![]() It’s a neat idea, but it also means you end up using the same really good weapons over and over in the later scenarios. Performing certain tasks or milestones in a scenario unlocks these unique weapons for future scenarios, though you still have to purchase them. However due to the supernatural, “Weird West” setting you see increasingly outlandish and crazy weapon designs, like shotguns with a dozen barrels or a single-shot Bonehand Rifle that pretty much kills anything in one hit. Guns come in the familiar Western sizes of rifles, pistols, and shotguns. It’s so fun I wish it was just a standard ability on everyone, rather than a single equippable skill. The Ricohet skill is by far the most useful – able to paint a deadly path of bullets around corners to hit foes deep in cover. Flanking becomes absolutely critical, though is sadly one of the few tactical options you ever have. Partial and full cover exists, and is even more important than XCOM as cover actually reduces the amount of damage you take. Each character has two action points you can use with a combination of moving, shooting, and activating abilities. The level designs are big and filled with large two story houses and forts you can fortify or infiltrate. Each scenario has 3-5 combat encounters, sometimes even back to back. And thanks to the Luck resource, I rarely had a chance to ever use any skills anyway. You can mix and match them on any character, but this has the disadvantage of making nearly every character completely interchangeable and forgettable. Skills are tied to equippable poker cards, which is an appropriately thematic touch. ![]() There’s a real lack of progression in the game. No matter how you performed in each of the 3-4 hour scenarios, you’re stripped of everything and begin anew in the next one. In one you have to feed and maintain your crew in another you manage your character’s limited premonitions to grant you advantages. Each one also has its own unique gameplay hook, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes you might even gain or lose party members. But I quickly realized it’s a way to maintain the balance of the game.Įach scenario has its own overland map filled with events and choices that grant you various advantages or injuries. The way these scenarios can intertwine the characters can be really cool. At one point you even kill the protagonist of the previous scenario, which is a neat twist. Each subsequent scenario in that campaign spins off the previous one, with a new protagonist and posse. A scientist researches the odd demonic activity happening in our corner of the Western world (and appears to be attributed to a meteorite, which I presume is a nod to Night of the Living Dead). ![]() The other half focusing on his father, who becomes a badass cursed mercenary called the Undertaker.Ī second campaign starts off only tangentially related to Warren’s story. Warren’s story, for example is told in only half of his actual campaign. However, even these campaigns star different characters and stories. The game is divided into eight individual scenarios: two campaigns, plus an additional prologue scenario. And here we come to the crux of my issues with Hard West. ![]() Now I said “mostly tells” because that story represents only a fraction of the total campaign. Also an ill-conceived quest to bring back his dead girlfriend. He’s given a second chance with a not-so-subtle Deal with the Devil, and begins his quest for vengeance. Warren loses his parents, then his girlfriend, then his life (life was rough back then, man). Hard West mostly tells a classic Western story of revenge. The end result is something of a mixed bag, mostly due to its shoestring indie budget and odd campaign structure. Hard West had all the right ingredients that got me excited about its Kickstarter campaign: tactical XCOM combat, Western setting, supernatural elements, choice-driven gameplay. Publisher: Gamibitious Digital Entertainment You can read my latest Final Thoughts below and also on my gaming blog on Game Informer. I have finished another backlogged game via Rogue’s Adventures.
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