HELLISH QUART

The most authentic 17th century sword-fighting game you’ll play

- Tyler Wilde

NEED TO KNOW

EXPECT TO PAY £13.50

DEVELOPER Kubold

PUBLISHER In-house

LINK bit.ly/2N57B2Q

I’m so enthusiastic about this sword fighting game that I’d better start with a disclaimer: Hellish Quart is in Early Access, and it’s pretty rough. The menus look like placeholders, the planned campaign is absent, and the only way to play online multiplayer is streaming. But it’s just so fun regardless.

Hellish Quart (weird name, I know) is a 1v1 duelling game: the goal, naturally, is to slice or stab your opponent to death, or at least strike their dominant arm hard enough that they drop their sword (or their hand flies off). There are hidden health bars, but like PS1 classic Bushido Blade, it only takes one deep slash or gut stab to end a round, and your opponent’s life. A lot of rounds end in draws, since it’s possible for both fighters to strike vital arteries at the same time, or even one after the other. It doesn’t necessarily matter that one fighter is spurting blood and the slow-mo death cam has already kicked in. As they die, their body is going to finish whatever it was doing, which can include landing a killing blow of their own.