Review of Die By The Sword

Die by the Sword is as close to a sword-fighting simulation as we're ever likely to see. It takes a stock fantasy world, populates it with goblins and orcs and tasks the player to go out and, using the much heralded VSIM control system, violently dismember your foes.

The big draw for this game also ended up being its biggest weakness. The idea behind the VSIM control scheme was to do away with canned animations and put control entirely in the hands of the player. Essentially, the mouse represents your avatar's sword hand. Your swinging movements are encumbered by the laws of physics and momentum making the system more suited to simulation than fast paced action. That's where DbtS misstep is. The system is incredibly hard to learn and incredibly difficult to use with any efficiency. There are "simpler" control schemes available but they just don't seem to work properly.

This wouldn't be a crippling problem except for the fact that your enemies jump around like caffeinated three year olds. Thus combat breaks down to wildly moving the mouse around while hoping for a random decapitation affair. It's just not fair that one of your first fights in the game requires you to hang upside down with a rope while fighting several opponents. Die by the Sword was a great idea but the needed to incorporate a shallower learning curve to avoid the frustration that results from starting it up.