Hard West Reviews

We have rounded up a number of reviews for CreativeForge’s Hard West, a crowdfunded turn-based title set in a supernatural version of the Wild West. Overall, it doesn’t seem like all critics were won over by the design choices and content on offer, making for a batch of mixed reviews for the title published by Gambitious Digital Entertainment.

GameRant, 3.5/5.

There is one mechanic that helps to separate Hard West from simply being a fan-made mod of the most recent X-COM reboot however, and it comes in the form of a Luck bar. Each squad member has their own level of Luck, which serves multiple purposes in the title’s gameplay. In a passive sense, the Luck bar relates to the number of shots a character has missed, depleting with every bullet dodged and increased with each enemy round that hits home.

Aside from the Luck bar being a clever mechanic in its own right, this addition to the usual turn-based fare also helps to redress one of the genre’s major bugbears among critics. There’s nothing more frustrating than an expertly-crafted combat situation being undermined by the sheer bad luck of a poor randomly-generated shot. Giving the player some kind of obvious ramification to a bullet missed or bullet dodged helps alleviate some of this, although it’s still not quite enough to make up for a character with a 80% accuracy chance missing their shot.

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Unfortunately, although the individual scenarios themselves are strong, with a good attention to detail and plenty of challenge, there isn’t much by way of replayability in Hard West at this moment in time. There’s not much to make a player return to the game once it is beaten, and after the game’s difficult nature has been overcome. Unfortunately, there’s not much to pull a player back in once they’ve had their fill of the game.

The Escapist, 3.5/5.

Along with the structural shakeups are story beats that feel like they drag the player toward a foregone conclusion. Much of what happens within a campaign comes from play decisions, but there are moments where decisions are made for the player. In one campaign, the player is offered a deal by the devil shortly before an unwinnable battle. After that battle is lost, the player is forced into the deal, regardless of what success the player finds before dying. Given the subtle supernatural through most of the game, these moments feel jarring, stepping in and poaching the player’s freedom to choose.

Despite occasional quirks in storytelling, and supernatural elements that can feel out of place, Hard West accomplishes quite a bit with what it has. The film grain story beats and smooth-voiced narrator do a great deal to make the harsh West a very endearing setting, and the excellent combat system makes play a joy. Although the Weird West never feels easy, it still feels a bit like home – comforting despite the shortcomings.

IGN, 7.3/10.

Taking a bite of a fallen foe’s corpse might restore some health, while a puff of a shaman’s pipe might boost my maximum Luck, a unique resource that powers the use of Hard West’s delightful, dark arts, like Golden Bullet, a special shot that never misses, and pierces all cover and obstructions for maximum lethality. While these abilities are fun to use, they also tend to undermine the tactical elements a fair bit. Being able to heal wounds by staying out of direct sunlight, or obliterating multiple enemies at once with a single, powerful shotgun blast is certainly novel, but it made nice nuances like the range and penetration profiles of different guns feel far less significant.

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Hard West isn’t the deepest game of its kind, but it does a good job of walking the line between cold, hard tactics, and Weird West-style personality. Its mystically-inspired abilities add a fun twist to the X-Com formula, even if they do remove some of the need for tactical forsight. A richer world outside of combat would have been nice, but as is, Hard West still presents a fun, unique take on turn-based tactics.

Eurogamer, scoreless.

The combat missions in Hard West are solidly executed and will be familiar fare for anyone who’s played a turn-based strategy game before. Where Hard West’s combat gets interesting, though, is in the card system. Eschewing skill trees and class systems, all of Hard West’s special abilities are tied in to playing cards that can be assigned to any character. Characters have between three and five slots available, allowing you to play around with different character builds before beginning each combat mission. Equipping shadow salve and shadow cloak, for instance, means you not only regenerate health when out of direct sunlight, but you’re also completely invisible to enemies. These cards allow for a tremendous amount of character flexibility, opening up a vast range of tactical options. It’s just a shame that your card stash resets at the start of each scenario – the abilities are so much fun to play around with that it would have been nice not to have to unlock them all again each time.

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While the combat for the most part in Hard West is really enjoyable, there’s one major drawback in that your enemies don’t trigger when discovered for the first time. While in games like XCOM they’ll dash to cover when revealed, Hard West’s cowpokes remain perfectly still. As a result, it’s remarkably easy to move forward into cover and, in doing so, flank an enemy you didn’t even know was there. After that, it’s simply a matter of turning around and killing them outright (if you still have an action point left) or wincing as your character gets plugged on the enemy turn.

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Despite its limitations, then, Hard West is a game that punches well above expectations. Its developers took some bold design decisions that, for the most part, really pay off. It’s occasionally clunky and frequently exploitable, but it’s also genuinely memorable. CreativeForge Games may not be the best writers in the business, but they sure as hell ain’t no snake oil salesmen.

Destructoid, 5/10.

So again, this all sounds great! But then there are the bugs. The hot desert sun didn’t cook Hard West enough. This is evident everywhere, from menus that take entirely too long to open, to a glitch where accidentally hitting the delete key sets the camera at a horizontal angle on the ground that renders the game nigh-unplayable. There are typos galore in the text and there are times when said text implies that there should be another dialogue option, but there’s nothing to be found. I also dealt with a handful of hard crashes.

