Solo dev's Sword Hero Kickstarter raises $255,558 for open-world RPG

Solo developer Csaba 'ForestWare' Székely is building Sword Hero, a systems-driven open-world RPG inspired by early-'00s titles such as Gothic, Kenshi, Arx Fatalis, Blade of Darkness, Fable and the manga/anime Berserk. After trying the free combat demo on Steam, the writer—coming in with 150 hours in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2—kept getting beaten until slowing down and learning the rules.

The demo plays as a deeply challenging, often frustrating experience that becomes proportionately satisfying once mastered. Sword Hero also offers cozy systems alongside its violence: a Fable-style housing system where you can buy, rent and furnish rooms and houses, and a cooking minigame that uses realistic ingredient combinations.

Flour and water make dough, placing it on a smoldering pile of leaves will puff it into bread, and boiling the dough turns it into pasta; you can cook on any hot surface, even a burning bush.

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