One of Steam’s Most-Wishlisted Games Is Basically ‘Chivalry Collides with Gang Beasts’ (& It’s Already Viral)

When it comes to epic medieval combat, few franchises do it better than Chivalry. Designed to mimic the biggest medieval battles seen on the silver screen, the first-person slasher series puts players right into the heat of brutal, gory, and unpredictable combat where they fight on massive battlefields to claim victory for themselves and their team. Now, Half Sword, an upcoming medieval combat simulator on Steam, appears to replicate that same gore-filled, adrenaline-pumping intensity and blend it with the physics-based mechanics of the hilarious and popular party game Gang Beasts.

Hafl Sword Games’ Half Sword is taking Chivalry‘s authentic medieval combat to the next level by giving it a Gang Beasts twist for a little extra mayhem. However, rather than throwing players into a massive battlefield as Chivalry does, Half Sword focuses on close-range encounters where physics dictate nearly everything that happens and often turn duels into awkward, brutal scrambles. That mix of brutal realism and hilarity has already caused Half Sword to spread rapidly across social media and push it up Steam’s wishlist charts with over 600,000 wishlists already, especially as players compare its loose, floppy combat to something closer to Gang Beasts than what’s expected from a traditional sword game.

Half Sword’s Features at a Glance

• PHYSICS-BASED MEDIEVAL COMBAT SIMULATOR with fully simulated limb and weapon movement.
• FREEFORM MOUSE-DRIVEN COMBAT where swings, blocks, and thrusts are controlled by your inputs rather than canned animations.
• HISTORICALLY INSPIRED ARMS AND ARMOR from 15th-century Europe, with varied weapons and gear.
• BRUTAL, VISCERAL MELEE that includes graphic blood, dismemberment, and intense close-quarters combat.
• MULTIPLE GAMEPLAY MODES like Gauntlet, Abyss (wave survival), and Free Mode (open combat scenarios).
• SINGLE-PLAYER FOCUS with rising challenges and progression through tougher opponents.
• DEEP LEARNING CURVE where mastering physics control and weapon handling is part of the experience.

Half Sword Feels Like Chivalry Without Training Wheels

Chivalry has always been widely regarded as having a high skill ceiling, with combat that is easy to jump into but challenging to master. Its basic mechanics like swings, blocks, and counters are intuitive enough, but learning how to read your opponent well, manage stamina, and choose the right action when it matters is a different story. Its biggest challenge is competitive mastery more than execution, and that’s where it differs the most from Half Sword.

In Half Sword, winning the fight against enemy players is only half the battle. With its freeform, physics-based controls, where every limb and swing is influenced by mouse movement, the difference between random flailing and actual proficiency is an exceedingly long road—a journey that could take players dozens or even hundreds of hours to complete. According to multiple remarks from those who have played the tech demo for Half Sword, like the comments under a Reddit post by Subject-Cranberry-93, the skill ceiling is “insanely high” if you focus on precision and control rather than goofy swings.

According to Half Sword‘s Steam description, players have “genuine control” over their weapons, with mechanics that were inspired by the expertise and feedback of Historical European Martial Arts practitioners and sword fencers. The point, of course, is immersion, as it’s a system designed to let players actually “feel” every sword clash. “All animations and maneuvers are meticulously designed with a strong foundation in realism,” its description reads, so that players can “immerse themselves in the intricacies of swordplay and learn the art of the game’s combat mechanics.”

All of that said, the two games are similar in how they depict medieval combat as something ugly, exhausting, and rarely graceful. Fights in both Chivalry and Half Sword tend to break down into desperate scrambles rather than clean exchanges, and there’s very little romanticism in either approach. In essence, both games show how, despite precision, medieval battles are messy affairs where steel collides and bodies stumble and flail. Half Sword certainly leans harder into physics and awkwardness, but at their core, both it and Chivalry treat medieval combat as something violent and unpredictable.

Half Sword Turns Gang Beasts-Style Physics Into Medieval Chaos

Given Half Sword‘s desire for as much realism as possible, every movement in the game can result in some incredibly goofy animations and encounters until players have learned the ropes. Like Gang Beasts, Half Sword‘s combat is entirely physics-based, even when that physics makes battles look clumsy or unflattering. Players might initially overcommit, lose balance, or get tangled up in ways that ultimately break the immersion but simultaneously produce some hilarious and memorable clashes. Like any real sword fight, no encounter in Half Sword is meant to stay clean for long, and players are eventually reacting to their own momentum rather than executing precise responses to their opponents’ actions. It’s messy and awkward, but it’s also consistent with the game’s goal of making every movement feel authentic.

If physics didn’t already make it feel real enough, Half Sword even goes the extra mile with its gore as well, to the point that Half Sword Games felt the need to include a disclaimer in the game’s Steam description. “Witness skull-crushing blows, limb dismemberment, and gruesome displays of entrails and bloodshed,” it reads, and while that doesn’t necessarily echo Gang Beasts‘ cartoonish violence, it shows what happens when the physics-based combat of the party game collides with the realism Half Sword is going for. As the developer boldly states on the game’s Steam page, “We are not afraid to show the brutal nature of medieval combat with in-depth blood and gore features.”

The biggest difference between Half Sword and Gang Beasts, however, might be that while Gang Beasts‘ physics-based combat system is intended to be funny, Half Sword‘s appears intended to be immersive. This doesn’t mean players can’t have fun with it or even laugh at the results, of course, but there is nothing in Half Sword‘s description that makes it sound like it is meant to be a comedic game more than an immersive medieval experience. Rather than aiming slapstick or parody, its goal is to offer players the unique experience of fighting brutal tournaments in 15th-century Europe.

In short, Half Sword is the perfect game for those who want the high skill ceiling and control of Gang Beasts and the medieval realism of Chivalry. It takes ideas from both games and strips them down to make them feel like anything but comfortable and safe. Its combat is demanding, players are prone to countless mistakes, and mastering it can only come through plenty of time and repetition. It’s uncompromising with a tinge of humor, and that’s exactly why Half Sword has already found an audience so quickly on Steam. It’s not necessarily trying to appeal to everyone, but for players who want medieval combat to feel heavy, chaotic, and real, it offers something few games are willing to attempt.

Half Sword launches on Steam in Q1 2026.