‘Hard West’ Video Game Review

The tactical turn-based genre has seen a resurgence since XCOM: Enemy Unknown was released back in 2012. As the genre doesn’t really appeal to a large market of consumers, the quality of tactical turn-based games can be hit or miss–like your shots in game.

Hard West is the latest prolific release in the tactical turn-based genre. The game is set in the wild west with a supernatural twist. You play as Warren, a ranch hand who gets sent to the afterlife and is given a second chance on Earth to avenge the death of his father and love interest. When Warren returns from the afterlife, he discovers he has powers he can use in combat to get an advantage over his enemies.

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Hard West plays like any tactical turn-based game. The combat is, well, turn-based. You are given two action points to spend on each character and each action you take consumes a point. This includes moving your character, firing your weapon and reloading your gun. If you want to move further in one turn, that will cost both of your action points. The goal is to expose your enemies so you can attempt to put a bullet into them.

It could be the fact that I don’t play many tactical turn-based games, but the combat seems rather weak in Hard West. I’ve run into numerous occassions where I was in direct line of sight of an enemy, maybe 15 feet away, and my chance of a hit was less than 50%. Weapons were not as accurate in the wild west, but I tend to believe chances to hit an enemy in a situation like that should be higher, especially when situations arise where enemies that are farther away and behind cover have more of a chance to be hit. There have also been times when I can see the enemy through a window, but for some reason the game doesn’t detect it, and I cannot fire on the enemy.

It is those frustrating situations that really put me off the game. Something Hard West introduces is the Luck Meter. Every time a character is shot at and missed, luck is taken away from their meter. If you are hit, luck is added to the meter. This aspect adds another factor to the combat, but I don’t think it benefits. There have been times I am glad the mechanic exists, but most of the time it seems like it makes up for the fact that the random number generator doesn’t go your way. In other games within the genre, you understand that 80% isn’t guaranteed. It could be that the developers introduced luck to not make you as upset when you miss at 80%, but it is still pretty damn frustrating.

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As the player, you have abilities that are tied to luck. These abilities could be things like a golden bullet (instantly kill an enemy), area attacks, blind shots, etc. These abilities are collected through playing cards, which is pretty neat. The cards have an old-west aesthetic, which adds to the atmosphere of the game. The game does not make it clear how these cards are acquired, so I assumed they are added to your inventory at random. It would have been neat to take them off the bodies of enemies. I feel like that would have added a little bit more of a western feeling to the game–a bunch of enemies walking around with cards that give them abilities.

When you are not in combat, there is a map screen in which you spend your time. The map screen changes depending on which scenario you are playing. In the first scenario, the map screen plays like you’re mining for gold, which brings back memories of my youth playing The Yukon Trail game. In later scenarios, you’re visiting different settlements to track down the Masked Man, the main antagonist in the game. To be honest, after spending a bit of time mining gold in the early stages of the game, I wanted more of that.

A big question a fan of the tactical turn-based strategy genre would ask is, “Does the game feature permadeath?” The answer is yes, but as a difficulty modifier. I did not mess with this feature but a lot of the objectives when playing the story scenarios require you to keep certain individuals alive, specifically Warren. It would sort of ruin the narrative if Warren was able to die (unless the game instructs Warren to be killed to advance the plot), but then I am not sure how it works for side characters.

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I feel the weakest point of the game is how it tries to build an intricate narrative around this genre. It would be better suited as a third-person action game. Intricate narratives don’t really fit well with tactical turn-based games, especially with a high difficulty. When you’re learning the ropes, some of the early missions will take a handful of times to complete. Between the time it takes you to complete said mission, you’ve forgotten what is happening in the narrative. Because of this, you quickly become disinterested in the plot, and you just want to murder people.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed this game’s visuals. I am a sucker for anything western-related, and this game has a great western feeling. From dirt roads to wooden houses, six shooters and double-barreled shotguns, it feels like a western game. The soundtrack is pretty great, and the weapons sound as rough and tough as you would expect from the west. The narrator even sounds like a Sam Elliott impersonator. It all works well together and doesn’t feel cheap.

But the game does feel empty in a way. Even though I just praised its look and sound, Hard West lacks charm. At times, the game felt like a chore. While I am not a huge fan of the genre, I am not a stranger to it; I spent a lot of time with XCOM: Enemy Unknown. But Hard West didn’t do a great job holding my interest. After a few combat missions, I was ready to quit the game. It is a shame it doesn’t work that well as a whole because some parts of the game are done very well.

Hard West was reviewed on PC. A copy of the game was provided to the reviewer from the publisher.

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