Hard West is currently 90% off on Steam for the next 29 hours.

Welcome to the Wild West like you’ve never seen it before. When a tragic turn of events sets one man down a path of supernatural chaos and revenge, he must brutally hunt down all those who wronged him. Follow Warren on his descent into the darkest recesses of the human soul, and try to survive in a world full of hard choices and even harder consequences. Because in this world, death is a constant presence and the black pacts which you make with forces beyond human comprehension will forever haunt all those around you.

Fight and survive through 8 unique story-based scenarios, and try your hand at 40 individually designed turn-based combat missions. Journey deeper into the world of Hard West and meet a colorful cast of playable characters whose fates are intimately intertwined with yours. Together you will need to make divisive choices to uncover the ultimate plans of the ancient powers at play, as you unravel a deep narrative storyline featuring multiple endings depending on the choices you make during the game.

Game Features

• A Unique “Weird” West World: Explore a world where Western legends meet demons, arcane rituals and satanic cults and where the dead can walk the Earth again. For a price.
• Compelling Turn-based Combat: Control 1-4 squad members in thrilling turn-based combat encounters and master a range of powerful western-inspired special abilities, from feats of gunslinging to survivability against all odds, to take out your opponents in a series of original tactical maps with unique story-based objectives.
• Collect and Combine Special Abilities: Obtain new special abilities by collecting and equipping unique cards which are earned throughout the game by completing main- and optional objectives, exploration , bartering, treasure hunting and more. These cards can be combined to create even more powerful combos, and provide additional options in combat.
• Choice and Fate: Experience a deep story where decisions made during and between combat scenarios will resonate through future events and change the ultimate fates of a divisive group of colorful characters
• Luck of the Draw: Use a combat system that goes far beyond pure probability by featuring luck as a unique guardian of engaging and challenging combat
• Dynamic Cover: Change the flow of combat thanks to an extensive cover system which allows for the creation of effective cover from objects in the environment, making flanking and maneuvering during battles a truly powerful tactic
• Shadow Spotting: Exploit the Blazing western sun to Locate out of sight enemies by the shadows that they cast, along with the sounds they make
• Ricochets: Utilize Metal objects to allow master gunslingers to shoot beyond the line of sight for increased tactical combat options, and diversified planning
• 40 Historically Inspired Weapons: Equip and employ an eclectic collection of deadly shotguns, rifles, pistols and sniper rifles, all based upon real outlandish prototypes, designs and ideas from the era

The Scars of Freedom DLC for Hard West has been released and is now available on Steam and GOG and is free for backers.

Hard West: Scars of Freedom DLC Breaking Out Today

An escaped slave-turned-vigilante, Libertee falls prey to the experimentation of a mad surgeon. Her body twisted, but enhanced with supernatural abilities, she sets off in pursuit of the doctor only to find herself torn between vengeance and the threat of a much more powerful enemy.

Available today for Hard West, Scars of Freedom is a downloadable scenario merging gothic horror and the wild west in an original tale of revenge, offering seven missions of deadly tactical combat, 10 playable characters, and a morbid new method of character customization.

Players can once again customize their gunfighters, though Scars of Freedom offers a more... literal take on character-building by swapping out body parts to enhance Libertee's abilities. Transplant a gambler's liver to bring bad luck to those around you or a vampire's brain to grant the ability to regenerate in the shadows, and transform Libertee into a walking force of destruction.

Scars of Freedom is a downloadable scenario for Hard West on PC (Win/Mac/Linux) and is available today for 2.99€, and free to all Kickstarter backers.

Polygon checked out the gameplay of the Hard West expansion Scars of Freedom:

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Thanks Couch!

In their review of Hard West, Digitally Downloaded felt the game was matching a 3.5/5 experience.

With the variety of guns, artefacts, and consumables, it is also possible to stack things into your favour with a deck of cards that can be acquired to improve character stats such as hit points, luck, defence, aiming skills and lines of sight. These cards do not only offer a variety of bonuses in themselves, but extra boosts can be found if the cards are combined in one of the various poker hands. Pairs, two pairs, full houses and so on all add in extras that should be kept an eye out for, as the benefits they impart are significant.

Hard West is a great example of a turn-based tactical strategy game that blends both the Old West and the supernatural together seamlessly. Though it’s fairly derivative of games that we’ve already played, the intriguing way that the narrative plays itself out makes it worth a look, even for veterans.

