announcements

[thick kestrel]

Hello all! Sorry for pinging @everyone but we have a big announcement here! And we will have a couple more really soon!

Short version: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halfsword/half-sword-gauntlet

Long version:

As you have probably noticed, we have been silent for a while now! This usually means we are working hard on a new update! And yes, we are! Update 0.3 is being actively developed now! It takes more time than we initially expected (nobody surprised) but we are trying to use all the tools we have in our arsenal such as Crunches and Burnouts!! So worry not, the update will be out soon! And hopefully you will enjoy all the new cool stuff it will bring to our game!

But to the good stuff! We have reached the 1000 discord members mark on our server! (actually 1210+ already) So we are in the major leagues now hehe (: Thank you all for the attention and support!

Talking about support.. WE ARE LAUNCHING A KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN! Sorry for caps. So we are launching a Kickstarter campaign and you can already subscribe to our pre-launch page now!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halfsword/half-sword-gauntlet <<<

If you were planning to support our smol team, please, do not hesitate and press that little green button (: Knowing beforehand how many people are willing to back our game would help us greatly!
ALSO! I need a new PC to continue developing this game hehehe
wink-wink

[umbral badge]

Hello @everyone !

Here is an interview we did with Valentin the Mad! Check it out if you want to hear more about what we have been working on for the next update!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfQLPkRfjyk&ab_channel=RandomMadness

Big thanks to Valentin for interviewing us on his channel Random Madness

Do check out his channel for if you haven't seen his content before, there is some really cool stuff there and other great games he has covered with awesome and responsive mechanics.

If gore, blood and dismemberment is your thing (and it probably is since you are here) you MUST subscribe to him!

https://www.youtube.com/@RandomMadnessChannel

[thick kestrel]

@everyone
Kept you waiting, huh?

Its been a while.... BUT WE ARE BACK!

We were working all this time improving and adding new features to Half Sword!
Now we are very close to releasing a new build for you all to try!

But right now, several announcements:

We started a new official YouTube channel, where we will release all the trailers, game materials and devlogs. And here is the first of our dev logs! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMD6Gl-VHGg&t=14s&ab_channel=HalfSwordGames

Our Kickstarter page is almost finished as well! Please, follow us there too! We will start our fundraising campaign as soon as we finish the last preparations. If you are interested in supporting us, please, follow this link! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halfsword/half-sword-gauntlet

Steam page will open up next week (as soon as we get approved)

AND NOW the biggest announcement::::::::::::
We are finalizing an experimental build of Update 3. It will have many new features, but no optimization hehehhe... We will drop it here, exclusively in Discord and ask you guys to check it out. More info about it next week together with Steam page announcement

[silent ferry]

GUYS! WE HAVE REACHED OVER 200 FOLLOWERS ON KICKSTARTER! 🥳

We just wanted to thank you all for following us on Kickstarter, it means a lot to us, and we are wrapping up stuff to bring you more news and updates as we go. Stay tuned! ❤️
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halfsword/half-sword-gauntlet
@everyone

[silent ferry]

@everyone 📣 We are happy to announce that our Steam page has been approved 🥳

• You can wishlist it now 😊
• We will conduct a playtest with an experimental build on Steam soon 👀
• Cheers 🥂
  https://store.steampowered.com/app/2397300/Half_Sword/

Steam

Half Sword

Half Sword is an immersive, physically simulated medieval combat game that offers players a unique experience of becoming a commoner-turned-knight, fighting brutal tournaments in 15th-century Europe. With its innovative gameplay mechanic, players can use their mouse to control their swords, allowing them to feel the intensity of each battle as t...

Release Date

Coming soon

▶ Play video

[umbral badge]

@everyone Hello everyone!

It has come to our attention that there is a rogue Itch.io page that we are not responsible for. We do not have any connection to that page nor did any of our team members create it.
We therefore advice you to not download anything from that page as we do not know what it contains or if it has malicious intents.

On behalf of our team and everyone involved with half sword, we don't want anyone to come to harm and we want to do everything we can to prevent that from happening. We encourage you as members of our community to notify this to people to prevent this from spreading further as we attempt to remove this imposter.

Please see the picture embedded in this message for visuals.
Note that the imposter is called "frankyfrank". This is not a member of our team.
The creator of OUR itch.io page is called "Knives_Frank" and is a core member of our team.

To further clear out this situation, This is our official page on Itch.io:

https://knives-frank.itch.io/halfsword

With this said, We hope that everyone stays safe and keep an eye out for each other! ❤️

[silent ferry]

HELLO, @everyone !!

It has been a while, ohh yes it has.

