strategy 15%

Plot, characters and the world

Not enough data — only 7% of reviews mention this.

World +2.39 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is

Story 2% · Characters 0%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 19% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Replayability +2.45 · Reasons to play again — runs, randomness, New Game+
Positive “good replay factor mentioned positively” · 4 reviews

Volume 13% · Variety 8%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 14% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +1.31 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “gorgeous Late Medieval HRE aesthetic recreated beautifully” · 24 reviews
Negative “graphics much worse than demo, blood is red square instead of detailed” · 1 review

Audio 3%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 5% of reviews mention this.

Playing together -1.35 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 24% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.57 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “Most weapons are useless, balance fundamentally broken” · 28 reviews
Positive “balance is well done and fun” · 1 review

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 7% · Matchmaking 1%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 82% of reviews · Bottom 5% of the games we've analyzed

Performance -1.73 · Frame rate, optimization, and loading times
Negative “horribly optimised, runs poorly on high-end hardware” · 185 reviews
Positive “performance issues fixed after selecting dx12” · 11 reviews

Stability 29% · Developer support 41%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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