About Splat Swords
Splat Swords is a free sword fighting game online with a physics twist: every fighter is a chunky, wobbly ragdoll, drawn as a detailed HD 3D model with real hands that grip the weapon (both hands on the big two-handed ones). Their muscles hold them up while they walk, swing and guard, but a solid hit sends them flopping, a heavy one knocks them flat, and a knockout sends them tumbling across the floor while their weapon spins away. It plays like a stickman sword fight with real weight behind every blow, seen from above in arenas full of traps.
You fight knights, ninjas, vikings, samurai, shieldmaidens and witches, and creatures too: goblins, orcs, skeletons, stone golems, demons and fire elementals, each with its own body, weapon, fighting style and voice. The Bestiary in the menu shows all 37 opponents and giants in action. Then there are the giants, three or four times your height, that you bring down by hacking at their legs. The rules underneath are honest: blades only hurt while they swing, two swinging blades clash, a guard raised at the right moment parries, and a roll passes straight through a swing.
How to play
- Attack: tap for a quick slash (the last blow of a combo is a harder finisher), hold for a heavy swing and let go to unleash it.
- Block: raise your guard to stop hits from the front. Blocked hits cost stamina, and an empty bar breaks your guard.
- Parry: block just before a hit lands and the attacker is thrown wide open. Parried throwing weapons fly back.
- Dodge: roll in any direction. Most of the roll is invulnerable, so a well-timed dodge goes right through a swing.
- Throw: your sidearm (knives to start; shuriken, throwing axes, javelins and bombs in the Armory) has a few shots per fight. Walk over thrown weapons to pick them up again.
- Crates and barrels: stand next to one and press Throw to lift it over your head with both hands, then Throw again to hurl it. A crate smashes and drops what was inside, a barrel explodes. You walk slower while carrying, a dodge drops it, and enemies, bosses and giants do the same.
- Special moves: learn them in the Armory and level them up. Attack during a roll for a dash strike, hold Block and press Attack for a whirlwind, fully charge a heavy for a ground slam, and throw two or three at once with the volley.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Phone / tablet | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move | W A S D or arrows | Analog stick on the left | Left stick or D-pad |
| Attack (hold for a heavy swing) | J, Space or the left mouse button | ATTACK button | X |
| Dodge roll | K or Shift | DODGE button | A |
| Block / parry | L or the right mouse button | BLOCK button | RB |
| Throw | I | THROW button | Y |
| Aim | Mouse pointer (or automatic) | Automatic, towards the enemy you push at | Automatic |
| Pause | P / Esc | Pause button | Start |
Keys and gamepad buttons can be remapped in Options > Controls. Your swings and throws aim themselves at the nearest enemy (or the one you push the stick towards), and on a computer the mouse pointer aims instead.
Game modes
Tournament
Every run is different. A cup is a map of four regions, such as the Meadows, the Frozen North, the Trap Temple, the Boneyard, Orc Country and the Underworld, with four stages in each. At every fight the road forks: the safe road, or the red ELITE road with sharper bots and more coins. Each region ends with a boss, sometimes a champion or a valkyrie and sometimes a giant, and each cup ends with a final boss: the Iron Warlord, Warchief Mogra, the Bone King or the Demon Lord (and in the Legend Cups sometimes the Titan), and over a few tournaments you meet every boss. Your run is saved, so pick CONTINUE to come back to it at any time. On Hardcore you get one extra life for the whole tournament.
Giant Gauntlet
Giant after giant with one health bar: the Hill Giant, a giant herding goblins, the Frost Giant on a glacier, twin giants at once, the Fire Giant in a caldera of lava geysers, the Stone Colossus and the Titan. Topple them by their legs, finish them on the floor, and see how many you fell. It is on the leaderboard.
Endless Arena
Wave after wave with one health bar that only partly heals between waves, a boss every tenth wave and the bots sharpening all the way. Everyone fights with the same base stats, and the waves you clear go on the leaderboard.
