Hard West

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 ce...

Hard West impressed a lot of people at PAX this year with the way it blended familiar concepts with some new ideas and presentation. It has been often said that it is “XCOM with cowboy hats,” and that does, in many ways, give you a pretty accurate summary if you are curious about the game. But Hard West is so much more than that as well – in addition to the turn-based strategy upon which the game is based, it has nice doses of RPG, adventure, and even exploration thrown into the mix. While it certainly has its flaws, overall Hard West is a fun game that will rope you in right away and keep you...

Hard West is not afraid to take up the glove dropped by XCOM and shows that a digital narrative can be something else than an endless festival of action and explosions. Still, this doesn’t mean it’s perfect.

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.

Venture into the Weird Wild West.

That said, Hard West is overall a strong addition to any turn-based strategy fan's library of games, particularly those looking to keep them occupied until more news surfaces on the upcoming X-COM sequel. Hard West may not reinvent the wheel, but it's a visually imposing title that brings tactical combat to a new and intriguing setting. Gamers are unlikely to be playing Hard West for the long haul, but it's a good blast whilst it lasts.

Despite dragging its spurs, Hard West successfully captures that Old West feel. Just know what you’re getting into.

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Hopefully these are patched and changes, as one or two battles see the difficulty spike as a consequence of this, with nothing to do but replay and (slightly) altering your tactics or have a little more luck with your shots. At the same time, you could find yourself receiving some of the more powerful combinations of cards over the course of a scenario, which can let you almost instantly end a difficult situation. With enough luck left over to play them, three or four missions in a row saw me end a battle by first reducing everyone’s health to a single hit point, and then killing all enemies i...

Hard West, at first glance, appears to be a combination of X-Com meets Sergio Leone meets Supernatural. The west is a huge setting that is grossly underutilised and features in some of the best games you're likely to play, from the likes of Red Dead Redemption, GUN, and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. It makes me wish that Hard West was a little more grounded than the bewildering lunacy it delves into.

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.