Despite its on-going development, Hellish Quart aims to be the perfect fencing simulator for PC and performs one step forward to all other so-called "beat 'em up" videogames thus placing itself in the podium for its realism and for its mature target.

Forget non-sense combats where figthers get hitted over and over, (supposedly) spill litres of blood and still fight and jump: this time tactic and skill will prevail over random buttons smashing and, if you don't keep that damn guard up and you don't avoid accidental clinching of the swords, you will end up being defeated soon. Feel the clashes of swords and the pain of duels with awesome sound effects whilst admiring smooth and elegant movements of fencers in all those photographic backgrounds where they regulate their rights day by day.

At some point during development process, a "modern" soul was given to HQ in addition to the "historic" one. Back to the original vision, HQ was built upon historical background (Poland, 1600 - 1700) and accurately provided clothes, scenarios and weapons of that era; later in development a few characters were given modern HEMA uniforms and, finally, the egg of Columbus: a modern background (specifically: a gym) to match with modern uniforms provided to all playable characters. This is when I really fell in love with HQ and when I became fully happy with my purchase. For a non-HEMA fencer like me (I play modern fencing which is a different thing), "modern" soul of game with less blood and gory effects really provides the definitive fencing experience for PC which placed HQ very close to a sport simulation as well almost as if they were two games in one!

As stated earlier, HQ is still under development but the current status is overally good because, from time to time, it always provides a couple of hours of fun both in single-player and in local multi-player. The presence of local multi-player is a bad and a good factor at the same time: it is a bad factor because, for technical reasons related to complex animating process and physic simulation, there cannot be a native online mode so you need to go through the tiring process of setting up a Steam Remote Play session (luckily Steam provides some step-by-step tutorial to explain how to do that in five minutes... !); it is a good factor because, once you buy your copy of game (whose price seems to be increasing as the game development moves on), you can play with anyone you want in the world on the only condition that your opponent has a stable internet connection.

I waited for the development to proceed a bit more and to ultimately reach a decent status prior to write this review: videos and pictures showing the beauty of this indie videogame speak for themselves and, if you are wondering why HQ development takes so long (release date was 16th Feb. 2021), you should think that it mainly is a two-persons job with a superb and meticulous motion capturing process done alone (beside the ordinary modelling, texturing and programming activities). All in all, either you are HEMA fencer in real life or just a casual videogamer, the outcome will be the same: if you just think you might like this game, you will definitely like it.

Despite its on-going development, [i]Hellish Quart[/i] aims to be the perfect fencing simulator for PC and performs one step forward to all other so-called "beat 'em up" videogames thus placing itself in the podium for its realism and for its mature target. Forget non-sense combats where figthers get hitted over and over, (supposedly) spill litres of blood and still fight and jump: this time tactic and skill will prevail over random buttons smashing and, if you don't keep that damn guard up and you don't avoid accidental clinching of the swords, you will end up being defeated soon. Feel the clashes of swords and the pain of duels with awesome sound effects whilst admiring smooth and elegant movements of fencers in all those photographic backgrounds where they regulate their rights day by day. At some point during development process, a "modern" soul was given to HQ in addition to the "historic" one. Back to the original vision, HQ was built upon historical background (Poland, 1600 - 1700) and accurately provided clothes, scenarios and weapons of that era; later in development a few characters were given modern HEMA uniforms and, finally, the egg of Columbus: a modern background (specifically: a gym) to match with modern uniforms provided to all playable characters. This is when I really fell in love with HQ and when I became fully happy with my purchase. For a non-HEMA fencer like me (I play modern fencing which is a different thing), "modern" soul of game with less blood and gory effects really provides the definitive fencing experience for PC which placed HQ very close to a sport simulation as well almost as if they were two games in one! As stated earlier, HQ is still under development but the current status is overally good because, from time to time, it always provides a couple of hours of fun both in single-player and in local multi-player. The presence of local multi-player is a bad and a good factor at the same time: it is a bad factor because, for technical reasons related to complex animating process and physic simulation, there cannot be a native online mode so you need to go through the tiring process of setting up a Steam Remote Play session (luckily Steam provides some step-by-step tutorial to explain how to do that in five minutes... !); it is a good factor because, once you buy your copy of game (whose price seems to be increasing as the game development moves on), you can play with anyone you want in the world on the only condition that your opponent has a stable internet connection. I waited for the development to proceed a bit more and to ultimately reach a decent status prior to write this review: videos and pictures showing the beauty of this indie videogame speak for themselves and, if you are wondering why HQ development takes so long (release date was 16th Feb. 2021), you should think that it mainly is a two-persons job with a superb and meticulous motion capturing process done alone (beside the ordinary modelling, texturing and programming activities). All in all, either you are HEMA fencer in real life or just a casual videogamer, the outcome will be the same: if you just think you might like this game, you will definitely like it.