There's a modern feel to them that cracks me up-you can imagine an audience going "ooooh"-although, who knows, maybe that's how 17th century Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth folks really behaved after winning a duel. Speaking of animations, though, one of my favorite things about Hellish Quart is the victory struts, such as the one at the end of the gif above. I can only vaguely imagine how challenging it would be to build netcode for a physics-heavy fighting game like this, and Kubold's background is in animation. ![]() Beyond that, I think the biggest thing limiting Hellish Quart's appeal is the lack of standard online multiplayer, although it's understandable that Parsec and Steam streaming are the choice for now. No big deal: I'd be happy just to see refinements to the fighting system, and eventually to get those new characters and styles. I won't pretend to know how exactly Kubold can refine Hellish Quart without overcomplicating it or otherwise mucking up the fun, but he's clearly good at this, and perhaps Early Access feedback and experimentation will lead to some breakthroughs.įuture plans for Hellish Quart, which Kubold expects to be in Early Access for a couple years, include more fighting styles and characters (with the help of mocapped fencers), more AI types, more arenas, a story campaign, and full Parsec integration for multiplayer.Īs for the story campaign, right now there's just a teaser cutscene, and you don't get the sense that it'll be the game's strong suit. Hellish Quart has just one developer, Jakub "Kubold" Kisiel, whose résumé includes animation at People Can Fly and CD Projekt Red, where he worked on Geralt's moves for The Witcher 3. I'd also love a more skilled AI to fight, and there's some general jank and unruly camera behavior to sort out. Sometimes when I have a clear opening, I just can't find an attack animation that takes advantage of it, and it's a letdown not to be able to do what I think my character would do. The auto-blocking is fine as a concept, I think, but as I get better at the game I'm starting to desire a finer level of control over my stance and the motions that initiate my attacks. Without someone to play local multiplayer with, Hellish Quart probably isn't complex enough at this stage to keep me coming back for much longer. Early Access plans and current limitations (I'm playing as Isabella in the gif below, and fighting Marie in the gif above.)Īgainst another player, I imagine you'll get something like the tension that used to come from great Bushido Blade matches, and that you can also find in Nidhogg and other fighting games: The constant uncertainty over whether to make the first move, or to try to bait a move out of your opponent. It can be tricky to get the big swings of Isabella's heavy long sword past a scimitar, or to avoid one of Marie's rapier jabs to the gut while slicing with it. Once I became better versed in the attacks and how to modify them, I started winning regularly, and had to seek out a challenge by intentionally mismatching characters. ![]() Harder yet is to land a grab on the AI, which results in an automatic round win-a decapitation move, for some characters.īecause blocking is automatic and there's a degree of flukiness to killing blows, you can get by alright with button mashing when facing the AI fighters in any of their three combat modes: passive, maneuverable, or aggressive. It's also possible to manually push your opponent's sword hand away, although I rarely manage to pull the move off. At close range, where it's impossible to swing a sword properly, regular attacks automatically become blunt kneeings and elbowings that push your opponent back with a brief stun. Blocks are handled automatically, but if you block too much, your opponent may cut through it.
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