The swordplay simulation title 'Half Sword' slashed its way to 4th place on Steam's global best-sellers list upon its January 31 launch. This momentum seems to stem from its strong showing at the Steam Next Fest last October, where it topped the charts for wishlists and demo player counts. However, contrary to the pre-launch hype, user reception has been 'Mixed', with many players noting that the game has somehow managed to accrue more technical issues than its demo version.

Half Sword is a combat simulator aiming to faithfully recreate the swordplay of 15th-century European knights. From its inception, the game generated buzz for its meticulous armour historical accuracy and high-fidelity dismemberment, creating unpredictable combat encounters. This, combined with two years of demos and closed betas, served as the primary engine for its meteoric rise to the top of the sales charts.

Its defining feature is the mouse-driven control scheme. Forget skill buttons; you execute slashes, thrusts, and parries entirely through the trajectory and velocity of your mouse. The armour physics are equally uncompromising—half-hearted strikes simply won't cut it. When you layer in a physics engine that feels heavy and realistic, the result is a spectacle of combat that is equal parts gritty and bizarrely slapstick.

Early Steam reviews are 'Mixed' (10,106 participants, 57% positive), a far cry from the adoration the demo received. Players are reporting severe frame rate drops—even on high-end rigs sporting an RTX 4090—with outdoor maps being particularly egregious. Furthermore, the physics engine appears to have taken a step back; weapons feel weightless and sluggish, and characters topple over with comical ease. While the developers are scrambling to roll out hotfixes, the prevailing sentiment is: stick to the demo and wait for a proper polish.

Elsewhere in the charts, the demo for Nioh 3 has maintained its upward trajectory, securing 2nd place ahead of its February 6 release. Cairn has slipped to 6th, while Fallout 76 remains near the top, buoyed by a free-to-play event and discounts running until February 6.

In the Concurrent Players charts, Terraria continues its resurgence, hitting 228,073 players—the second-highest peak since its supposed 'final' update in 2020. FiveM has surpassed both the Legacy and Enhanced versions of GTA 5, setting a new personal record of 136,093 players. While it lacks a dedicated Steam store page, recent assets surfacing suggest progress may be on the horizon.