When we did our early playtests we received very negative feedback that enemies felt like “sword sponges.” My favorite quote from players was “I felt like I was hitting enemies with a foam bat.” This was… not what we wanted to hear. Players told us loud and clear that their expectation for the katana was the “Lethality Contract,” and that without it the realism that we strove for was shattered. Undeterred (at least at first) we tried many different versions of “hit points” in a different wrapper like “armor points,” but they ultimately failed.