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How fast would you die in a swordfight?

For me it turned out to be about 35 seconds. 30 of which were spent backpedaling away from my opponent. Turns out if you give the "peasant" class a sword it doesn't magically make them Obi-Wan Kenobi. A skilled swordsman (or moderately competent AI in this case) will easily dispatch you on the battlefield. Go figure!

But with a little bit of practice, and patience while you learn YET ANOTHER movement style in VR, you will begin to stab thine enemy in their face.

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Before we get to making mince meat of some peasant pecker, let's talk about the overall gameplay loop in Swordsman VR. It is extremely simplistic, to the point where I would consider it to be more of a tech demo than a game. The core gameplay consist of you, the player, in an arena facing off in a swordfight with one or more enemies. That's it.

You start off in a tavern of sorts standing in front of a large board displaying a few options to select from. Off to your left is a skill master to help you spend the skill points you earn in battle to increase your speed, health or luck (in this case, greed). To the right is an armorer and blacksmith, where you can spend the gold you earned while leveling up your greed skill on new armaments. Find something you can afford that you like, equip it, then go to the main board to choose your arena.

There are 3 main modes to the game. A "Campaign mode" with no story that has you facing 9 levels if battle in 5 different arenas. Each arena ends with a big boss duel where you fight not only for your life but to earn the special weapon that the boss is using. After completing the 5 arena boss monsters you will unlock the final boss. For each level you complete you earn some quest points as well as a nice purse of gold.

The other two modes are akin to training modes. One is in an arena of your choice, against wave after wave of opponents, the amount of your choice, along with their skill level. The other is the obligatory Horde Mode that every game just has to have. Unarmed undead have risen in a small town with a few tiny homes. Your goal? Survive. Each of these modes also pay out in skill points and gold. The Horde Mode pays out based on how many waves you survive, so you always get paid when you die. But the arena pays out only if you best all the enemies you chose to face.

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As you may have picked up from my previous text, the game is definitely not without its flaws. The most notable to me is a complete lack of ambidextrous controls. The only left hand option in the entire game (as of the date of making this blog) is to switch the menu laser from your right hand to your left hand. Something most other games just do automatically. Another flaw is that there isn't all that much to do in the game, and I'm honestly not too sure how to fix that. More weapons and armor? A better campaign mode? More horde maps? Friendly AI to practice small skirmishes? Another notable error is that the Viking helmet has horns on it. That is just a big fat no-no. There is almost no evidence of horned helmets because they would be a hinderance in combat. They are something an opponent can grapple. Smashing your nice rounded helmet, which should cause it to glance off nearly harmlessly, will now cause your head to violently jerk to one side. Disorienting at best, knocking you to the ground for a fatal blow at worst.