DEMO v0.3 is OUT on STEAM!!

Yes, this is an experimental build that we have been working on to show the physics, and new systems that we yet have not been able to include in the older versions. We decided all these months ago to focus on the game and the feedback you guys from the community have given us, and we decided to put down some serious effort and time to deliver...maybe not all but a lot of what has been wanted. And we figured that the ABYSS format would fit well to showcase this...

BUGS. Yes, Buggs will be present, stuff might not work as intended and plenty of unexpected issues might appear when you play the demo. This is where we ask of you if you are willing to share your specs and issues that you might experience in this demo. We have not been able to test everything on every system. We need more resources and capacity to QA as of us writing this. Some issues are known to us and some new ones will 100% appear. This will be our primary focus for the upcoming weeks, with the help from you guys, and our community, we will have a great experience in the Half Sword Demo.

Yours truly the team behind Half Sword.

TLDR;

• Demo v3 is out on our steam page , you can download it there :)
• There's only one map ABYSS, for now, we'll add more with updates to the demo.
• There might be many bugs, we would appreciate your giving us feedback
• There is no slow mode for now because it was breaking some things, we'll add that too with updates via steam itself.
• and YEAH, have fun and show us your clips here :))
• Oh and our Kickstarter

[umbral badge]

Hello @everyone!

It has been a couple of days since we released the Experimental Demo. We hope you guys are enjoying it… although we have some issues with fatal errors and other bugs. We are working on those as we post this message.

Please be patient, we want to figure out what's going on and fix it as soon as possible so we can continue the Free Demo updates that we planned for up until our Kickstarter launch.

First of all, we want to thank everyone for posting feedback and videos of you guys playing the game. When we take a break we spend that time watching you guys play it. We love you guys' fan art too! We didn't expect that anyone would make fan art of Half Sword, but this is motivating us a ton!

We also want to thank our small but talented team working on Half Sword as well as everyone who has contributed to the demo in one way or another! Guys, you are awesome! ❤️

And finally, Half Sword Community! Some of you have been on the server since the very beginning, some came on recently. We just want to let you know we really appreciate you guys sticking around and not losing hope in us even tho we didn't give any news or updates for a while.

So here comes some news for you guys!

Future Updates?

Yes, we are not done with the Free Demo. We hope that the absent arena mode did not disappoint all of you in the launch of the Experimental Demo.
As the title suggests, it is an experimental build we created to showcase a large portion of the updates and changes we did since the last time we updated our game on itch.io.

Now, future updates?

Arena mode will be a part of the Free demo! As well as some new features, content, game-breaking bug fixes, and “quality of life” fixes (aka minor bugs and mechanics updates).

When?

When we are ready! 🙂

We hope this short update finds you guys well and as a small announcement till next time. We have some new social media pages you guys can follow for more news and stuff.
Links below! 🙂

• https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halfsword/half-sword-gauntlet

• https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552241737242

• https://www.instagram.com/half_sword_games/

• https://x.com/Halfsword_game?s=20

• https://www.youtube.com/@HalfSwordGames

• https://www.tiktok.com/@halfswordgames

• https://store.steampowered.com/app/2397300/Half_Sword/

[umbral badge]

Hello, @everyone!

Thank you for being a part of our Discord community, and we hope you guys enjoy our little Demo so far!

We are on our way to make another update fairly soon so we hope you guys are looking forward to what comes next! (no, not arena just yet, but it will come)

We want to have the opportunity to thank you guys, we reached 2 major milestones with our KS followers and Discord server size.
We managed to grab a screenshot JUST as our Kickstarter page turned to 500 followers, AND we are now over 5000 members in our Half Sword server!

Today we have some more and the followers and we keep growing! This makes us hopeful that we might have a successful Kickstarter to continue creating the full game. And it would not be remotely possible without you guys!

So a sincere thank you to all who have opted in to support us and our work.

For those who are new and didn't know we are preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign, here is the link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halfsword/half-sword-gauntlet

Any support will be very appreciated!

Don’t forget to Wishlist Half Sword on Steam!

Yours truly
The Half Sword Dev team ❤️ ⚔️

[umbral badge]

Hello, @everyone.

Hope you all are doing well!

We just wanted to make a quick announcement that @austere knot have put out his music we use in the game. As you might have noticed we added bosses...and added music only during boss fights. This was an experimental decision. Music is not something we want to exclude from the game and with the absence of music we noticed how much it was missing.

SO!

