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ABOUT HELLISH QUART
Go back in time to the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Choose from a wide variety of melee weapons, from sabers and rapiers to broadswords, longswords, and many more. Represent either Zaporozhian Cossacks, Polish Hussars, Tatars, Turkish Janissaries, Swedish Reiters, or French Musketeers, all modeled using 3D-scanned clothes, based on fashion from the period. Fight epic duels in a single-player campaign firmly rooted in the realities of life in the region, and show your opponents who’s the best fencer of the era!
Forget about fancy Hollywood action movies that pretend they know how a real sword duel looks. In Hellish Quart, you won’t experience acrobatic moves, or things like a health bar. Instead, you get to experience melee combat that is as real as it gets, where the swords physically clash and block each other using the game engine’s physics simulation. This is a game where, just like in reality, your opponent can get killed by a single, well-timed, and measured attack.
When you are not attacking, your character will automatically try to hold guard against your opponent’s attacks. And “trying” is used here very literally as, again, just like in real life, you’re not invulnerable when blocking. The only thing stopping your opponent’s blade from cutting right through you is your own physical blade standing in the way.
HELLISH QUART – MAIN FEATURES
- Fight epic sword duels based on active ragdolls and physical sword collisions.
- Enjoy super-realistic motion-captured fencing animations.
- Immerse yourself thanks to the 3D-scanned 17th-century clothes, based on fashion from the period.
- Get to know the realities of life in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- Fulfill your dream of becoming the most famous fencer of the era!
Hellish Quart will launch on Steam Early Access on December 7th of this year, priced at $16.99.
Hellish Quart is a 3D fighting game about sword one-on-one dueling, in which the blades block each other using physics, and the characters use motion captured fencing techniques. Players will be able to fight as one of many 17th century warriors: Cossacks, Hussars, Janissaries, Highlanders, Tatars and will use sabers, rapiers, broadswords, longswords and many other blades. The game is a love letter to ever more popular Historical European Martial Arts (also known as HEMA).
Hellish Quart is a spiritual successor to games like Bushido Blade or Kengo, but with European twist. Main feature of the game is that the swords actually physically clash and block each other, using game engine’s physics simulation. There are no visible health bars and, like in formentioned games, fighters can be killed by a single, well timed and measured attack.
The controls
The view and controls are very similar to a regular 3D fighting game. Players walk with the gamepad’s left stick or a d-pad and the four gamepad buttons represent 4 attack angles. Different button combinations give special attacks and combos. If you are not attacking, your character will automatically try to hold guard against your opponent’s attacks. “Try”, because the characters, when blocking, are not invulnerable, like in other games. The only thing that is stopping the opponent’s blade to cut into them, is their own, physical blade, that’s in the way.
The looks
Gameplay looks and feels like a real HEMA duel. There are no hollywood-style, flashy, but unrealistic moves. This is because all animations in the game are recorded by HEMA practitioners, using motion capture. Jakub Kisiel, the head developer of the game, is a mocap artist that formerly worked on games like Bulletstorm and The Witcher III and a lifetime sword fighting enthusiast.
The Setting
Hellish Quart happens in a historical, realistic setting. The game takes place in 17th century Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. This place and time is a wonderful mix of cultures and races, constant wars, battles and duels. It is also a period in which the swords reached their peak in variety and specialization. All this allows for a really varied character roster.
The graphics
The character models are made from 3D scanned, real, historical reconstruction clothes. To do that, the developers use photogrammetry – it’s a scanning technique, where multiple photos of a piece of wardrobe are taken from every possible angle. Then, the scanning software can reconstruct the scanned piece in 3D space.
Hellish Quart is an indie game created by a team of just two developers and will be released on Steam Early Access and will include single player and local multiplayer mode, but you will still be able to play online, using Steam Remote Play Together.
Will you be getting this?