Ludo Lense of the RPGCodex has reviewed Hard West:

RPG Codex Review: Hard West

People around these parts tend to cautiously flock around any title that has hints of being an RPG that isn't medieval fantasy-inspired, with bonus points awarded if it's not sci-fi either.

In this case, we have an occult Western-themed tactical game with some RPG elements, that has received plenty of good will in the form of $100,000 of Kickstarter funding and endorsements from the likes of John Romero, Chris Avellone and Brian Fargo. But before Hard West, the Poland-based CreativeForge Games only had a subpar sci-fi strategy game to their name, even if their studio is made up of developers who worked on Call of Juarez and Dead Island.

Let us see if they managed to shoot straight with this rather interesting project.

Hard West takes place in a “Weird West” setting, and those who are familiar with the Deadlands pen-and-paper RPG will spot a lot of similarities. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the project was a Deadlands pitch in its nascent stage. Roaming gunslingers, decrepit frontier towns, devilish cultists and mad scientists all dot this grim but colorful wasteland.

The game is made up of eight scenarios, each one about 2-3 hours long and with its own characters and its own specific goals, such as finding a legendary treasure or taking revenge on a band of murderers. Gameplay can be broken down into two main components - the tactical combat scenarios, which sometimes include a stealth preamble, and CYOA segments that are contextualized via a world map. The game alternates between these two modes, with each scenario containing around 4-6 combat maps.

To be clear, Hard West isn’t X-Com or Jagged Alliance. Each scenario is a self-contained mini-campaign with its own specific characters that form a posse, and they don’t carry over after the last mission, so you start from scratch with every scenario. It also doesn’t have the replayability of those games, something which would be impossible given the structure of its content. The focus of the game is on tactical set pieces, with some random elements when it comes to customization.

[...]

To sum things up, Hard West is quite entertaining. It's easily one of the best designed turn-based tactical experiences to come out in recent times. Couple that with a well-crafted atmosphere and you have the makings of a great game. However, its many poorly balanced mechanics may ruin the experience for some people. I'd say there are two ways to enjoy Hard West properly: 1) Play each scenario on Medium difficulty to enjoy the good parts with all their broken bits, or 2) Play each scenario on Hard with combat injuries enabled while restraining yourself from using the services of the Fate Trader and the Doctor, thereby avoiding the broken bits and raising the difficulty level considerably. Both of these approaches are valid choices depending on what type of player you are, and if you follow them you should end up being happy with your purchase.

[...]

A new trailer was made available for Hard West, which is currently also on sale at Steam.

The old west is a hard place, with trigger-happy gunslingers and backstabbing opportunists all looking to make their mark by any means necessary, but this time they crossed the wrong dude.

A tactical, turn-based western of six-shooters and the supernatural, Hard West and the Hard West: Collector's Edition are both currently 30% off Steam.

Consumed by tragedy and left for dead, one man will walk a dangerous path to punish those who wronged him. Vengeance is all that remains, and only one thing is certain; dying is the easy part.

Fight your way through 40 missions of henchmen, cultists, and cannibals in your quest for vengeance. Uncover the plans of the ancient powers at play and make difficult choices that resonate throughout your journey. Collect and combine poker cards to craft special abilities, and arm yourself with an eclectic collection of firearms including outlandish prototypes of the era.

The Slug Magazine has reviewed Hard West:

Hard West opens with a sepia-toned corpse hanging from a tree in the middle of a lonesome desert—an appropriate way to kick off a game that tells a story of tragedy, betrayal and the true nature of evil. Indeed, it’s the game’s engaging genre mashup of spaghetti westerns and paranormal horror that brings the player along for some exciting turn-based combat.

The storyline follows a family that is seemingly cursed with bad luck, which leads to increasingly bad decisions regarding mysterious strangers and deals that are too good to be true. After playing through a tutorial mission that works its way nicely into the main story, the player controls the fate of this family as they obtain a mining license and try to strike it rich through digging for gold. This part of the game has a nice simulation feel to it—the player can navigate to different areas on a dusty map in an effort to mine as much gold as possible. The meat of Hard West’s storyline plays out in this simulation mode, told with some gravelly voice-over work and tense dialogue. It’s also a sly introduction to Hard West’s fixation on risk vs. reward, since players can invest more money for more complicated mining and stand to gain or lose money.

[...]

Doom and gloom are omnipresent in Hard West. Every decision has a dark side, and every risk costs a bit of the player’s soul. It’s a well-executed game that subtly bends multiple genres into a haunting gameplay experience.

