HEMA in Video Games: How Realistic Is the Swordplay?
By Pāvels Vagals, co-founder of Timeblade Guild and HEMA practitioner
A vampire game can take swordsmanship seriously. A medieval setting can still give its hero a sword grip that throws away much of the weapon’s reach.
That is why realistic swordplay in video games deserves a closer look. The Blood of Dawnwalker and Kingdom Come: Deliverance I and II give us historically informed combat to examine. Sophia’s reverse-grip sword use in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy shows a more stylized approach.
At Timeblade Guild, we are a practitioner-led company. When we look at a game’s sword fighting, we ask a practical question: does the movement make sense against an opponent who can hit back?
HEMA in video games is most convincing when guards, distance, timing, and weapon handling work together. Recognizable poses help, but the action connecting those poses matters just as much.
Quick take:
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance I and II give the most grounded medieval sword combat of this group.
- The Blood of Dawnwalker builds fantasy combat on confirmed HEMA foundations.
- Reverse-grip sword use, as Resonance shows it, looks striking but sacrifices reach at normal fencing distance.
What does HEMA mean in video games?
HEMA stands for Historical European Martial Arts. It is the modern study and practice of historical European fighting systems, which practitioners reconstruct from surviving fencing books and manuscripts. Longsword is one part of HEMA, alongside disciplines such as rapier, sword and buckler, saber, and wrestling. Collections such as Wiktenauer make many of those sources accessible.
For a game, HEMA influence can appear in the way a character holds a weapon, attacks an opening, deflects a strike, or responds when the blades meet. It does not require every encounter to resemble a modern HEMA tournament. Historical fighting, modern sporting rules, and game mechanics each impose their own constraints.
It helps to judge realism on three levels:
- Movement: Are the grip, posture, cuts, and thrusts mechanically plausible?
- Decisions: Do distance, timing, and the opponent’s blade affect what works?
- Consequences: Do protection, exposure, and committed attacks carry believable advantages and risks?
A game can do well at one level while simplifying another.
How the games compare
The assessments below are our fencing analysis, rather than a numerical ranking of overall game quality.
| Game | Strongest point for this comparison | Main qualification |
|---|---|---|
| The Blood of Dawnwalker | Confirmed HEMA inspiration and directional sword combat | The team adjusts motion-captured actions for gameplay; supernatural combat follows fantasy rules |
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance | Directional attacks and a learning curve that make sword fighting feel like a skill | Character statistics, preset sequences, and timing windows stay game abstractions |
| Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | Historically grounded combat with parries, weapon-specific techniques, and motion capture | A controller cannot reproduce the full freedom and physical feedback of fencing |
| Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy | A useful example of cinematic sword choreography | Sophia’s reverse sword grip is hard to justify as a default at ordinary sword-fighting distance |
The Blood of Dawnwalker and historical swordsmanship
The Blood of Dawnwalker is an especially interesting example because its HEMA connection is explicit. In the official Swordmastery development article, the team explains that historical martial arts informed its combat. It also describes motion capture followed by animation adjustments, and it makes clear that exact reproduction of medieval fighting was not the goal. Read the official swordsmanship development notes.
The game lets players choose directional attacks and defenses, alongside options that select directions automatically. That gives its grounded swordplay a useful connection to fencing: reading an incoming action and choosing a response matters.
Our assessment is that this makes Dawnwalker a strong example of HEMA influencing fantasy combat. The historical reference points deserve recognition, and its magic and supernatural abilities deserve judgment on their own fictional terms.
Ochs, Pflug, and Alber explained
For players comparing Dawnwalker’s sword positions with historical fencing, Ochs, Pflug, and Alber are useful reference points. These names belong to the German longsword tradition. The gloss attributed to Sigmund ain Ringeck records them.
Ochs (Ox): hands high beside the head, point threatening the opponent’s face.
Pflug (Plow): hands low by the hip, point angled up toward the opponent.
Alber (Fool): point lowered toward the ground, an open and inviting guard.
| Guard | Common English name | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Ochs | Ox | Hands held high beside the head, with the point directed toward the opponent |
| Pflug | Plow | Hands held lower beside the body, with the point threatening forward |
| Alber | Fool | Sword held in front with the point lowered toward the ground |
The differences carry practical meaning. Ochs and Pflug place a thrusting threat in front of the opponent from different hand heights. Alber presents a low point and an apparent opening, which creates a different tactical situation.
These are reference descriptions, not proof that every similar game pose represents that exact historical technique. Foot position, blade orientation, distance, and the following action all shape the interpretation.
The best game-versus-manuscript comparison therefore shows an exchange: the guard, the opponent’s attack, and the response. A matching silhouette is only a starting point. If a game has you curious about the real weapons behind these guards, our guide to feder swords versus longswords explains how training feders and sharp longswords differ.
Kingdom Come Deliverance makes sword fighting a learned skill
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a useful reference for realistic swordplay because combat asks the player to learn its system. Directional attacks, thrusts, defensive timing, and training make Henry’s development part of the experience. Warhorse’s official description emphasizes challenging combat, weapon choices, combinations, and character progression. See the official game description.
The fencing lesson is easy to recognize: owning a sword and knowing how to use it are separate things. Choosing when to attack matters, and an opponent’s response can interrupt your intentions.
There are limits. A sequence that you unlock through progression is a game mechanic. Historical techniques are tools that a fighter uses according to the situation, and an exchange does not guarantee that the next action in a memorized combination will fit.
The same caution applies to defensive timing. A successful button press compresses several physical tasks into one action. In fencing, the blade angle, the hand position, and the distance to the opponent still have to be right.
