We Love It's Guide to…
Choose a swordsman in 17th-century Poland and duel with physics-driven, angle-based attacks across story, arcade, survival, and local modes.
Released 16 Feb 2021
Four-Angle Swordplay
Lethal Sword Duels
Spar with Training Weapons
A physics-based, realistic 3D sword-fighting game. Immerse yourself in a cinematic adventure, utilizing real sword-fighting martial arts and a variety of historically accurate weapons to survive brutal duels in 17th century Poland. Featuring single-player modes and a LOCAL 2-player mode.
Developed by Kubold · Published by Kubold
Set in the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Hellish Quart casts you as a chosen warrior in sword duels between fighters inspired by the period. Its cinematic story mode frames those encounters within an adventure.
Combat uses physics and motion-captured fencing, with four attack buttons for different angles and combinations for special attacks. Timing, distance, stamina, and reading an opponent matter; when you are not attacking, autoguard helps defend against incoming strikes.
Choose from several fighting styles and weapons, then play story, arcade, quick fights, survival with online leaderboards, or local two-player matches on one PC. Practice modes include wooden weapons and modern HEMA gear, and an optional VR mode is available.
Positive reviews often praise the game’s technical, timing-focused swordplay and its sense of historical fencing, especially the tension of duels where a well-placed strike can decide the fight. Players also enjoy the distinct fighters and weapons, the period atmosphere, and playing locally with friends. Some reviewers find the combat difficult to learn, and opinions differ sharply on how reliably its physics and hit detection work.
Hellish Quart is a local-only (two players play on one PC, not online), physics-based sword fighting game. Set in 17th century Poland, it features a cinematic story and the most iconic sword fighter archetypes of this period.
With motion-captured fencing techniques and four gamepad buttons representing four attack angles, you'll need to use timing, technique, and speed to defeat your opponents. Choose from a variety of warriors and take part in cinematic story mode, arcade mode, safe sparring, quick fights, survival mode with online leaderboards, or local multiplayer. If you want to hone your sword fighting skills, you can spar with wooden weapons or train in modern HEMA gear. And for the ultimate experience, Hellish Quart also offers an optional VR mode.
Please note that the game is still in development and only supports local multiplayer (two players play on one PC, not online).
physical sword fighting using Active Ragdolls
cinematic story
online leaderboards
realistic historical fencing techniques
optional VR mode
Hellish Quart utilizes active ragdolls and real-time physics to get you the ultimate fencing experience. You can attack from four different angles using the four gamepad buttons. Different button combinations enable special attacks and combos. When you are not attacking, your character automatically assumes a defensive stance, blocking your opponent's attacks using the autoguard feature. Proper timing, technique, speed, measure, and wits are all crucial to winning, just like in real-world fencing.
The game is set in the historical 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the character models are based on 3D-scanned, reconstructed clothes from that period. The single-player campaign, once completed, will be firmly rooted in the reality of life in the region. You will duel against Zaporozhian Cossacks, Polish Hussars, Tatars, Turkish Janissaries, Swedish Reiters, French Musketeers, and more.
| Platforms | Windows |
|---|---|
| Achievements | 27 |
| Age ratings |
|
| Players | 1–2 |
| Play modes |
|
| Other modes |
|
| Multiplayer | Hellish Quart supports local-only versus multiplayer for 2 players on one PC. The store text explicitly says it is not online and only supports local multiplayer. Steam features indicate shared/split screen PvP and Remote Play Together, which can be used to play the local mode remotely. Survival mode has online leaderboards, but that is not live multiplayer. |
| Multiplayer & mods | The provided information only shows the game is tagged as Moddable. No fact-based multiplayer mod support or multiplayer-impacting mods are described. |
| Controller support | PlayStation, Xbox |
| Controller required | No |
| DLC / extras | 1 listed on Steam |
| Content notices |
|
| Website | Official website |
