Hellsplit: Arena Review Summary

Despite a genuinely fun and fluid VR melee combat experience, the game suffers from clunky combat, frequent crashes, boot failures, and developer abandonment.

Best VR combat experience: Many players consider this the best VR combat game, praising the satisfying melee sword fighting and immersive fighting mechanics. It is frequently described as a must-have for VR enthusiasts who enjoy melee combat.

Genuinely fun and enjoyable gameplay: The core gameplay is repeatedly called fun, great, and exciting, with non-stop action. Many players simply enjoy the game's concept and find it consistently entertaining.

Satisfying and fluid melee combat: The melee combat is consistently praised for feeling satisfying, smooth, and fluid, with good crunch and tight responsiveness when it works. Combat is often highlighted as the best feature of the game.

Weapons feel weighty and responsive: Weapons are described as feeling fantastic to handle, with appropriate weight and balance. Heavier weapons like swords feel slower, and the handling is well polished without awkward movement.

Outstanding graphics and lighting: The game's graphics are frequently praised as amazing, beautiful, and detailed, with high-quality lighting and shadows. Some players rate them 10/10 and note significant improvement over other VR titles.

Clunky and mediocre combat: Combat is frequently described as clunky, sluggish, and mediocre, especially when compared to Blade & Sorcery.

Missing physics compared to B&S: The game lacks the brute force physics of Blade & Sorcery, making weapon physics feel simplified and boring.

Awful blocking mechanics: Blocking often fails, with opponent's swings going through shields, and the timing-based system is hard to figure out.

Lack of open world: The absence of an open world or explorable environment is a common complaint among players.

Annoying armored enemies: Fighting armored enemies is considered a chore and an annoyance by many players.

VR Physics-Based Melee Combat: The core gameplay is a VR melee combat system with physics-driven weapon handling and body movement. Players physically swing, block, dodge, and use environmental kills across roughly 30 campaign levels.

Varied Enemy Types and Weaknesses: The game features multiple enemy types such as skeletons, zombies, knights, and archers, each requiring different strategies. Specific weaknesses and resistances encourage varied weapon usage.

Dismemberment and Decapitation Mechanics: Combat includes gory dismemberment where players can decapitate, stab, rip off heads, and cut limbs. Some enemies continue fighting even after losing limbs.

Campaign Mode with Progression: A full campaign mode includes level progression, boss fights, cutscenes with images and voice acting, and arena combat. It offers about 30 levels of structured gameplay.

Weapon and Armor Variety: Players can use a range of weapons including swords, axes, maces, mauls, shields, and fists. Armor types and enemy weaknesses further diversify combat encounters.

Frequent crashes and boot failures: Many users report the game crashes after short play sessions, on launch, or fails to boot with a black screen. Crashes occur constantly for some, including on Steam first launch or at specific points like boss fights.

Runs on average PC specs: Several users mention the game runs well on average or lower-end setups, and environments don't destroy the PC. FPS remains stable without random drops.

Smooth performance on high-end systems: Multiple users report smooth performance and good visuals on high-end hardware like i5 9600k with GTX 1070, Intel 6700K with RTX 3070, and i5 4690K with RTX 2080. Supersampling at 150% on max settings runs at constant 90 fps on Index.

Runs well on mid-range GPUs: Users with GTX 1050 and GTX 1060 report the game runs well or extremely smoothly. This indicates decent optimization for mid-range hardware.

Visuals look impressive on high-end: Users describe the game as looking jaw-dropping on high resolution and higher-end setups, and much better than Quest on medium to high settings. This highlights strong visual fidelity.

Positive general recommendations: Many reviewers strongly recommend the game, saying it is fun, a great product, and worth buying, with some urging hesitant buyers to purchase immediately. It delivers what it promises and earns big thumbs up from several players.

Compared to Blade and Sorcery: Several reviewers explicitly compare the game to Blade and Sorcery, either recommending that game instead or noting that this title is not meant to be a clone. Some players report this game wins over Blade and Sorcery for them, while others say it is meant to be a different experience with different mechanics.

Price and refund concerns: Multiple reviewers question the value at the current price, considering it not worth more than $20 and better around $5 to $15. Some state they are refunding or wish to refund, and others say to wait for a sale before buying.

Not recommended overall: A number of reviewers cannot recommend the game, telling others not to get it, not to support the publisher, or not to buy on Steam. Reasons include bugs, AI use, dead updates, and overall dissatisfaction.

Sword combat and genre fans: Reviewers frequently recommend the game to fans of sword fighting, melee combat, and swords in general. It is described as the most satisfying sword fighting VR game to date and a must-have for VR fighters, with a medieval atmosphere and bloody combat.

Community fair range: $14.99 - $19.99.

Game completion: 4.0h.

Story completion: 2.0h.

Session length: 0.5h.

Endgame: 60.0h.

Players often find the VR swordfighting fun immediately, but repetitive enemies and limited content make enjoyment fade quickly.

Friction: No tutorial at all; the first few missions, SEVERAL OF THEM, repetitive nonsense; Fighting essentially the same 3 different enemies with various amounts of armour gets boring quite quickly; distinct lack of content; campaign being limited and the training mode being repetitive; all it is is Arena and it gets boring really quick.

VR Melee Combat Enthusiast: Melee-focused and immersive; experiments with weapon matchups and physics. Motivation: To experience satisfying, physical VR sword combat with varied weapons. Stance: buy.

Hardcore Challenge Seeker: Hardcore runs, optimized gear, and parry/block-focused combat. Motivation: To test mastery against punishing hardcore difficulty and smarter enemies. Stance: buy.

Value-Conscious VR Newcomer: Casual sandbox play, mod exploration, and low-pressure fun. Motivation: To find an accessible VR sandbox with mods at a fair price. Stance: sale.

Constant Blade and Sorcery comparisons: Many reviewers compare this game to Blade & Sorcery, with opinions split between favorable and unfavorable. Common themes include sword combat feel, sandbox vs campaign structure, and mod support.

Game abandoned by developers: Numerous reviewers state the developers have abandoned the game, stopped communicating, and moved on to a new project. This is a recurring and high-impact complaint.

Mod support and reliance: The game supports mods, but some reviewers feel it relies too heavily on mods rather than built-in content. Others appreciate the added content mods provide.

Positive updates and developer support: Despite abandonment claims, some reviewers note the game has received significant updates over time and the developers are active and responsive to feedback.

AI-generated art controversy: Multiple reviewers mention that the developers use AI-generated art, including cover art and assets in their games. Some find this problematic.