The songs we used in the experimental demo are now available on YouTube. More music will be available on Good Malwares YT channel so give him a sub and a like!
Enjoy the music there while we work on patching the music back in and making boss music a bit more immersive, together with some more fixes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uix0v4_oB1c&t=480s

Big shout out to Luca Primerano (Good Malware) for his amazeing work on the soundtracks in Half Sword!

Here is his Instagram: @lucaprime
https://www.instagram.com/_lucaprime_/

Have a good night guys!

[uncut merlin]

Thank you all for playing the demo!! It's doing great on twitch!! @everyone

[silent ferry]

@everyone So,

Things are going well !! WE GOT over 100k downloads on Steam in the last couple of days

We are now a family of 9000 on Discord :D

• Additionally, I have created #photography📷 for Cinematic shots only(Which means no HUD, pure cinematics ;p)
• Also follow our Kickstarter !!

And thank you for the support!! 🤍

Meanwhile, here's a clip :)

[uncut merlin]

First Dev LiveStream! @everyone

Hello everyone!

I am going to stream on Twitch and Youtube! (My first ever stream)
I am going to play Half Sword see if a dev can beat the game or not lol.

Hope you guys will enjoy it!

links:

https://www.youtube.com/@GalaxyHighMarshal/streams

https://www.twitch.tv/galaxyhighmarshal

[thick kestrel]

Привет, @everyone !
У меня будет интервью с XYZ (:

For Russian-speaking Halfsworders!
Im gonna have live interview with XYZ channel this Friday.
U can watch it on YouTube, if ur interested (:
I will post it again before it starts

If you don't speak rus... well, you can listen to the wonderful voice of the interviewer ( Who should be Evgenia Lis ) and understand nothing (: you are still welcome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeCdP-jQPfA

[thick kestrel]

Здарова, @everyone !

Великий стрим начнётся уже через 8 минут!

Заползайте все! Come everyone! Join our rus speaking stream/interview! you might hear something new about Half Sword! Even if you understand nothing (:

Интервью на XYZ!
Главное блюдо - Half Sword!
Десерт - "Главный программист игры"
Подаёт - Евгения Лис

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeCdP-jQPfA

[umbral badge]

Hello @everyone !

Two pings in one day!! But we just wanted to thank everyone who has decided to follow us on Kickstarter! Big thank you guys!! We have reached over 1000 followers as of now and this will get us closer to be able to support our team and work further on the full game!! ❤️

And for those who don't know that we are setting up a Kickstarter Campaign, follow the link below if you would like to support us when we launch the thing. More info about what's to come in the full game with more details will be presented when the campaign is live. 🙂

For now we will get buzzy with working more on the demo, fixing buggs, improving stuff and finally working on the arena portion of the demo + more content that we will show in the WIP channel with time.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/halfsword/half-sword-gauntlet

Ow and one last thing, big shout out to Milek Jakubiec for makeing the key art we use for our new KS banner ❤️

[thick kestrel]

@everyone᲼ Hi (:

woke up just for a second just to announce ---

VALENTIN THE MAD made another video featuring us (:

I will watch it myself now, please do so too!

Regarding the next version of the game --- its cooking (:

Video ⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄⌄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X1FpNFOBUA

[silent ferry]

Hello @everyone, been a while :D

Just saw that we now have over 20,000 members on the server!! 🎉🥳

We are super excited to have you all on board and share more stuff we are working on!

Here is a music dev-log from our music guy @austere knot (his Instagram )

Stay tuned for more coming up soon! 🚀

[thick kestrel]

Hello, Halfsworders, @everyone (:

Long time no see, huh?

But we are back! With announcements!

First of all, we are legal now (: Half Sword Games is now an official studio!

And more importantly --- we are partnering up with Game Seer! Game Seer will take care of marketing, publishing, localization and funding while we can focus on developing the game. So with this partnership we will be able to make a better game faster! And not starve as we are doing so (:
We received tons of attention from publishers after our steam demo release and we were choosing our future partners very thoroughly, but Game Seer has proven to be exactly what we needed -- they are private investors who share our vision, they insist on keeping all the creative control in our hands and they will help us to finish the game just the way we want it to be. Also they are very fun to drink with (:

Now --- what about Kickstarter?

It stays as it is -- on a hold (:

We initially wanted to buy some equipment and pizza from KS funding, but we managed to get that on our own so far hehe. You playtesting our demos is invaluable and extremely important to us. The hundreds of you tube videos, the funny memes, your kills compilation, your presence here means the world to us (: So Thank you for following us there! Seeing that makes us happy. ((:
And who knows, maybe we will need more pizza at some point, or maybe we come up with different use for it where we use KS as a marketing tool to interact more between the community and the game. So page stays up

Your engagement with us is what motivates us stronger than ever to use the best of our abilities to create a game we love and would love to play ourselves (:

Another big one --- we are going to Tokyo Games Show this September! Thanks to Game Seer (: so, if you live in Chiba -- see you very soon (:
Gamescom on the other hand told us our game is too violent for them hehehhe..... so no Germany tour this year...

