| Hard West | |
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 Cover art by Grzegorz Przybys | |
| Developer | CreativeForge Games |
| Publisher | Gambitious Digital Entertainment |
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| Composer | Marcin Przybyłowicz |
| Engine | Unity |
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| Genre | Turn-based tactics |
| Mode | Single-player |
Hard West is aturn-based tacticalgame developed byCreativeForge Games and published byGambitious Digital Entertainment. It was released digitally on November 18, 2015, forMicrosoft Windows,OS X andLinux, and was released for theNintendo Switch on March 7, 2019.[1] A sequel,Hard West 2, was released in August 2022.
Hard West takes place in a heavily fictionalized version of theAmerican Old West following standards of theWestern genre but with the addition of supernatural elements, taking inspirations fromXCOM: Enemy Unknown.[2] Themes typical of the Western genre, such as bank robberies, lynching and the gold rush are commonplace in the game's world but also metaphysical beings such asDeath and theDevil directly influence the lives of the local population. Creatures such as demons, ghosts and undead gunslingers are present in the game's vision of the old west.
The game is divided into two strictly separate modes, turn-based tactical encounters and a strategic exploration map where the player can travel a map and visit locations. Location visits on the strategic map are presented via simple text panels accompanied by staticillustrations and allow the player to perform actions by picking entries from a list. This way players can interact with characters, perform a variety of custom actions, hire new characters into the player character'sposse or initiate trade or combat.
Hard West's tactical gameplay largely follows the standards set byXCOM: Enemy Unknown. During combat every character starts each turn with two action points which can be spent on either a move or shot each, although most weapons instantly end a character's turn upon being fired. The game also uses acover system based on two cover types which lower the chance to get hit and damage received. Low barriers constitute "half cover" and barriers taller than a character constitute "full cover", the latter providing more protection.
A major difference from most other turn-based tactical games is the absence of randomness inHard West's core gameplay. Rather than relying onrandom number generation to determine hits, characters are given aluck attribute. Luck is reduced by the hit chance of a shot and a character is hit if a shot depletes his luck. Luck is replenished upon getting hit. Atpoint-blank range every shot automatically hits.
Over the course of the game characters can be improved and given special abilities, some of which are active and can be used instead of moving or firing while others are passive. Instead of relying on experience points and skill treesHard West uses a custom system based on poker cards. After every tactical encounter or performing pre-defined actions on the strategic map the player is rewarded with uniquepoker cards which can be assigned to characters, each of them providing a different bonus. Arranging cards inpoker hands yields additional bonuses.
Reaction shots replace theoverwatch mechanic ofXCOM.[3] Approaching an enemy up to point-blank range makes him automatically fire at the approaching player character if he could already see the player character before executing the move. Player characters are not protected from enemies by a reaction shot.
Development onHard West began before the release of CreativeForge Games' previous game, the sci-fi RTS gameAncient Space, and was first publicly announced in the context of its crowdfunding campaign onKickstarter in August 2014 which quickly found support from well-known game developers such asJohn Romero andBrian Fargo.[4] It had a goal of $70,000 CAD and reached $94,183 CAD pledged by 4,398 backers. On July 30, 2015, the developers announced that Gambitious Digital Entertainment would publish the game and soon-after announced a release set for November 4.[5][6] On October 30 Gambitious announced that the release would be delayed by two weeks and the game was ultimately released on Steam on November 18, 2015.[7] A limited physical release distributed byCDP.pl, including the soundtrack and a comic book, followed in early 2016.[8]
In February 2016 development of DLC titledScars of Freedom was announced which would move away from the supernatural themes of the base game towards Frankenstein-esqueGothic horror.[9] It was also announced that the character customization system would be replaced with a new one based onharvesting organs andether. The DLC was released on Steam and GOG.com on March 3, 2016.[10][11]
A sequel developed by Ice Code Games and published byGood Shepherd Entertainment, titledHard WestII, has been announced, and was released for Windows viaSteam andGOG on August 4, 2022.[12]
| Aggregator | Score |
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| Metacritic | 73/100[13] |
| Publication | Score |
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| Destructoid | 5/10[14] |
| GameSpot | 7/10[15] |
| IGN | 7.3/10[16] |
| PC Gamer (US) | 61/100[17] |
Aggregate review websiteMetacritic assigned it a score of 73/100 based on 42 critic reviews.[13] Vince Ingenito fromIGN awarded it a score of 7.3/10, saying "Hard West trades some tactical grit for a touch of mystical fun, and a flair for the supernatural."[16] Tyler Wilde ofPC Gamer awarded it a score of 6.1/10, saying "The presentation is aced, but Hard West's turn-based combat is too rote to be engrossing."[17] Zack Fumiss fromDestructoid awarded it a score of 5/10, saying "What I'd really like to see is a tabletop game in this setting, because it honestly feels like it might be better suited in that realm. Either way, I hope there'll be a reason to come back.[14] Brett Todd ofGameSpot awarded it 7/10, saying "Tactical combat fans and horror buffs alike will find a lot to like here in both the spooky surroundings and the shoot-em-up scenarios."[15]