Here is is collection of a mixed bag of reviews for Hard West.

Eurogamer:

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.

The Escapist, 3.5/5

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

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.

Destructoid 5/10:

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.

Angry Centaur Gaming:

We Got This Covered, 2.5/5

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.

The Gamer Square, 6.5/10

Hard West lives up to its two word title in nearly ever aspect of its existence. It took the hard road through Kickstarter to come to life and deals with a story and lore that is decidedly Western. The gameplay itself isn't all that concerned if you're backed into a corner and could use a gentle reset of the situation, and that's not going to make this game one that everyone will show up at high noon to play. For me, this didn't feel like a progressive step forward for any of the involved genres. It just stands on its own as an interesting mixture of six-shooters and grid combat with a little bit of whiskey dropping to the floor for comrades sacrificed along the way.

Cosmic Engine:

Hard West will be released today on Steam:

When 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 40 individually designed turn-based combat missions with your squad of 1-4 posse squad members.

The first 15 minutes:

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With the upcoming release on the 18th of November of Hard West, a video has been released showing the first 15 minutes of gameplay. The video shows gameplay footage from Hard West's Main Story Campaign, with some combat mechanics, narrative and Strategic Map gameplay.

Playway wants to release Hard West in a good shape - Kickstarter update #37:

Time Is Of The Essence

We announced the November 4th release date for the game less than 2 weeks ago. And we could totally keep it. The thing is, in the meantime we found some points where the game experience could really be improved. A lot of that insight came from your feedback and from streamers and media posting their gameplay. We could easily patch that in post-launch but in the end we've decided to push the launch back a little bit and release Hard West in the best shape possible, with all the little things included.

The problem is, that in this crazy time of huge releases, we need to look for a good window to launch the game in order to avoid the marketing steamroller with which no mortals can compete. Thus, we're pushing the launch of Hard West to November 18th. We hope that just as you supported us along the way, you'll agree with our decision. We're already working on something to make it up to you. In other news, on Monday, November 2nd, we'll update the Exclusive Backer Access build with new content to tide you over.

In the meantime, enjoy this new bit of gameplay:

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Hard West will be relased on November 4. Our Eye has collected various news:

TheSixthAxis - Interview with lead designer Kacper Szymczak:

The Occult, The Mythological And The Tactics Of Hard West

It's the hard, hard west.

With the revival of the XCOM franchise a few years ago, the attention paid to other turn-based tactical games have also been transformed. With an intriguing setting in the Wild West mixed with broad elements of the occult, classical mythology and a greater focus on storytelling, Hard West isn’t just looking to ride the zeitgeist as it heads to release on PC at the start of November, but also push the gameplay into new and interesting directions.

Kacper Szymczak, Lead Designer on Hard West, explained, “The origin of this idea was the Carnival series, because we wanted to do something in the Wild West. First of all we wanted to do a tactical game, but then we thought of settings and obviously the Wild West came up and, compared to other settings, other games on the market and timing, it seemed to be the best choice. I wanted to put a twist on that, so we could have more creative freedom and extend our features. [...]

Eurogamer: Hands On

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Hard West: much more than a wild west XCOM

IGN: Preview

Hard West Is Like XCOM in the Old West

If you ain’t lucky, you’re dead.

The easy sell for Hard West is "Cowboy XCOM." That might have been the easy way to design the game, as well – toss a few six-shooters and cowboy hats into a reskin of Firaxis’ 2012 modern classic and you’d have a perfectly serviceable game. But there’s more to Hard West than that. It’s engaging with its Western setting and adapting its gameplay to fit that kind of shootout – which gives a good chance of being far better than merely serviceable. [...]

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We received a press release and a message from kordanor, stating that Hard West is coming to us on the 4th of november.

Hard West Rides into the Darkness, November 4th

There will be no forgiveness. Consumed by tragedy, one man will walk a treacherous path of chaos and revenge to punish those who wronged him. A Turn-Based tactical western of six-shooters and the supernatural, Hard West is coming to PC (Windows/Mac/Linux) on November 4th.

Hard West is currently available to pre-order for $19.99 (USD). The newly announced Collector's Edition can also be pre-ordered for $24.99, and includes the original soundtrack, art book, and comic book for download.

Follow Warren on his descent into the darkest recesses of the human soul, and try to survive in a world full of hard choices and even harder consequences. In this world, death is a constant presence and the black pacts you make will forever haunt all those around you.

