Hellish Quart - A treasure trove of swordsmanship

What do we know about fighting games? Well, they have a friendly community, fighting games at one time saved cyber sports with their local multiplayer. It's hard to imagine a party where the host doesn't have a console with Mortal Kombat installed. We know that in this genre to our days have survived only a couple of series: this and the aforementioned Mortal Kombat, Tekken and Street Fighter. Who these days would dare to compete with these mastodons of the industry? One brave and very ambitious Pole took up the challenge, showing how games should really look like. Finish him!

First try

This time it wasn't CD Projekt Red, but a former employee of that company. A certain Jakub Kichel worked on animations, he is best known for his work on the swordsmanship of Geralt from The Witcher 3. Jakub was a humble professional in his field until he believed in his abilities and started working on the fighting game of his dreams. Jakub founded the company Kubold and took a bit of a break after the third Witcher. He then released his first game of his own, Spell Fighter VR.

The game received mixed reviews, because not everything in it worked as it should. As you can guess from the title, the game was released exclusively in VR, where it didn't work with the Valve Index helmet: users complained about the voice commands not working. Spell Fighter VR was supposed to be a first-person role-playing game where the player would try on the roles of a wizard, a swordsman, and a bit of a musketeer all in one. It looked like a mix of Skyrim and Witcher 3, but the technical execution failed, and the game's mechanics fell apart.

But already back in 2016, Jakub Kishel had a recognizable handwriting: pile a lot of ambitious stuff, pump the game with some really obscene amount of content with fresh ideas, and then work on the technical quality of the product... CD Projekt Red... CD Projekt Red never change... To the development of the second game Jakub approached more thoroughly, but out of old habit released the game first in an early Beta Pre-Alpha version. Unlike Spell Fighter VR, the object of our today's review was not abandoned by the creator, but grew into a full game worth the attention and money.

The Witcher paid with minted coin...

The inspiration for The Witcher 3 never left Jakub. That's why his new game, Hellish Quart, still features the same Slavic motifs. Hellish Quart takes the player to the 17th century, to the times of Rzeczpospolita, Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Zaporizhian Sich, where warriors of that era meet in duels with cold steel weapons.

Do not put Hellish Quart on a par with Mortal Kombat. Let these games belong to the same genre, but the comparison is about the level of comparison of Escape from Tarkov and Call of Duty. A comparison with a hint, by the way.

Hellish Quart - a work about swordsmanship, dancing with blades, where sometimes it is enough to hit once to win. Hellish Quart has no health bars, no combos in the air and no super-strike counters. But Fatality is still there - you just need to catch your opponent in the timing and press the right combination on the gamepad.

I boldly write "on a gamepad", because playing Hellish Quart with a keyboard is like playing real-time strategy with a steering wheel and pedals - theoretically possible, in practice - through the same thing...

Deadliest Warrior

From 2009-2011, a very entertaining show, Deadliest Warrior, was aired on American television. Based on scientific data, the hosts compared two types of troops that existed around the same time, but rarely or never bumped heads. The presenters took into account the equipment, weapons and personal qualities of the fighters, then loaded these parameters into a computer program. The program, in its turn, created a simulation of the battle, and only at the end the spectator knew the winner.

The principle of choosing heroes in Hellish Quart is vaguely reminiscent of that program. Of the available playable characters only real-life stereotypical fighters of their eras and ethnic groups: here you have a Zaporozhsky Cossack with a recognizable chub and saber, and a musketeer in pantaloons with a sword, and hussar, and even a combat ever-drunken priest armed with a two-handed sword. No Scorpions with their steaming wakizashi, no Reptilians with poisonous spits, and certainly no Shao Kans with hammers weighing a centner. All of the characters in Hellish Quart are not exactly fictional, and their fighting styles are based on historical rumors of how certain warriors have performed in combat.

For example, the drunken priest Zera is not too agile, but if he puts his sword over his head in a "divine stance" - expect trouble, as he hits you in the head; Alexander plays from punishment - he strikes at short distances, his horse - counterattacks. Each character has its own unique characteristics: some are strong at long range and try to pierce your opponent with a stabbing blow; some are strong with swinging blows and with the proper skill player can make a Heralt cosplay. And someone else can deftly catch the enemy in a mistake, take advantage of a split second of disorientation and cut off his head.

The fine art of button fencing

The controls in Hellish Quart are designed so that, having learned to play one of the characters, the player will already have enough skills to master the other. Fortunately, the game provides a very strict training, which is clearly not for show. Strict, because during the tutorial the game will not allow you to press the wrong buttons. But after the training you have a much better chance to understand the game.

There is no separate button for blocks. The character is always at maximum concentration and easily fights off a blow, but if he succeeds in a block he uses up his stamina. Blocks consume more stamina than punches, so you can wear down your opponent with a series of quick slashing blows; however, you must not exhaust yourself, because if you get tired, you're dead.

Jakub Kishel suspected that Hellish Quart won't win over everyone, so he allowed players to fine-tune the difficulty level of the opponent under the control of the artificial intelligence: from passive bot for beginners to aggressive bot for daily training and skill sharpening. Yes Jakub that in general with his game steamed up pretty good, carefully transferred known modes from the same Mortal Kombat and Tekken. Tournament grid, elimination battles, and even a story mode - are present. Above the game script works Polish writer Jacek Komuda, and all the incidents and the fates of the characters will have to closely intertwine on the expanses of his book universe.

Is the Hellish Quart worth buying?

The price of Hellish Quart is very democratic, but that's not a reason to immediately run to, say, Steam and buy the game. Hellish Quart is a very specific fighting game, it's not on consoles, and PC users do not always have a gamepad. Hellish Quart is a must buy for owners of SteamVR or Oculus, because you can play entirely in VR, which creates an unforgettable gaming experience. The game is suitable for: fighting game fans who are bored with Mortal Combat. Owners of the aforementioned VR helmets. Owners of medium-powered PCs. This game will be a torture on weak PC's. The game is not suitable for: owners of consoles - Hellish Quart has not been ported. Seekers of leisurely entertainment. Opponents of early access.