====== WHEN THE UPDADTE =======

now, lol

well, kinda...

We didn't want to come here with those big announcements and nothing new for you to play (:
We have a Test Build that we prepared to show to TGS organizers and... well, why don't we just give to you as well, right?

But be prepared -- this build will have gore and blood turned off. There are two reasons for that -- TGS wants to see our game without gore, because we cant show Half Sword as it is on-site (don't worry, it's just for the show), and we are still working on the gore/blood systems overhaul.
We will share this build via Steam Play-Test, so it will not take place of current Abyss demo, both will be available for download.

We are sending Play-Test build for Steam approval now, will prolly be up next week... sori :p

Update for the main Demo will come later (:

[thick kestrel]

Hey Half Sworders, @everyone

Guess what? We've finally wrangled together the latest playtest for you to dive into!

Quick heads-up: This is a playtest, not a demo, so please don't remove the current Abyss demo from Steam. We're only allowed one demo at a time online, and we want you to keep enjoying the itch and Abyss demos to your heart's content!

About the playtest: We're excited for you to try out the progress we've made on armor, weight mechanics, new weapons, and more. The focus here is on these new systems, so keep your eyes peeled for those details.

REMINDER: This is probably the only version without gore, as we needed a “family-friendly” edition for physical events like the Tokyo Game Show in September. So, this closed map is all about testing the new controls, armor, and weapons—nothing else.

Don't worry—violence, blood, and gore are in the works and will be back in future builds. After the Tokyo Game Show, we'll be sticking to the main version with all the glorious gore and blood VFX you crave. Just be ready to flash your IDs because we'll be age-checking for that exclusive 18+ booth!

HOW TO JOIN THE PLAYTESTS:

• Go to the Half Sword Steam page
• Hit the Join Plyatests Button (you'll need to be logged in)
• Please wait for us to accept you (we'll try to do it as many times per week as possible)

Enjoy the playtest and get ready for more bloody fun soon!

Cheers!

PS:

For everyone who accidentally (hehehe) got the outdated version couple of minutes ago -- do this:

• Uninstall the the Playtest you already got (do not uninstall the Demo)
• Install it again!

Hope this time its the right version hehehhe (:

PSPS:

Tomorrow we will upload updated version, coz now some things are even more broken than we intended (:

PSPSPSPS:

• You can choose your rank freely now by just clicking character icons in main menu
• Clicking RMB with a shield will rise it in defensive position to provide passive protection
• Expect Fatal Errors in Main Menu, but not in the game itself (: I hope

OK, Jump in!

[midnight wind]

@everyone

[silent ferry]

Hello @everyone !!

2 things I need to tell you..

• Updated the #faq :)
• Our Convergence Trailer is now live! Watch it here: Convergence Trailer

Thank you all for your continued support. We're thrilled to have you with us on this journey!

[midnight wind]

@everyone Q&A With Frank & Ivan!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hthb3nVA74

[fallow reef]

@everyone

🩸 22/11/24 🩸

Blood, Blut, Sang, 血, 피, кровь, Sangre, रक्त, αίμα, دم, דָם, արյուն, Sangue, Blod, Darah, Sânge, Sanguis, Kan, Vér

[thick kestrel]

@everyone soon

[midnight wind]

@everyone
It is estimated that it would take 3600 pints of blood to forge a sword. In other words beating Willie 342 times will earn you a forged sword!
🩸 <t:1732265940:D>🩸

[midnight wind]

@everyone

Tomorrow

[fallow reef]

@everyone

[midnight wind]

@everyone

Discord Server Change - Not Game Related News

We have implemented a leveling system, this locks role permissions behind an activity wall. This is being added to prevent the large influx of new leafs that decide to test the limits of the rules and our moderation teams patience.

The more active you are on the server the more permissions you unlock i.e. Embeds, VC, Thread making, bot commands, etc.

XP gain has been active so regulars have a head start.

Regular/known users may request a lvl up via @warm sonnet

Leaderboard
https://mee6.xyz/en/halfsword

Edit

Some people seemed to be confused so to clarify, News and other community updates will still be visible to all users. You can still make feedback posts regardless of your level. At the time of this change we have a server with 70K users at this scale such restrictions were inevitable.

