Welcome to the Weird West. The turn based tactics inspired by XCOM work surprisingly well with the mysterious story that is filled with decisions and consequences.
I must admit i never expected Hard West to make such a great impression on me. It tries hard to be different from XCOM while it uses very similar basic mechanics and it succeeds in doing so. Hard West is a series of grim stories about despair, wrong choices and being miserable but i believe it is something the guys in Eastern Europe are used to ;-) It's rpg-like layer is a bit underdeveloped but it's not the core of the game which, in fact, are tactical encounters. And i love tactical encounters in Hard West way more than i enjoyed them in XCOM.
Lots of fighting with sixshooters and shotguns, lots of rogue cowboys and heavy armed bandits and some demons on top of it - i couldn't be more satisfied with a game at this price point.
Introduction of Luck parameter, coupled with other mechanic novelties, turns familiar XCOM combat into something rather unique. Other differences aren’t so positive – there’s no procedural generation of missions, and the playthrough will be a breeze on any difficulty other than hard. [Issue#204, p.74]
Hard West has a strong concept and is fun for a while, but because the core gameplay soon becomes monotonous, along with having some awful overworld segments, the game is difficult to recommend.
That thing is seriously awesome!
-Difficulty is quite serious. For now, hard feels actually hard. Far harder than Dragonfall on very hard or Wasteland 2 on ranger in Arizona
-AI seems decent. Enemies are good in flanking. Usually when enemies are leaving cover they do it to make more damages to the player(at least it looks so).
-No hp sponges. 2-3 bullets and both enemies and players die
-First mission after tutorial has a good encounter design. (defending a house)
-There is a possibility to start the tutorial as a tutorial or as a normal mission. There is written a promise that it is short and to the point which is true. The best part: if player declines playing it as a tutorial then he must deal with a quite strong opponent on the start which is not attacking during tutorial:)
-As most enemies and player can't stand more than 2 hits, positioning is vital. Fighting is deadly and fast. Enemy can quickly turn tables with a good shot.
-Encounter design is fantastic. Had a rescue mission which looked as it was supposed to be done with minimal killing. Game respected my choice to kill everybody and after eliminating everyone on the map mission was successful without a need to complete an objective of opening the prison doors. Had an optional mission which starts the player surrounded and outgunned. It was thrilling and challenging. Maps are small, often reused, but different enemy placement makes encounters feel **** number of covers and hight places offers many approaches on how to tackle objectives.
-Ricochet ability is fun.
-Luck mechanic is really interesting. It works as a mana pool for abilities, but it protects from being hit. The more severe a hit chance is the more luck it takes to stop it. Luck is automatically used for that purposes. Being hit and losing hp replenish some of it.
-There is some environment manipulation. Could open wells doors to improve its cover. Environment can be destroyed like windows.
-Abilities are presented as cards which can be assigned to characters. Looks like 1 ability cannot be used by 2 different characters. You can take 5 of them on missions. Depending on which one you have chosen, you can get a passive buff on top of their standard uses. I suppose those bonuses are poker inspired.
-Rotating camera is horrible. Don't understand why they can't bind it to the mouse. It's worse than Wasteland 2 camera. Also when the enemy from different hight attack, camera should change the height, now it is always on the same level when it was left during player turn.
-Height seems to influence aim and range.
-Enemies can do overwatch. It looks player cannot use it. I had many times when I was begging for overwatch.
-The biggest surprise: CYOA. This part is good enough it would be acceptable if it was a game in itself. There are many C&C moments which actually include consequences! Game autosaves, so I didn't retry anything but results were enough specific it seems highly unlikely both options led to the same outcome. In scenario I played the main goal was collecting gold, which was quite complex with many tools, ways to do it and hidden mines. Got even an optional mission.
-Writing and story are really good. Love the character of the devil who is a mysterious, well dressed gentleman who appears and disappears on the whim tempting people.
-Game has a nice aesthetic and art direction.
-Looks like there are secondary objectives/consequences to missions (having to pay gold if hired merc dies)
-Always had luck with bugs but so far haven't encountered any. Enemies think a little too much before turn. Game runs smooth, but I have a good pc.
-There is an ironmode and a mode in which being low on hp gives debuffs, but there is more xp.(or skill points, whatever is used)
Had a good feeling when buying it, but (as for now) it surpassed expectations. I recommend this. We may have got a sleeper hit.
Hard West es un sólido juego de estrategia por turnos, pero que no logra resaltar en ningún aspecto. Sus mecánicas son muy parecidas a las vistas en XCOM, la premisa de la ambientación y la historia le aportan un atractivo inicial que no termina de desarrollarse del todo. La forma de contar los eventos y el hecho que los personajes no aumenten de nivel, por los cortos escenarios, hace que no lleguemos a empatizar con los protagonistas.
En general se podría decir que es un buen juego para los fanáticos del género, pero que no revoluciona o innova. Es difícil de recomendar para quienes no han jugado otros juegos por el estilo, pues supone que sabes moverte en este tipo de experiencias.
In a very short way:
Nice tactic game in an unusual setting of Weird Western, which I really like. Pretty good story, fine idea with different scenarios you can play in order you'll choose. Game has some problems with what is happening between fights, because all you get is a wall of text plus not so great side activities. Also because of so many scenarios it's hard to like characters, cause you change them really often plus all your equipment you got is lost between scenarios. It's a shame that we didn't get one, big, epic story.
But believe me, it's a very good tactic game, with many possibilities of winning fights. I recommend it.
This game is like a bad steak. You're hungry. The smell of cooking fills you with anticipation. It looks great on the plate. You cut a piece, hmmm doesn't feel quite right. You put the piece in your mouth and ugh no thanks.
The setting of the game is appealing, but the combat meat of the game is bland, not cooked properly and profoundly unenjoyable.
Disappointing.
Nice presentation, the concept seams fresh but it's core game play - turn based combat is just meh. It gets old very quickly. If you compare it to lets say Shadowrun it just looses badly. Just about 2 hr in and I have no desire to play the game. Stupid card system is just lazy excuse for RPG elements. If you don't wont character development then don't do it. Putting cards is just checking the box. And luck system?! What's the point of it? All the special abilities spend it and the only way to get it back is to be shot!?! Consequently I never used any of them. Not that I ever had the need since most of them are highly situational or gimmicky at best. Also having loosely connected scenarios instead of a full campaign is also lazy, and aforementioned nice presentation can't hide it.
SummaryWhen a tragic turn of events sets one man down a path of supernatural chaos and revenge, he must brutally hunt down all those whom wronged him. Fight and survive through 8 unique story-based scenarios, and try your hand at more than 40 individually designed turn-based combat missions with your squad of 1-4 posse squad members.