Free for All
You and three bots, everyone for themselves, on one of ten arenas picked at random for every match. Last one standing wins. If you are knocked out early, you can watch the others fight it out to the end, or tap or press any key to skip to the results.
Arenas
- Stone Ring, Pillar Hall and The Pitch: classic arenas with pillars, crates and a football that bonks whoever it hits.
- Barrel Yard: red barrels explode a moment after a hit and set each other off.
- Cliff Meadow and Storm Peak: open edges for ring-outs, and on the peak gusts of wind that blow everyone about.
- Rope Bridge: a plank bridge over a chasm. Heavy blows and time break the planks, and whoever stands on one falls.
- Frozen Lake: slippery ice where every shove slides far, with icy water all round.
- Trap Temple: spike tiles, a spinning blade you can roll under and a swinging log.
- Volcano Rim and Lava Throne: a lava lake along the front edge, and on the rim lava geysers.
- Giant's Valley, Glacier and Caldera: wide open ground where giants fight.
Wooden crates break open into health potions, rage (harder hits), a shield bubble or more throwing weapons.
Weapons, moves and upgrades
The Armory has seventeen weapons (the Arming Sword is yours from the start, coins buy the rest), each with its own reach, speed, weight, combo and heavy move:
- Blades: Arming Sword, Twin Daggers, Twin Swords, Battle Axe, Katana (its heavy is a dash across the arena) and Greatsword.
- Hammers and clubs: Spiked Mace (spikes go through guards), Giant Club (a home run), Sledgehammer (uppercuts that launch), War Hammer, Great Maul (a pound that shakes the arena) and the Flail, a spiked ball on a real swinging chain.
- Poles: Pitchfork, Spear, Trident and Scythe, whose hook pulls victims in.
- Others: the Frying Pan, with the widest parry window and a huge comedy BONK.
Next to them are five sidearms to throw, four special moves with three levels each, upgrades for health, stamina and power, and heroes to play as. Upgrades and move levels count in the Tournament and Free for All.
Tips
Hit at the end of your reach
The tip of a swinging blade moves fastest, so the hardest hits land at the edge of your reach. Spears, poles and hammers in particular need room.
Watch the wind-up
Every attack starts with a wind-up: the weapon glints as it is drawn back, and a heavy swing shows a glowing circle on the floor and a red "!" over the enemy's head. That is your cue to block, parry, roll or step back out of reach.
Use the arena
A heavy swing throws a fighter a long way. Line up the enemy with a barrel, a geyser, a trap or the edge of a bridge and let the arena finish the job, and keep out of those places yourself.
Stick to one leg
Against a giant, keep hitting the same leg: its meter fills, the giant topples, and you get a few seconds of critical hits on its head. A spear, a pitchfork or a trident aims at its bare shins by itself, so long weapons are a good pick for giant fights.
Read the full Splat Swords guide for more. Want another fight? Kick off a match in Pixel Pitch, or roll tanks into battle in Brick Tanks.
Splat Swords FAQ
Is Splat Swords free?
Yes. Every fight is free in your browser, with no download and no account. Signing in is optional and only used for the online leaderboards, daily quests and cosmetic fighter skins.
Can I play this sword fighting game offline?
Yes. Open the page once while you are online and your browser keeps the game, so the duels, the tournament, the Endless Arena and the Giant Gauntlet all work with no internet at all. The HD fighters load the first time you meet them and are kept after that; an opponent you first meet offline simply fights in a simpler drawn look. Every sound is made by the game itself.
How do I play on a phone or tablet?
In the menus you get the same round D-pad with an OK button as in every NoInternet game. When a fight starts it turns into an analog stick on the left and four round buttons on the right: ATTACK (tap for a quick slash, hold for a heavy swing), DODGE, BLOCK and THROW. The game plays best with the phone turned sideways. Left-handed players can swap the sides in Options.
