The Headsman, a chip off the ol' chopping block

You know how in Skyrim it feels like someone's about to get their head chopped off, no matter what city you walk into? Well, what if you got to be the executioner? What if you were the one wearing the hood? What if you were the human guillotine handing out justice, medieval style? Let me introduce you to The Headsman.

Coming Q4 2021, The Headsman is a game about the "everyday life and work" of an executioner in a medieval city. You'll enforce punishment, use stocks, flog, hang, and behead criminals—presumably criminals, I mean, I can't imagine developer Play2Chill [official site] will pass up the opportunity for a good old fashioned witch hunt. You'll have to face authorities who are dissatisfied with your work (sheesh), fix the scaffold, remove dead bodies from the city, examine corpses, and even tear out teeth. You'll "supervise" the work of the municipal brothel. You'll collect taxes (boooo). You'll develop your character "in the direction you choose," which is the most unexpected info in the game's write up. And you're doing all this as a war veteran forced into this position, so, yeah.

Yep, this one is kinda gross, but I'm also kind of engrossed by the idea. Thinking back on Skyrim, the executioner that was about to take your head off already had one of the sweetest sets of armor I'd see in the game. And I know this sounds like the, "But have you seen it...on weed?" of video gaming, but have you gone through that opening near-execution scene...in VR? It's startling. Not that you'd have your head on the chopping block in The Headsman. You're going to be the guy getting blasted by Alduin, falling away and turning into a charred pile somewhere off to the side.

This is a really early trailer. The Headsman is coming to PC in Q4 2021.