[midnight wind]

Dear friends, Dear Willies,

As Christmas approaches, we thought to reflect on everything that has happened this year and also to shed a bit of light on what you can expect from us in 2025.

2024 has been a pivotal year for both Half Sword Games and Game Seer. What started with a mere business meeting in Stockholm in February has blossomed into a real studio, strong friendship and unwavering support for the arduous task that is making a video game.

We hope that Half Sword feels as special to you as it feels to us, because it is made by an extremely tight-knit & independent team of game developers, many not yet 30 years old whose sole aim is to up the ante as far as what players can expect from a physics-based experience.

We humbly submit the goal of making something that feels as fun to play as it is to make while we relentlessly keep an eye on what to improve. We constantly throw new ideas to each other in the team and abide by an open-minded approach to constructive criticism, be it from within, or from our now over 3 million Willies.

As far as timeline, Half Sword will release into early access towards the end of 2025 on PC on Steam. Along the way we will provide you with a progress presentation towards the second quarter of 2025, we will celebrate the game with you with a strong on-site presence at Gamescom 2025 (18+ booth) and we will showcase a compelling early-access version for Steam Next Fest shortly before commercially releasing the game.

We plan to obsessively build, expand, fix & polish the experimentation with Half Sword upon and after its release and cannot wait to show you elements that are not yet public. While combats are central, we are hard at work to build deep systems on top and around of them.

We are a discreet bunch, our studio is around 10 people and Game Seer’s publishing team is 2 persons and one crazy jester. However trust us when we say that if you like what you have now, you will definitely love what we prepare for you.

If we do things well with Early Access, we will potentially have the strength to keep the game alive for the years to come as we will move into other platforms, formats & will seek the technical ability for players to challenge each other with high stakes consequences.

2025 will be a crucial year where we put our fate in your hands. In Half Sword, yours will always be decided by the blade.

''When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you''

Merry Christmas,

Half Sword Games & Game Seer
@everyone

-# repost with everyone tag, mass ping <@&1268352604799369286> for the double ping!

[midnight wind]

The last @everyone of the Year!
-# Yay I did it right, you can still mass ping me if you need.

Merry Christmas!

May the three Wise Willies guide us to soon.

[fallow reef]

It has come to our attention that there are multiple attempts at impersonating Half Sword Games through specific applications containing 'Half Sword' in their names, specifically on iOS.

We are not affiliated in any ways with these individuals/entities. Half Sword is under development for PC only (for now), and its prototypes only available for download for free on Itch, Steam and soon Epic Game Store.

We work hand in hand with our community and consider its feedback as invaluable and precious. We do not take lightly specific individuals trying to use our name in order to charge you money.

We would also like to warn our players as some of these applications have in-app purchases. This is really opposite of our philosophy and how we intend to interact with you.

We have been forced to escalate the matter with our counsels which are in contact with Apple now.

Thanks for your understanding!

[midnight wind]

<@&1062249374979203112>

Finally! The OST from the DEMO, as well as the PLAYTEST and ITCHIO versions, has arrived.
Thank you so much for the love and support; I definitely didn’t expect so many people to enjoy the music so much.
More songs will come

Kind regards,

• @austere knot

[fallow reef]

@everyone <@&1062249374979203112> <@&1110473709149495336>

[thick kestrel]

Hello, Golden Ones!
Hi, @everyone
Long time no see

Let’s be frank - having two separate test versions on Steam ended up being more confusing than helpful for most players. That’s why we’ve decided to shut down the Playtest and merge its content with the Abyss into a single, unified Demo.

In addition to that :
• Added a new Gauntlet Mode, where you earn points to unlock new Ranks. Dying in that mode sends you to the Abyss. Dying in the Abyss deletes your current character and you lose all your progress in Gauntlet Mode.
• In Free Mode you can now play all the Ranks (just like in Playtest) except the final one, the new Baron tier.
• Abyss has been updated with new physics, combat, armors and weapons.
• You can also access Abyss from the main menu by killing your character in main menu.

• If you face performance issues, please do verify which version of DX you are using, and also maybe downgrade from cinematic mode (which is on by default)

Yesterday's update turned out to be more hardcore than we intended, because of some bugs that hindered progression of the player. The latest patch fixes found critical bugs and allows players to complete Gauntlet mode as intended. Free Mode is also available for the players, who want to just play the game without grinding the points. Abyss is quickly accessible from the Main Menu as well.

We hope you will enjoy the Update now (:

And to be crystal clear -- now you get the latest version of the Demo clicking on this button on Half Sword Steam page

[midnight wind]

@everyone

100k Half-cord users!

What more can be said other then thank you, your support saves us from the abyss.

