The devs made the game harsh on player because on interview they say they look down on the other AAA games that are too easy, but then they didn't have enough time to polish the game, the handicap makes the game 15% of the time an annoying peasant simulator. Small glitches, inconsistent NPC behavior, reload punishment (making whatever you need to do even harder. e.g. adding a barking dog outside the house after reload and other shenanigans). But what really annoys me is the combat mechanics, the sword swing direction is bound to mouse movement as well as camera, so during combat the camera locks on even if you don't press Tab. I can see why, because otherwise the sword swing is all funky. But the problems is the bandits can then freely crack your head open from your flank or behind and you can't even turn around unless you move the mouse dramatically which is not fast and responsive enough. And also there is also master strike, you press defend quick enough you can get an invaluble riposte. But AI can do it too, and if you are not overpowered it's almost every time. The last round of Ratty tourney becomes a game to wait your opponent to strike first then riposte and proceed to rain hell on him in the corner. For this reason I use mounted combat against ambushers on the road, they can't block it and one stab inflicts huge damage sometimes it's one-hit kill. The problem is the horse. If you don't stear it it'll just follow the road alright, but the camera is bouncing around like some kind of joke whenever your horse turns just a little. And it's very hard to hit an enemy with auto stearing, Henry always chooses the wrong side. Graphics, facial expression and eyes looks unnatural (got a lot of pre-rendered cutscenes to compensate for that), distant mountains have no grass and low-poly forest trees are all lit, performance is fine after patch but not that good, 1440p high preset (above it are very-high and ultra-high) at around 80 fps on rtx2080.