Fight your way through 40 missions of henchmen, cultists, and cannibals in your quest for vengeance. Uncover the plans of the ancient powers at play and make difficult choices that resonate throughout your journey. Collect and combine poker cards to craft special abilities, and arm yourself with an eclectic collection of firearms including outlandish prototypes of the era.

Hard West is the second game from Warsaw-based studio, CreativeForge Games, and features the talented writing of Haris Orkin (Company of Heroes 2, Dying Light and Call of Juarez series), and an original score composed by Marcin marcin przybyłowicz (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt).

Hard West, coming November 4th, can be pre-ordered now via Steam.

Matt Maguire (Gameplanet) has interviewed Blazej Krakowiak of the Hard West studio CreativeForge:

Hard West studio CreativeForge on the Polish game scene, Europe's westerns

Q: It’s somewhat unexpected seeing a western come from a Polish studio. Is there a tradition of westerns in Poland?

Blazej Krakowiak: There is a tradition of westerns going a while back. I don’t want to bore you too much with the history lesson, but it’s not such a well-known fact. We used to be a communist country/part of the communist bloc, and were almost under a Soviet occupation. There was censorship by The Party, but for some reason, westerns were let through because they were seen as more of a universal tale – man against the frontier. Or sometimes they would be presented as something of a caricature of America, the white man against the indigenous population. Somehow, those were the movies that kept coming through, even when nothing else would.
Hard West studio CreativeForge on the Polish game scene, Europe's westerns

Of course, as the rules were easing off a little bit, people would see Star Wars or Robocop in the cinema, but definitely you could see westerns on TV, and while I can’t claim to have this sort of memory personally, my parents and grandparents do: those were the up-to-date looks into the world’s pop culture, something that was coming from beyond the iron curtain. So, they treasured those movies very much. Westerns are enjoyable as a whole: they are very universal, and easy to understand without modern cultural context or anything else.

Plus there was this subset of ‘easterns’ or eastern European westerns, mostly from the Balkan countries, co-produced with Germany. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Winnetou, the book and the movie by the Karl May. It’s a funny story in its own right, because it’s one of the more popular western or wild west stories in Poland and Germany and it was written by a German writer who has never been to America. So people kept seeing those things, kept reading stories like that.

Plus there was this subset of ‘easterns’ or eastern European westerns, mostly from the Balkan countries, co-produced with Germany. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Winnetou, the book and the movie by the Karl May. It’s a funny story in its own right, because it’s one of the more popular western or wild west stories in Poland and Germany and it was written by a German writer who has never been to America. So people kept seeing those things, kept reading stories like that.

If you look at games, other than Red Dead Redemption, all the good modern western games came out of Poland, like the Call of Juarez series including Bound in Blood and The Gunslinger. Incidentally, me and a couple of guys here worked on them, so it’s not like we brought the idea with us [to CreativeForge], but we were definitely familiar, and as people move around in the Polish game dev industry (which is quite extensive by this point), many people have come in contact with westerns as a genre – not just to play but also to work on. Apparently Poland is one of those places that westerns come from.

[...]

The release of Hard West is not far away - Kickstarter update #35:

A Teaser of a Teaser

We all know this tactic: there's a countdown on a website, to tease the release date of a teaser of a trailer (which in itself is a teaser). The team at CFG doesn't like it either so we prefer to wait until we can say something substantial. In this case we wanted to give you a release date and details of reward fulfillment. Because we're still tweaking some details with our Gambitious friends, we can't do that yet.

But we want you to know that the game is almost ready and November is our launch target. As soon, as we're done with some Stuff that Can't Be Avoided, like delivering important builds for extra testing and localization, we'll do one more update of the Exclusive Backer Access build before launch.

We keep getting questions about buying the game from folks who missed the Kickstarter campaign window: worry not - with the announcement of a release date, which is coming really soon, you'll be able to grab a copy of Hard West. Another common one is about availability: we aim to make the game available on as many different digital stores as we can.

It's been a wild ride and it's getting close to our goal! Thank you for supporting us and being with us all the way!

- Your ever grateful and slightly worse for wear due to crunch Hard West team

P.S. In case you somehow missed this awesome write-up, see what IGN's Mitch Dyer saw in the PAX Prime demo of the game.

Here is another selection of Hard West previews.