🫀

[fallow reef]

@everyone

Fyghtere,

We thought to write you a little something here, given the fact that we have been quiet. The truth is, the less you hear from us in here, the more is actually happen behind the scenes.

We have been once again overwhelmed by the community, as the Half Sword tech demo has been downloaded over a million times for the month of April alone. We are not 100% certain how many players we have right now as things are growing rapidly, but the total amount of downloads on all our demos exceeds 6 million. Around 200 000 unique players are beating and slashing willies, everyday. This is tremendous help for us to pinpoint what works and what needs improvement.

For the first time, we have also entered twitch’s top 10 section, with peak viewers reaching as high as 79000. Unreal for a team of 12. As we browse youtube, tiktok, and other platforms, we see players and creators able to generate hundreds of million of views with Willies. According to steam, you have collectively spent 22 million hours in the tech demo and playtest.

Thanks we geven thee for abiding with us.

We also would like to share that our player base is going global, with USA players being the biggest headcount, but China trailing as #2 biggest. This shows a great interest in the late 15th century combat. According to Steam, we have players across 129 countries that have decided to test their luck by the sword.

As far as your feedbacks, we silently read them daily, we have received as much as 4000 in a single day. We are actively analyzing this massive quantity of information we get as Half Sword’s tech demo is the second most discussed app on Steam, right under Valve’s Deadlock. We thank players for continuously voicing their opinions, their thoughts, their proposals for improvements. We understand and appreciate your passion, as we pour ours into our game.

Ultimately, Half Sword is a live experiment with physics which will always be the area we are most focused on. We are striving to balance challenge and fun, high stress stakes with instant satisfaction, sandbox and progression. Half Sword will not be a game for everyone but it will be an experience we hope that the many millions of you will possibly enjoy for many more hundreds of hours.

We remain very seriously committed to launching early access by Q4 this year and that is what is eating all our time right now

The demo is now also available on the epic game store here . While steam will always remain our base, we will grow the presence of Half Sword across many more platforms in the future (also please accept this little patch, check notes for more info : )

So here is a glimpse at behind the scenes : augmented physics, novel means to deal havoc unto thy foes, fresh realms, new modes of play, bespoke armaments and raiments, a boundless arsenal, unique personages, sell-swords, mine nefarious scheming 'gainst thee, Whom thou dost smite and whom thou dost grant clemency hath myriad consequences, commerce and manifold other matters we yearn to unveil unto thee!

Thy servaunt of sillie sawes,

Pierre Le Fou

[midnight wind]

@everyone<@&1110473661942595656> <@&1110473709149495336>

Most noble lordes and wayfaring vagaboundes,

Within the monethes now at hand, we shall shewe you alle the newe places and divers craftes whereby to cleve and shatter thy foemen.

Meane-while, we wolde fain wite how ye fare and what ye thinke of Half Sword this day, as we make ready for our Erlye Accesse later this same yeer. The tales and counseyl ye sende us shall enable us to temper, trim, and amend sundry partez, that we may deliver unto you a steadfast and trewe XVᵗʰ-century featyng-at-armes simulacrum.

Half Sword Survey!

[midnight wind]

@everyone
Cometh, litel men,
Mete ye ech other for glorie.
Hewe, smyte, and brast,
For but oon shal lyven

Visit our Gamescom booth at the Indie Arena Booth | Halle 10.2 where players will be able to challenge each other on a new splitscreen pvp build!

[midnight wind]

Thank you all who were able to stop by our booth at Gamescom!

It was an absolute pleasure meeting all of you, and a joy to watch you have so much playing the splitscreen demo build.

[midnight wind]

@everyone

Half Sword @ Gamescom 2025!

A short summary of Half Sword's presence at Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany. Six days filled with fun, laughter, blood and screams of pain, when the new Player versus Player build was tested on the unsuspecting public.

Some footage and appearences courtesy of GeschistsFenster and Mug Thief.
Videography by Miłek Jakubiec, Ivan Nestorov, Thomas Ghyselen.
Editing by Miłek Jakubiec.

#halfsword #UnrealEngine #gamescom #indiedev

Full video has too much glory for Discord to handle watch on our YouTube channel, X page, Instagram and/or Tik Tok!

[fallow reef]

@here

Taking some live questions about what's in for the future of Half Sword on m00's stream, featuring our Willie voice actor, our composer and our VFX artist!

Come ask us anything, we will strive to answer the best we can!

https://www.youtube.com/live/1x9zzZpZ4Uo

[midnight wind]

Hey @everyone,

We’ve been working hard to prepare new content for Half Sword ahead of the Steam Next Fest, but the truth is, the team’s had their hands full. Between polishing existing systems, adding new features, and improving performance, we didn’t want to rush out something that wasn’t ready.

