Hard West (PC) Review

X-Com clones aren't that hard to find anymore. Falling Skies, for example, ripped it off almost entirely and tried its best to staple its show brand on it with little effort resulting in a game that was so utterly boring that it made almost anything else more engaging. It's far from the only game like that either. Hard West, however, tried to be different. Setting itself in what is, sadly, one of the more unfairly overlooked time periods in history, Hard West does something many of these clones did not; put some effort into being unique.

The combat, at first, would seem that it's just a normal X-Com clone. Head on in, hide behind cover like a mole with a gun, only popping out to shoot and rapidly move, and shoot anything that moves ASAP so it doesn't shoot back and, potentially, kill a character. Then luck comes into play and, with one addition, changes the whole game. Unlike in other games in which hits and misses are determined by the Random Number Goddess (RNG), and if one holds her favour or not, hits and misses in Hard West are quantifiable. Dodging a bullet takes luck, a finite resource that is replenished by getting shot. A finite resource that is also used for various abilities. With one tweak the game becomes far deeper.

It doesn't stop there. Abilities, for example, are not determined by equipment (in of itself at least) or levels but through a series of cards following the form of a poker suite. Not only does picking the right cards for a character determine their abilities for the battle but picking cards in the proper hand can grant some nice side-bonuses as well. Of course there is normal equipment as well with its assortment of abilities, such as healing and the like, but its stuff that has been seen before.

Additionally, instead of hiding out in a base and shooting aliens the player is encouraged to head out and search for gold across the map with various things coming in to elicit changes. For example, one can go panning for gold, but learning new techniques, while costing money to do, will increase the income by a non-negligible amount. Likewise there are things such as natives to buy herbs from, pastors willing to give blessings, criminal cartels, and other such things.

The game also boasts a half-way decent story following the tale of a young man trying to struggle through a world filled to the brim with supernatural powers, bad luck, and the like. Going into it in detail would require a decent chunk of spoilers, but it is a solid, well-done story on the whole.

This isn't to say the game doesn't have its shortcomings, however. A sizable chunk of time is spent not engaging in gunfights but, instead, dealing with repetitive searches for gold with some poorly marked indications of what is a place where panning for gold is possible and a place with events and potential upgrades. Likewise, the supernatural aspect… well… one of the abilities is called 'The Golden Bullet.' It is basically a shot that guarantees a hit no matter where on the map the target is. Even cover and not even being in sight can't save a foe. Does anything more need to be said about how broken these abilities can get?