The Escapist:

I did notice at one point during the battle that a silhouetted figure appeared after one of my move actions. It turns out, enemies cast shadows, which you can spot, but since all you saw was a shadow, it lets you know there's a person there, but doesn't offer any other information. It strikes me as a mechanic that seems fairly innocuous, but may well play a huge part in the game. If you can stick to the shadows, and find your enemies by the shadows they cast, you can stay out of sight until you're ready to move in for the kill. Maybe.

The Game Fanatics:

Like XCOM, your characters are placed on a grid with full and half cover spread throughout the map. Where Hard West differs is that you can sometimes make your own cover. Flip a table over for some half cover, or open that basement door to turn half cover into full cover. Another innovation found within is its luck feature; this dictates how successful your actions or actions taken against you will be. You use luck to make hard shots, reduce or even avoid any damage inflicted on you. The abilities you equip before combat affects the luck you have and unfortunately, once you use it all, your luck can literally run out.

IGN:

Before you and your hired guns enter a battlefield, you’re able to prepare exactly how you want to tackle the situation. Guns, and gun upgrades, let you manage range and damage. Hard West is also silly as all get out — I walked into a Cannibal Farm mission with an absurd quad-barrel shotgun. Cannibals are spooky enough to justify that many barrels. More importantly, though, is the collectible card element of Hard West. Progress, purchases, and exploration lets you draw cards that imbue characters with new abilities when equipped. Lifesteal, accuracy improvements, and other effects make life easier, but it’s the more active skills I enjoyed most.

Fanning your pistol compromises accuracy, but allows a gunman to deal more damage faster. The ricochet is by far my favorite, though. Pinging a bullet off a nearby bucket to take down an enemy hidden around the corner feels fantastic. Launching it off a bucket, into an anvil, off a water pump, and into the face of a sniper on the second level of a barn? Next level.

Here are two previews for Hard West from PAX Prime.

The first is from Destructoid:

Hard West is split into two levels. The over world is represented as a map with various points of interest. While you typically have an objective and a place you could go right away to advance the story (typical Western tale of hunting in revenge), you can also explore bits in the map, engage in some light text adventuring, and set yourself up for the turn-based strategy (combat) sections.

t one point in my demo I had to rescue a man held on a cannibal farm because I needed information from him. An elixir vendor further south, when pressed about the cannibalism (information gleaned from earlier adventure), admitted some of that crew come into his shop to buy spices and things. He offered to vouch for me if I drank one of his elixirs. I did, and it was poison, which weakened me a bit.

They also link to this video with developer commentary:

In addition PC Gamer talked to Brand Manager Blazej Krakowiak while showing some in-game footage.

Thanks Eye!

Hard West has a succesful Kickstarter campaign and is now close to completion as it is schedule for release this fall. I had the opportunity to visit the developers during Gamescom and this is what I wrote up about that visit.

Hard West is a turn-based tactical game that takes place in the wild west with supernatural powers, satanic cults, arcane rituals, spirits and demons. The game had a successful Kickstarter campaign and I got the game explained to me by Kacper Szymczak, Lead Designer at Creative Forge Games.

A video was shown in which we were informed that the Grand Inquisitor destroyed the secret order. He hunted down and killed every last member. All to proof his allegiance. There was only one loose end, a witch named Cassandra who is now running for her life. She was captured and about to be hanged, but as she could see the future, she knew that this day was not her last one.

In this video uploaded by Gamer's Palace you can see a complete bank robbery in the upcoming wild west RPG Hard West.

Thanks to Silver!

Some news about the tactical Western tale RPG Hard West:

Brutally Beautiful Tactical-Western, Hard West, Debuting at Gamescom and PAX Prime, Launching Autumn 2015

- The successful Kickstarter project from the twisted Polish minds at CreativeForge Games brings a gritty frontier-inspired turn-based tactical game and adds a dash of the supernatural to create the weird, Wild West -

DEMON SALOON, WESTERN FRONTIER - Publisher Gambitious Digital Entertainment and developer CreativeForge Games have performed ritualistic blood sacrifice and joined spiritual forces on the successful Kickstarter project, Hard West - a classic Western tale of supernatural chaos and revenge coming to the PC platform in Autumn 2015. Hard West will make its press debut in the business area of Gamescom, and will be shown at PAX Prime in the PAX Rising section of the show in booth #4043.

Originally successfully backed on Kickstarter to the tune of almost 5,000 backers, Hard West features a deep narrative of choice and fate, where the Luck of the Draw acts as your unique guardian in this brutal, beautiful, inspired classic world presented in a way no human has ever experienced.