So while there won’t be a new build just yet, we still have something special planned. Every single day of the Steam Next Fest, we’ll reveal a new sneak peek from upcoming maps, weapons and new gameplay systems.

Development is moving forward at a solid pace, and we’re incredibly excited about what’s coming next. Thank you all for your patience, support, and passion — it means the world to the team.

Stay sharp,
The Half Sword Team

-# || Upset? Mass ping @midnight wind let him know how you feel.||

DAY 1 - Forests of Frankenberg

You’ll know when the road turns quiet, that’s when you’ve gone too far. The forest out there doesn’t take kindly to strangers. Folks say it’s the baron’s doing, that he lets the bandits roam so the weak never reach his gates. Maybe there’s truth in that. Maybe he just doesn’t care. Hard to tell with men who sleep on stone and dream of crowns.

There’s a cut in the hills, a rock pass the traders once used. You can still see the old cart ruts if the light hits right. Bandits have a camp there now, tucked beneath the pines. Their fires burn low, more smoke than flame. If you see it, turn back.

The locals know safer ways through, trails the trees themselves seem to guard. But you, if you’re not born of this soil, best keep your hand near steel and your prayers short. The forest listens, and it’s fond of keeping what it hears.

[midnight wind]

@here SNF Day 2

Back Alley of Frankenberg

Ah, that alley? Best keep your boots dry and your mouth shut if you wander there. Used to be a shortcut behind the tavern — quiet, smelled of yeast and old wood — till the baron lost his patience with the merchant and the innkeep. Third time they missed their tax, he said enough was enough.

So he had his men drag out the spoiled barrels from the cellar, stacked ’em high, and fenced the whole place in with rot. Called it justice, the bastard. Said those barrels were worth more than the men who owed him. Broke one, and you’d find yourself strapped to that oak beam by the tavern — the Schandbalken, he calls it — where the ravens learn your name before nightfall.

Folks still hear laughter from that alley after sundown. Not the kind that warms you, mind — the kind that listens back.

-# Questions? Concerns? let @midnight wind know.

[midnight wind]

@here
The East Tower

The old armory, aye. Once held the lord’s steel and banners, neat and proud. Now it’s a place best left to the rats. When the new Baron came, he let his fool have it, said the Jester had “a gift for spectacle.” Gods know he wasn’t lying.

The Jester tore the place apart, turned it into some devil’s game. Spikes on pillars logs hanging logs say those who return from there. No one knows how many men went in there for sport or punishment, only that none came back the same.

Some nights, when the wind cuts from the east, you can hear a sound like laughter climbing the tower. Folks say it’s the fool himself, still dancing between the traps he built. Others say it’s the tower remembering. Either way, best keep clear.

[midnight wind]

DAY 4: Crossbows

In Half Sword, crossbows aren’t just animated, they’re simulated. Every part of the weapon follows real physics: the limbs flex under tension, the string strains with stored energy, and the bolt releases with true mechanical force. The result isn’t a preset animation but a system that behaves like a real crossbow would, responsive, unpredictable, and satisfying to master.

@here
Day 5: The Cellar Beneath Gottfried’s Inn

Gottfried’s a shrewd one, make no mistake. Folks drink their fill upstairs, singing and stamping, never knowing what lies beneath their feet. That cellar of his, stone-laid, old as the town itself, he cleared the middle clean, built a ring of torches round it, and calls it his “Friendly Competition.”

Travelers are his guests of choice. Mercenaries, wanderers, men with coin and tempers both. The locals think the place still holds wine and spare stools, but when the bells strike midnight, the air below grows thick with shouting. You can hear the echoes in the walls if you listen hard enough, fists on flesh, bets changing hands, prayers whispered between blows.

Gottfried swears it’s harmless sport. Maybe so. But those stones remember. They’ve soaked more than ale over the years.

[midnight wind]

@here
Day 6: The Lord’s Hall

Aye, the Baron’s hall, some call it the feast hall, but around here we call it the Furnace. You’ll know why soon enough. It sits high in the great tower, windows like arrow slits staring down over all of Frankenberg. From there, the Baron sees everything, and likes to remind us of it.

Used to be a fine place, years back. Hogs roasting on the spits, music from the lute, laughter thick as the smoke. But once the old lord died and this one took his seat, the smell changed. He kept the fires, aye, but not for meat. Now the pits burn for those who’ve tried his patience one too many times. Says it warms his bones to hear a man scream truth.

