Actually the impression I got from Henry is that he is very slacky and rather goes drinking in a bar than doing anything related to blacksmithing. Not a surprise he aint too strong 
This gameās whole marketing the last years was to tell that this Game is more authentical and hardcore is Skyrim, Witcher & co.
Therefor, especially the first hours are very challenging. But wherever you look, after being a little while in RATTAY after the prologue, most experienced players telling you how easy all is. But iām with you, the game needs a lot of more of polishing and bugfixing.
For your problem, you can:
- buy lockpicks at the vendor
- take food in the kitchen to sell
- ask the castle lady for money
- walk at the top level of the tower to steal a unsealed armor
- steal armor from a guard while sleeping
-jump from the bridge (even with the horse)
ā¦and maybe there are more solutions. Just talk with people to get advices or think out of the box. Itās so genius that no cursors are pointing directly to the solutions. Thatās I love this game. But you see, you are far away of being locked in the castle and this is true gameplay. Not just spectating.
See, this is what someone else talked about. You need to break past your new-age RPG form of thinking.
If you talk to that lady who went into your room at night, sheāll actually tell you where you can get guard armor. And also give you money to bribe someone. Or you can sneak behind a lone guard and knock him out to take his armor. Quite a few things you can do to escape.
As for combat, itās actually stupid easy. First of all, why are you even letting someone get behind you? No, you donāt know whatās going on behind you. Why would you? Thatās why you need to focus on positioning. Likeā¦ are you really turning your back on someone trying to bash your head in?
The last thing this game needs is to be easy. If some people just donāt understand common sense, thatās their problem. The game needs to be more challenging. Even in the beginning, while I wasnāt able to one or two shot everything, combat was still easy. Enemy attacks are predictable, and their attacks are too obvious. And they need to get rid of that slow motion defense.
Completely agree. Getting hacked off with people saying itās hardcore and you need to put in the practise like itās learning something that will be of any future use. The whole argument on difficulty could have been avoided by the introduction of different levels - Iām baffled as to why this was not included. This is a game; entertainment and fun should be included.
In no way is this game hardcore. In what world is being able to cut through bandits and cumans like nothing considered āhardcore?ā
The game introduces you to everything way to slow.
The entire predule teaches you all you need in order to survive.
- possible spoilers -
Dyring the prelyde, aka tutorial, you learn the basics. First combat unarmed, then combat with a weapon. Third lesson is that not every fight should be fought and sometimes you should run away. Teaches you to freaking dodge arrows. The prelude ends and, if you keep doing the quests, teaches you how to steal and pick locks, and throws you enemies slowly, first a single one, then a duo, and from there, you should had learned enough to keep you alive.
The game isnāt hard, but it isnāt for everyone either. But most of the complains are unjustified so far.
Iāve spent 30+ hours with the game and the only way to enjoy it is to increase health/stamina with a trainer, then the game becomes enjoyable. I wonāt go through other minor things like not the best graphics, long load times, hard to find npcs these are all acceptable. But fight system is not. Fix the fight system to make it easy to use swing block fake evade etc and dont make the char get tired after 2 swingsā¦ 10-20 maybe depending on stats. Archery is too difficult too there should be a pointer where youāre actually going to shoot, it can move depending on stats bow arrow quality but right now its impossible to figure out the trajectory. Lockpicking very hard too i only got through easy lockpicks so far.
Indeed I donāt consider it āhardcoreā - frustrating for the sake of it in places. Really want to like the game more than I do at the moment. Doesnāt help with people on here singing itās praises to the point of defending bugs . Itās getting better now the character isnāt dying from a small stumble off a boulder. 
The lockpicking seems to have improved on the ps4 - but there was quite a major patch Iāve just installed. But, check out the thread on the archery game mechanics and youāll see what
I meant.
FFS, you wonāt it EASIER that it is now?!
I decided to start a new game so I could pick perks that completely take away all challenge (specifically Brute, Heavy swing, and Blood rush), and going for the initial agility boost instead of strength since too much strength made the game too easy. And it was great to finally be able to rely solely on raw skill to win fights. But at the same timeā¦ it still wasnāt as challenging as I want it to be. The initial challenge was due to not knowing the combat system well enough. Once you get it, you can start over as weak Henry and still be very effective.
Alsoā¦ you want to get tired after 10-20 swings? Really?! After 30 hours? It doesnāt take long with the proper perks to be able to 2 shot tough opponents, and you want 10-20 swings in before tiring? Forget about stats and perks for a momentā¦ if you feel like you need 10-20 swings in, you are obviously doing something wrong. Are you one of those people who go into fights swinging wildly, draining your stamina, and then complain that fights are too hard?
Ahh the memories 
OP, if youāre over thirty hours in and still struggling with combat, thereās a problem. I can easily dispatch entire TOWNS full of guards, or take out five-person bandit camps without breaking a sweat, and Iāve been able to do so since hour 25 or so.
Seriously, enemies fall over in one or two hits. How could it possibly get any easier? How?
This is to say the least inaccurate in the extreme. I truly wish the devs had spent another 6 months ironing out bugs I wonāt be playing again til another patch happens because my game has crashed numerous times as I completed main story quests meaning I had to go back and start over.
So many heroes saying āyouāre not readyā or āIām not having xyz problemā well, cool, but obviously plenty of people are. This could have been fixed through longer play testing and a delayed release. Am excited for a new patch when I donāt have to worry about my game fucking out and losing all progressā¦againā¦