Follow Warren on his descent into the darkest recesses of the human soul, and try to survive in a world full of hard choices and even harder consequences. Because in the frontier world of Hard West, death is a constant presence and the black pacts which you make with forces beyond human comprehension will forever haunt all those around you.

Hard West combines the imaginative minds of the dangerously creative Polish developers to tell a deeply riveting tale which was written in collaboration with Haris Orkin (Company of Heroes 2, Dying Light and Call of Juarez series), and features an original score composed by Marcin Przybyłowicz (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt).

Hard West features compelling tactical turn-based combat where players control 1-4 posse members dead-set against a world of satanic cults, arcane rituals, spirits and demons. Collect and master a range of western-inspired special abilities and create powerful combos to customize your gunslingers. You'll need them at their deadliest. Check out more at http://store.steampowered.com/app/307670/.

Find your Huckleberry in business hall 2.2 stand D72 at Gamescom and booth #4303 at PAX Prime.

It has been a while since we had a new update for Hard West. This time Creative Forge shares information about a new Play Way project, and gives a short status update.

Some of you may have misplaced the Steam key for the Exclusive Backer Access of the game. We've recently released a substantial update to the build so if your pledge entitles you to at least one copy of the finished game, let us know and we'll happily resend your E.B.A. key: support@creativeforge.pl.

We're working on an update about the Luck parameter in combat to explain why it pays so much to be lucky in the Weird West.

Creative Forge posted a new update for Hard West with more information on the developers progress with game, and shared a few new wallpapers.

Project update + wallpapers!

Don’t worry, we didn’t scam you for money and ran away (Wild West-style); in fact, we’ve been hard at work on the game. The whole team at CFG is fully committed to Hard West, and the factory is going full steam.

This will be a brief update, as our forces are now focused on making Hard West available to you on time and on budget. The exact date for this momentous event will be announced shortly. As a reminder, everyone who backed the game and has opted for a reward tier that includes a Steam key (i.e. basically everyone who backed for at least $10) will also receive a key for the Early Access version (PC only).

If you missed out on the campaign, or were unable to back at the time, you can still become a “slacker backer” and get the Early Access key and all accompanying goodies, by donating to our PayPal account. See here for more information on how to do that.

To alleviate the pain of anticipation, our art guys (and gals) have prepared a slew of beautiful wallpapers for your viewing pleasure, both in desktop (.zip, 30 Mb) and mobile (.zip, 15 Mb) formats.

As we wrap it up, we would like to shout out to Heroes Never Lose, an independent Montreal-based studio working on their first game: Professor Puzzler’s Perplexing Ploy. Judging by the early alpha build that some of us have had a chance to play, this superhero-themed puzzler is insanely funny and addictive. HNL have 3 days left to shatter a couple of amazing stretch goals, so be sure to check them out!

Creative Forge, posted two more updates for Hard West with 12 hrs left to go. The first update has information about the end of the project, and includes a thank you.

First please let us say that we're all here, at CreativeForge, very excited about what happend for the last four weeks. You are amazing and there's no doubt about it. Thanks to you Hard West will become reality.

We have reached the goal of $70,000 CAD and you kept pledging so it seems safe to assume that we will reach the $90k mark before the campaign ends. It will mean that Linux and Mac ports of Hard West will have to be prepared on the day of PC release. Are you as happy as we are?

We would like to inform all of those, who might have missed it, that our partnership with Curse.com and Gamepedia.com has a result in Official Hard West Wiki. We're really happy about it so why don't you go and check it!

Currently the amount of money from PayPal donations is $556 CAD. Fingers crossed for the next 24 hours and let us stretch a little more so maybe we will reach the $100k mark and add 2 brand newscenarios to the game. Have a good day and don't forget about us!

The second update is about the third stretch goal for Mac & Linux ports being made. The next goal is for $100,000, and it will extend the game by two hours.

Thank you! Owing to your constant support and heavy backing, Hard West will be ported to MacOS and Linux :-)

The Hard West kickstarter has thirty seven hours left till it ends, and the games developmer PlayWay has posted a new update about character progression.

It's a perfect occasion to spill the beans on the character development in Hard West. This system, among many others, is being designed by Kuba Pałyska, an extremely gifted individual (maker of several flash games including Koan and Liber Daemonum). 