How do I beat a giant?
Its head is far out of your reach, so go for the legs: the targets on its legs show where to hit. Every hit on a shin, an ankle or a knee fills that leg's meter (a small bar under the target, and again under the giant's health bar), and a full meter topples the giant. While it lies on the floor, run to its head: head hits are critical and do three times the damage. Armour plates on the legs make blows bounce off with an ARMORED! sign, and more plates appear in each new phase, so find the bare spot. A red ! warns of a stomp, a grab, a boulder or a big swing, and red circles on the floor show where a stomp or a boulder lands: roll out. If a giant grabs you, mash ATTACK to wriggle free before it throws you. Your first two giant fights show these tips on screen.
How does parrying work?
Raise your guard with BLOCK just before an enemy blade reaches you, inside a window of about a sixth of a second. A parry costs you nothing and throws the attacker wide open for most of a second, long enough for a free hit or even a charged heavy swing. A thrown knife or axe that you parry flies straight back at the thrower. Blocking earlier still stops the hit, but every blocked hit drains your stamina, and an empty stamina bar breaks your guard.
Is there blood? Can I turn it off?
Splat Swords is a cartoon. With SPLATTER: BLOOD (the default) each creature splashes its own colour: red for people, green goo for goblins and orcs, blue oil for golems, bone dust for skeletons, purple for demons and sparks for fire beings, and a fighter knocked out for good pops apart into toy-like pieces that bounce and fade. Switch to SPLATTER: PAINT in Options for bright paint splats and no bursting at all.
What is Hardcore mode?
Hardcore makes every bot sharper and every hit you take hurt more. In the Tournament you also get just one extra life for the whole run: lose a second time and the tournament starts over from the first cup with a new map. Winning a cup gives the extra life back. Hardcore has its own leaderboards for the Endless Arena and the Giant Gauntlet.
What is on the Splat Swords leaderboards?
Two boards: the Endless Arena (waves cleared in one run) and the Giant Gauntlet (giants felled in one run). Everyone plays them with the same base stats and level-one special moves, so the boards are about skill. Hardcore runs have their own boards on the Splat Swords leaderboard page.
Can I start over?
Yes. Once you have progress, the title menu shows CONTINUE, which takes you back to your tournament, and NEW GAME beside it. NEW GAME asks first, then erases your tournament, coins, weapons, upgrades, moves and heroes. Your records, leaderboard scores and star skins stay. MAIN MENU in the pause menu leaves the fight for good, so CONTINUE never drops you back into it.
Can I play as a woman, or change how my fighter looks?
Yes. In the Armory's HEROES tab you can buy new heroes with the coins you win (your coins are shown at the bottom of the Armory), among them the Dame Knight, the Shieldmaiden and the Ranger, as well as a Barbarian, a Samurai, a Goblin and a Skeleton Knight. Signed-in players can also spend stars from daily quests on seven cosmetic skins in Rewards, including the Valkyrie and the Kunoichi. Looks never change how the game plays.
Related guides
- Splat Swords Guide: Parries, Weapons, Monsters and GiantsHow to win in Splat Swords: hits and parries, 17 weapons and 5 sidearms, special moves, creatures, traps, the random tournament and toppling giants.
- Arcade Update: HD Splat Swords, Continue and Royal ParkThis week in the arcade: HD fighters and giant fights in Splat Swords, CONTINUE and NEW GAME, the Royal Park track in Pixel Racer and new cover art.
- Games to Play When the Internet Is Down (No Wi-Fi Needed)What you can actually play when the Wi-Fi drops: games built into your browser, offline-ready web games, and how to prepare so the next outage isn't boring.
- Free Browser Games With No Download and No Sign-UpWhat "free" really means for browser games, how to spot the catches, and an honest look at how NoInternet Arcade is paid for: ads, an optional pass, no paywalls.
Last updated: · NoInternet Arcade