This is frustrating because there’s a legitimately great game to be found underneath all of the blood and sand. I’m going to fondly remember the small vignettes in this game. Running around as an inquisitor, manipulating people into killing others so that I can build an eldritch artifact. Seeking revenge as a half-man, half-demon. Playing as the villains I saw in previous chapters, understanding what motivated them to become such evil pricks.

This is a world worth exploring, and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of it. Maybe that’ll be in the form of a huge patch that puts this broken machine back together, or a sequel that brings the best of Hard West to the forefront. 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.

Softpedia, 7.5/10.

Hard West is a good but limited game, and at its current price, it offers a solid set of mechanics for those who are twiddling their turn-based tactics thumbs while they wait for the sequel to XCOM to arrive next year.

The combination of environments, core mechanics, character powers, and card setups can produce some impressive firefights that, when taken on their own, match the best that the genre has to offer.

The stories and the overall universe that hold them all together are less engaging in the long term, but it’s worth playing through each of the scenarios at least once to see where the main character ends up.

Hard West is a good example of how a smaller team can take some already proven ideas and then tweak them to create an innovative experience that gives fans of a genre a morsel to enjoy while they wait for a bigger meal.

GameWatcher, 8.0/10.

With a solid blend of strategy and RPG elements, this game does a good job of putting you in your character’s shoes. It’s refreshing to find a strategy game with this much customization, allowing you to upgrade each character the way you want to, not simply unlocking a new, more powerful unit. The missions are also well done, with several choices to make along the way beside just who to shoot next. There are a few missteps, like a lackluster tutorial stage and no real explanation of certain mechanics (I had to watch a YouTube video before I learned how to (Subdue) enemies), but the game is fun to play even if you fail a mission or two while learning. The graphics and music are solid, but nothing that will blow your mind.

We Got This Covered, 2.5/5.

Although Hard West’˜s core gameplay does feature these clever qualities, I found that it wasn’t enough to make the game stay compelling throughout all of its missions. The main problem is that there isn’t enough variety in its mission objectives or its level design. A pattern quickly emerges where you are dropped into a map and ordered to clear all of your adversaries one by one. I’ll admit that there is something satisfying about landing a hit on an unsuspecting foe from the other side of the building with a scoped shot, but there are only so many times you can do it before the thrill wears off.

While the game does try to change the circumstances one mission you are interrupting an execution, another you are defending your home they all ultimately amount to carrying out the same process. When I had just completed two of the eight scenarios, I already felt boredom setting in; I felt as though I had experienced most of what the game had to offer. You take cover, aim and shoot, advance, and then repeat, continuing to move your group around like pawns on a board.

And that touches on one of the main issues with the game as far as the story is concerned all the characters are just pawns. Nothing but lifeless, insignificant figures being moved around a chessboard. None of them, despite the game’s best efforts to give context and motivation to their missions through nicely-illustrated comic-book style cinematics, ever come off as being interesting. The cliched tales of bloodlust and making deals with the Devil felt so tired that hardly any of them held my attention.

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Hard West has some good ideas behind it, and there are certainly things about it I admire. Overall, however, I would be lying if I said I enjoyed my experience with it. I found the gun-fighting gameplay fun at first, but it soon struggled to sustain my interest past the second or third scenario. The choice system isn’t diverse enough to encourage multiple playthroughs, and the combat system is too repetitive to barely recommend it the first time round. Fans of tactical, strategic combat may find more to love, but this tale of blood, bullets, and cowboys left me cold.

PC Invasion, 6/10.

As I said, I don’t regret backing Hard West at all. In terms of Kickstarter projects, it reminds me a lot of Shadowrun Returns a decent enough game that, unfortunately, can’t quite live up to its lofty ambitions and the public’s even loftier expectations. For the price point I’m willing to forgive quite a bit of its clunkiness and rough edges, though I can only hope it follows in Shadowrun Returns’˜ footsteps and continues on with extra scenarios or expansions that add plenty more enemies, open things up a bit more, and basically fix all of the niggling little issues present in this first, flawed iteration.

COGConnected, 75/100.

But luckily, the combat keeps you interested for a while, and therefore despite the narrative frustrations you will still want to keep playing Hard West. Each scenario is a new challenge, with lots of layers to challenge all of your different gaming faculties. Play it as a turn-based strategy, an RPG, or an adventure you will find something to like about Hard West no matter what kind of gamer you are. There is a point where you will get fatigued, however, with completing combat objectives over and over, no matter how the game tries to change the parameters. And as I mentioned, the story is not compelling enough to drive you forward when you do finally get bored of the fighting. No, it’s not a bull’s eye by any means, but Hard West will certainly hit close enough to provide you with hours of Wild-West fun.

MOUSE n JOYPAD, 83%.

All in all, there’s a lot of content to be found in Hard West. The developer mentioned something along the lines of 15-16 hours, but I can see the game going way above that easily. Especially if you enjoy replaying some missions with mutators such as Ironman, or on a higher difficulty. Everything I’ve just said comes together in a game that’s as wonderful as its setting is brutal. Mind you, there’s no randomness to be found here, so you’ll have to decide for yourself whether that’s a good thing or not. Other than that, Hard West is one of the easiest recommendations I’ve ever had the chance of giving.