They say the stones still sweat there at night, as if the heat never left. Me, I don’t go near it. Some fires never go out, no matter how long the hall stands cold.

[midnight wind]

@here

Day 7: The Fool’s Wheel
-# The final day!

The Jester brought the idea from Burgundy, or so the talk goes. Said he’d once seen such a thing at a duke’s tourney, a marvel of iron and noise that scattered knights like dice from a cup. The Baron liked the sound of that. He told his fool to build one, and soon enough the smiths were melting scrap for the barrels.

It’s a cross of timber, four mouths of cannon fixed on a turning post. When fired, it spins like the devil’s own toy, hurling shot wherever fortune pleases. The Jester calls it the Wheel of Justice. The Baron laughs and lets it stand near the lists, where men bleed for sport.

Folk say it’s luck decides where the iron lands, but those who’ve watched the Jester’s eyes know better. He spins it when the crowd’s loudest, so none can tell if it’s fate or his hand that chooses who dies.

[midnight wind]

@here

You beautiful people did it!

On behalf of everyone at Half Sword Games and Game Seer, Thank you very much.
-# Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon!

[midnight wind]

@everyone
Hello everyone!

We have an important announcement about Half Sword’s release this year.

We’ll start with the bad news, we won’t be making it before the end of the year. 🥀

Now the good news.
The game is almost ready for release and only needs a final polish push. We’re delaying the launch, but only by a short time. We’re currently running tests and resolving issues so that your first experience with Half Sword Early Access is as good as it can be.

We know you all were hoping to play Half Sword before the New Year, and trust us, we wanted that too, but we need just a little more time before we can all plunge our swords into our Willies.

We’re now aiming for a release in Q1 2026. We’ll be announcing the official release date soon, so stay tuned.

We are extremely happy we made so many of you happy with our Demo and we want to continue in this direction with what we are working on.

Thank you so much for your continuous support, your patience, and your enthusiasm.
It means the world to us, and we’re determined to make the wait be worth it.

See you very soon.
The Half Sword team

Good or bad if you wanna talk about it give @midnight wind a ping.

[midnight wind]

ATTENTION

We’re expanding our closed testing team, and if you’ve got some free time and a passion for breaking things (and giving great feedback), we’ve got an opportunity with your name on it.

Please fill out the survey below. Selected participants will be contacted via email with further instructions.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehuGsjekeGBvP_JjWUgJZS913NmX4Q0CNvPtGGdwnHQDH_NQ/viewform

[midnight wind]

@everyone

Half Sword Early Access is finally releasing!

Release Date: 30th of January

You have a whole week to prepare!

Thank you for waiting for this extra month, we hope you rested well on your holidays and now you are ready for all the new stuff we prepared for you!

As you understand, we are still working on the game and new content will be added as we continue our way into the full release.

Bugs, performance, occasional crashes and other things are being actively ironed out as well as fast as our tiny team can handle.
Please, feel free to inform us of any issues that affect your immersion in the skirmishes of Half Sword.

See you very soon,

The Half Sword Team

While you wait wishlist now!
Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2397300/Half_Sword/
Epic Games Store - https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/half-sword-99f48a

https://youtu.be/-A7eNUfqePg

[midnight wind]

@everyone
Hello everyone!

The wait is finally over! Half Sword is officially releasing into Early Access today!

We made it to the 30th of January! We are extremely happy to finally open the gates. We know you have been sharpening your blades (and your patience) for a while now, and we can’t wait to see you in the arena.

As you understand, this is just the beginning of our Early Access journey. We have packed in as much new stuff as we could, but the work doesn't stop here. Bugs, funny physics glitches, and performance tweaks are things our tiny team will be tackling non-stop as we move forward towards the full release. Please, feel free to inform us of any issues that affect your immersion in the skirmishes of Half Sword directly on our official Discord.

For those who wish to support our development even further, we have also released a Supporter Pack today. It contains the Soundtrack and awesome extra stuff. It is entirely optional, but it helps our tiny team continue working on the game we all love.

Thank you so much for your continuous support and enthusiasm. It really means the world to us to see you play what we have created.

Now, go plunge your swords!

See you very soon, The Half Sword Team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2397300/Half_Sword/

Steam

Half Sword

Half Sword is an immersive, physics-based medieval combat simulator that offers players a unique experience of becoming a commoner-turned-knight, fighting brutal tournaments in 15th-century Europe. With innovative gameplay mechanics, you can wield your weapon with precision using your mouse, feeling the intensity of each clash as you ascend t…

Release Date

Coming soon

[midnight wind]

Future Feature List