Swordsman is the latest outing from VR developer Sinn Studio, having previously brought us the likes of Warzone VR and The Perfect Sniper. As the name would suggest the game revolves around sword combat, which is pretty much always a winner in virtual reality. Swordsman requires the use of the PlayStation Move controllers as well, with mixed results.
You have the option of story or arena mode, but both are similar in truth and the story itself is very thin on the ground. There are four different locations to choose from and each comes with its own style of enemies with Samurai and Vikings being my picks of the bunch. The locations have nine levels for you to complete, which then culminates in a boss fight. Each of the nine levels is almost identical and task you with defeating a set number of randomly spawning warriors.
There is actually a little variation here though, with a couple of different enemy types on offer. These include light armour, heavy armour, enemies with shields and more. Each time you load a level the type of enemies that spawn will be random, as will the number that spawns at a time. Sometimes it’s only one, but others it can be more.
The gameplay itself is fun, albeit a little janky at times. This is not the developer’s fault though. As is often the case with PSVR games, the PlayStation Move controllers show their age here. It still baffles me that we haven’t been given an updated motion controller, but at this point, it seems pretty apparent that we won’t see any movement on this until a PSVR 2.
The swordplay and use of the shields are relatively accurate, with only the odd glitch when after stabbing an enemy you can’t seem to release the sword from their body for a few seconds. The main frustration revolves around player movement. Sinn Studio has gone out of it’s way to give you options, with the default allowing you to move forward using the move button and mapping turning and retreat to the face buttons. The second option allows you to move using your hand but limits the equipment used on that side.
The result can be frustrating at times when you have multiple enemies coming at you from different angles with no real natural way to pivot and regroup. Again, there wasn’t really a good solution for the developers here and the options players are given is far superior to that of GORN in my mind. Next-gen we absolutely need PlayStation VR controllers with analog sticks though.
In terms of difficulty, there are definitely ways to exploit attacks. Outside of bosses your foes can be one-hit killed with a sword through the skull – which is fair enough, it’s not like I would be lining up to receive one of those blows. Once you get the timing and angles down though you can often line up the sword and accelerate forward, impaling your target.
Swordsman is a game that can be tailored to your tastes though. If you find headstabs (my term for sword headshots) too tempting to ignore, you can turn off those one-hit kills in the modifiers. Furthermore, there are loads of other modifications you can make as well. If the game is becoming too hard for example you can also turn on invincibility where enemy attacks do no damage and you can just motor through enemies, levels and even bosses for fun.
Speaking of boss fights, these are more challenging encounters and end up much longer, more intense, challenging affairs. Your instinct may often be to back off, but this will allow the boss to regenerate health. So instead, learn their attacks and keep the pressure on when possible. Performing a well-timed block will also initiate a brief slowdown in time, where you can inflict lots of damage. Standard enemies will appear to aid the boss, so make sure you stay alert.
During each battle you earn upgrade points and gold which can be traded for new equipment and stat upgrades respectively. I was impressed with the amount of different weapons on offer here, with the ones obtained by defeating the corresponding boss the highlights. The game rewards you for playing, even if at first you aren’t very good you will soon be unlocking upgrades that will help you in your quest.
Graphically the game is solid, without ever excelling. Character models are well detailed and the attack animations look good in combat. I also really liked the hub room. I actually just got off a session a few minutes ago and in an update added yesterday, they had patched in some decorative pumpkins as we are nearing Halloween. It’s a small thing, but these are the details I appreciate. Locations in the game are pretty bland, but its not often you notice during swordplay.
The game comes with an achievable platinum trophy. Boss fights can be challenging but if you learn their attacks and get the timing down it is certainly manageable. Unlocking all weapons and stat upgrades will take around 10 hours and while you do have modifiers like invincibility, those overpowered mods do disable rewards and trophies for defeating bosses. Kills with these mods on do however still count towards your trophies for killing X amount of enemies.
Overall, Swordsman is a fun time. It’s similar in a way to games such as GORN and Drunkn Bar Fight. It doesn’t have much variety, in that you will see most of what the game has to offer inside half an hour. But that gameplay loop is addictive and kept me coming back for more. At £13.99 I definitely recommend checking the game out if like me you enjoy first-person combat in VR. This is one of the better examples of it on the PlayStation headset.
-Jock 💥
A review code for this product was kindly provided by the publisher. Reviewed on PS4 Pro.
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