Kotaku’s Nathan Grayson unearthed a recent YouTube video that questions whether a common action-game tactic—dodging and rolling to escape combat—holds up in practice. “Could you pull off rolling as an evasive maneuver in a real swordfight?” asks the host of the video, who is wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt with a dragon on it. “Well, yeah, you could, but it would most likely get you killed.”
After dropping this knowledge bomb, the swordsman delves into a simple but interesting explanation of how you dodge a blow in a real swordfight (summary: you step out of the way). While the guy might be a little too passionate in his insistence that game designers hew to real tactics—the video game dodge roll exists in games like Dark Souls not because it’s practical but because it is really fun to do, whee!—it’s still enjoyable to see a passionate sword fighter obsess over the portrayal of his craft.
That said, the highlight of the video comes just 10 seconds in, when a masked fighter does an amazing “You got me! … I’m dead!” acting job on what appears to be a racquetball court. I have watched that part a couple dozen times now, giggling every time. But yeah, the parts with learning are good, too. And this fellow, who apparently goes by the handle Skallagrim, has other fun “would it work in real life?” videos, like one in which he explores why that stupid gun-sword from Final Fantasy VIII is, in fact, stupid.