There is an element of the Western setting that we haven’t elaborated upon so far, namely: cards, gambling and poker. The idea sounds trivial, but there is so much more you can do with cards, than your typical poker minigames. We wanted to make them an integral part of gameplay, rather than a bonus mechanic for gambler characters. After careful deliberation, we found an opportunity connected with the Weird West setting.

Typically, character development screens look a bit boring. They are usually represented by an interface with a bunch of icons symbolizing abilties and attributes. It often features an abstract number of “experience points”. More often than not, there is no connection between the game ambiance and developing your character. We begged to differ.

Playway has another kickstarter update this week for Hard West about gameplay.

In our gameplay video, you saw the main character poison a well in the world map, to weaken his opponents in the upcoming fight. This is a very good example of how the world map affects tactical encounters. Rest assured that most choices made on the world map have some kind of effect on battles. Sometimes it is very clear, sometimes it will affect them indirectly. Here are some examples of how it works. Keep in mind however that, as I mentioned before, they can vary between scenarios.

• You can pay cowboys in a saloon for information, or try to threaten them. If you fail, they will attack you.
• Thanks to an Indian amulet (say, a crushed human skull) the tribe can recognize you as an ally and their shaman will heal your wounds from your last fight.
• Performing quests for one gang will give you allies. However, another gang and Pinkertons will try to hunt you down.
• Resources gathered from bodies of dead enemies can be exchanged for guns or other resources, or to hire more men. Prices can vary depending on the day and place of the trade.
• Performing optional objectives in tactical encounters, can get you additional help later on. For rescuing a prostitute from a corrupt sheriff, her madam will show you a secret path to your enemies’ hideout (you start the next tactical encounter in an advantageous position).
• Keep track of how the bounties for your head or your companions’ heads are rising. Every evil action will increase the reward. Bounty hunters will try to track you down. They can either start a tactical encounter or help your enemies in another one. Or will you betray your comrades for money?
• Get high on opium with the leper diviner. Experience your worst nightmare once again. If you can overcome it, you will have a chance to radically change your character and skills.  
• Prepare an ambush for your worst enemy by using money and calling in favors. It will give you additional advantages in the tactical encounter. You might, for example, have the possibility to create extra covers and place your posse in good positions.  
• Use your resources to get items needed by one gang and encourage them to attack another one. Then do the same with the other gang and observe how great they are at destroying one another.

And so on, and so forth. We want the world map and the tactical encounters to work consistently. While the world map allows for planning and development, tacical combat serves as a summary of your earlier choices. Both modes support one another to create a unique, Western experience.

Playweat has posted two more updates for Hard West this week. The first update is about a new add-on Reward System for new, and old backers to use.

It's time for good news again as PlayWay has released a new update for Hard West with information the second stretch goal was made, and reveals the next two.

Stretch goal #2 reached, stretch goals #4 and #5 revealed!

Owing to your backing, Hard West will now feature 2 additional scenarios.

That means not 6+ hours of gameplay, but 8+ hours of gameplay!

This is a great occasion to reveal 2 more stretch goals.

For one, we have received a lof of positive feedback about the +2 scenarios goal. Let's push it some more - if we reach C$100 000, we will add 2 more scenarios, bringing the number to a round number of 10 scenarios and 10+ hours of gameplay. 

Second, there have been a lot of questions regarding playing together. We didn't want to make a far stretch, but at the same time wanted to make a base for a probable full-fledged multiplayer. Hence - if we reach C$115 000, we will add a hotseat-style multiplayer.

The exact form of this local multiplayer will yet to be determined - be it coop, taking turns, or an additional game mode.

The next update on the kickstarter page for Hard West has a few more screenshots about what locations inspired the developer to make the Deadlands.

We are very close to the $80’000 stretch goal! Thank you again! When we reach it, there will be 2 additional scenarios in Hard West. This is a very good opportunity to talk a little about Hard West mood and setting inspirations.

PayPal Donations are available for Hard West according to a new update. The game is already funded as it made $78,771 of the $70,000 goal with 7 days to go.

For all those who can't pledge through Kickstarter for any reason (and we know that there are many of you), we have prepared an alternative. From now on, you can back Hard West with PayPal. All you need to do is click the link below and you'll be redirected to our homepage, where you can choose any of the unlimited pledge levels. To answer the question before you ask - yes, we are considering the option to allow our backers to donate any amount of money. We're just not sure how to reward these guys at the moment and need some time to figure it out. Donate Hard West with PayPal.

