Combat Ideas

How about dropping the health bars. Letting blood, bleeds, and disfigurements show the health remaining.

Getting solidly hit with a sword or dealing a good one should be devastating. Not to say that glances cant happen. But these damage sponges look boring on enemies and yourself.

Being agile and getting a wrist or hand hit should be make that thing useless or even amputated. Which distracts the hell out of the enemy and sometimes makes one just kamikaze blood lust style until they cant.

Same thing for mobility with leg, knee, or even ankle and feet cuts/stabs.

Enemies losing an eye or eye or even teeth. Take off a nose and get a chance to fight the others while that one flails about, likely dropping their weapon.

Extended blood loss should cause useless combat and passing out with eventual death.

Fighting just as good at 1% health as they do at 100% is ridiculous. As the player and as the enemy.

Instead of only heads coming off as a repetitive animation when a hit drops their health to 0% let it happen organically in the middle of a fight, at least possible.

Generally make this shit hardcore with some brutal out comes that should be a given when hacking each other in a fight to the death with sharpened steel. Bring something new instead of just a new environment. That would get people talking in a positive way and keep them coming back to play even after beating the game.