Kingdom Come’s value is that it makes players pay attention to sword fighting as a skill. That is a meaningful achievement, and it does not require treating its rules as a fencing manual.
Kingdom Come Deliverance II continues the grounded approach
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II carries that approach into a broader combat system. Its official presentation highlights parries, attacks against weaknesses, different weapon techniques, and dedicated motion capture. Those give a useful foundation for sword combat that feels connected to physical action. See the official combat overview.
From a HEMA perspective, the important question is whether an action answers the immediate problem. Does a defense put the weapon where it can stop or redirect the incoming attack? Does the counterattack have a plausible path to its target? Does the character recover into a position from which they can keep fighting?
Those questions reveal more than counting attack directions on a controller. A smaller input system can still represent convincing decisions, and an elaborate interface can hide implausible movement.
One major limitation remains physical feedback. When blades meet, a fencer feels pressure and adjusts to it. A game has to translate that interaction into animations and inputs. Even excellent motion capture cannot give the player the sensation of an opponent yielding, resisting, or changing pressure through the blade.
For that reason, both Kingdom Come games work best as historically informed RPGs. Their combat can encourage an interest in fencing without reproducing all of its physical demands.
Resonance and the problem with reverse-grip sword fighting
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy presents Sophia as an agile fighter who uses tricks, parries, and powerful strikes. That emphasis comes from the publisher’s own description. See the official Resonance overview.
Sophia’s reverse-grip sword use gives a clear example of where cinematic styling becomes mechanically questionable. In this grip, the blade emerges from the little-finger side of the hand, rather than the thumb side of a conventional sword grip.
Our criticism concerns using that grip as a regular solution against an opponent at sword distance. A brief action at very close range is a different question.
It reduces useful forward reach
A conventional grip lets the sword project toward the opponent while the body stays farther away. Carrying the blade backward or along the forearm gives up much of that immediate forward threat.
The blade is the same length. Less of it now sits between the two fighters. To strike, the wielder may have to close farther or reposition the blade, which gives the opponent an opening during that movement.
It complicates point control
A sword point aimed at the opponent can influence how they approach. They have to account for the possibility of a thrust.
Keeping the blade turned away makes that threat less immediate. Bringing the point back onto a useful line takes a different arm position or an extra movement. The cost depends on the exact posture, and it deserves attention even when the animation looks fast.
It changes defensive geometry
Reverse grip changes which lines the blade covers comfortably, along with how the hand, guard, and forearm sit behind it. Plenty of parries remain available; the comfortable ones simply shift.
For ordinary sword exchanges, a conventional grip generally gives more straightforward options for keeping the weapon between the body and the incoming attack. A convincing reverse-grip action needs a specific reason to accept those constraints.
Historical dagger fighting is a different case
Reverse grips do have historical uses. Fiore dei Liberi’s dagger material includes attacks with the point downward, alongside close-range defenses, controls, and disarms. Explore Fiore’s historical fencing material.
A dagger’s length and the distance at which fighters use it create different possibilities from a sword. Evidence for an effective dagger grip does not automatically justify the same grip as a default sword-fighting method.
Our verdict on Sophia’s grip is therefore specific: it works as a recognizable piece of action choreography, and it makes a weak model for general sword use at normal fencing distance. That criticism does not dismiss the whole game or claim that no unusual sword grip could ever work.
How to recognize realistic swordplay in any game
Look beyond the starting pose and follow the whole exchange.
Watch the distance. Can the attack actually reach without an unexplained slide forward? Does a retreat move the target beyond the blade?
Watch the weapon during defense. A parry should address the incoming attack. Two swords touching somewhere on screen does not prove that the defender is protected.
Watch the recovery. After a committed swing, where are the hands and blade? Can the fighter answer the next threat, or does the opponent simply wait for the animation to finish?
Watch the opponent. Convincing fencing needs a responsive adversary. A spectacular move gets much easier when the other character stops threatening the attacker.
These questions explain why realistic choreography can thrill. Small changes of angle, distance, or timing can decide an exchange. The tension comes from understanding what each fighter risks.
From video-game swordplay to HEMA practice
Games can make you curious about the real techniques behind a sword animation. HEMA gives you a way to explore that curiosity through historical sources, instruction, and practice.
At Timeblade Guild, that connection between fictional worlds and practical swordsmanship is part of what drives us. If a game has made you want to try longsword fencing, start with a local club and ask what equipment its instructors recommend.
When you are ready to choose your own gear, our HEMA feders and swords match different disciplines and club requirements.
Frequently asked questions
Which of these games has the most realistic sword fighting?
Kingdom Come: Deliverance I and II are the strongest choices here for an overall grounded medieval combat experience. The Blood of Dawnwalker stands out as confirmed HEMA inspiration inside fantasy combat. None reproduces every aspect of real fencing.
Does The Blood of Dawnwalker use HEMA?
Yes. Its official development notes name Historical European Martial Arts as an influence. The developers also explain that they adjusted the motion-captured combat for gameplay rather than aiming for an exact recreation of medieval fighting.
Are Ochs, Pflug, and Alber real sword guards?
Yes. Ochs, Pflug, and Alber are historical guards in the German longsword tradition, commonly translated as Ox, Plow, and Fool. They describe different arrangements of the sword and body, with different threats and openings.
Is reverse-grip sword fighting realistic?
As a default at ordinary sword-fighting distance, it generally sacrifices useful forward reach and complicates point control and defense. Specific close-range actions need separate analysis. Historical reverse-grip dagger techniques do not establish it as a good general sword grip.
Can video games teach you HEMA?
Games can introduce terminology and encourage attention to timing, distance, and openings. They cannot provide the physical blade contact, coordination, and feedback of fencing with a partner. Practical learning needs suitable instruction and training equipment.