The latest update for Hard West has a new trailer with some new gameplay footage. They only offer the video on kickstarter so you have to watch it on the game site.

Many of you have been wondering what Hard West gameplay looks like, or even if the game even exists. Today, we are proud to present to you a first sneak peek into the current state of the game in the form of a gameplay video. We hope you enjoy it and will be grateful for feedback and comments.

Please Note: that this is a very early, pre-alpha build of the game, and that many things are missing and even more are still work in progress.

The next update for Hard West has news the game has made its first stretch goal today, and that Steam Early Access will begin at the end of October.

The next kickstarter update for Hard West has a lengthy preview from the Art Director. Also if you missed the news last week the game was successfully funded.

Allegedly users prefer longer pieces for weekends. So here's a lengthy article in which Remik Nowakowski, CFG Art Director, describes the grand idea. So, without further ado...

Undoubtedly, there are many well done, western-themed games, movies and TV series. No, we haven't seen them all but, we have seen quite a few. The opportunity to work on the 'Call of Juarez' series was a chance to observe and learn pipelines, workflows as well as the potential problems of developers who are not American and struggle with their vision of "what Wild West should look like". This is exactly what we wanted to avoid at CreativeForge Games.

I remember one of my university teachers (born in the USA although teaching down here, in Poland), saying that in his opinion, ‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’ was one of the best stories set in the Wild West because it explained in detail what everyday life was like back in the day. Even though I wasn't a big fan of the show, I had to agree, as it happened to be the most reliable source of information I could find at the time.

The next update for Hard West has information the game is now funded. So congratulations Creative Forge Games, and hopefully a few more stretch goals get made.

Wohooo! Thank you very much for your support! We've just reached the goal (actually, already past it!) and so we've prepared a video on occasion.

The next kickstarter update for Hard West has infomation about physical rewards.

Physical rewards

Printed Comic Book

A fellow concept artist will draw an A4, 40-pages, hardcover, full color comic book set in the world of Hard West. 

(note: as requested, the comic book also becomes available in digital version; also, the digital version will be available as soon as it’s ready; don’t take it for granted, but it’s more than probable you’ll get it for X-mas)

Printed Art Book

We’ll print a hardcover, 32-pages long art book in C6 format.

Soundtrack CD

The soundtrack on a professional-grade pressed CDs, as explained by the manufacturer: “in a proper box, covers and all”.

Hard West T-shirt

A high quality t-shirt with a Hard West image.

The Ultimate Bad-Ass Poncho

The wife of one of our designers will handcraft a one of a kind beautiful poncho with Hard West insignia and symbols. The poncho will be additionally imbued by listening to the said designer playing the banjo. 

Per request, it can be fired at (although we cannot guarantee the local firing range is stocked with proper Old West revolvers)

Hard West has seventeen days left to get funded, and the games developer PlayWay has posted a new kickstarter update about the games music.

Music inspirations

To communicate the mood of Hard West, we're using music. Because as the old Chinese proverb says: a picture is worth a thousand words, and a spotify playlist is worth a gazillion.

These are mostly soundtrack pieces. In some cases, it's the whole movie that is an inspiration for us. The most prominent example is the Carnivale series. I wonder how many of you are fans of it?

Oh, and one more thing - this playlist is refined and updated frequently, so if you're a Spotify user, be sure to hop on. Also, song suggestions are more than welcome!

Enjoy :-)

P.S.  Also check out Gryphon Knight Epic, also on Kickstarter! It is an awesome "2D Medieval Shmup". Looks really, really good, and you might want to back them up as well.

PlayWay gives everyone a look behind the scenes on the making of a tactical combat level in their new kickstarter game Hard West in the latest kickstarter update.

Here’s a sneak peek of the process behind the scenes - making of one of the tactical combat scenes by one of our designers, Damian Wyspiański - a talented individual with a firm grasp on the spatial side of things, who had spent a lot of time in the Arma community. This is the most classic of wild west towns, containing all the goodies: a Bank, a Saloon and Sheriff’s Office. *hands microphone to Damian*  

I start working on rough drafts to exercise the idea. At this point I want to make as many drafts as possible, testing ideas on paper before even launching the editor. This allows for unbound creativity - I can try every idea that comes to mind freely and, since at this point I don’t care about engine or editor restrictions, it is very time effective.

PlayWay has posted two more updates for Hard West this week. The first update is for everyone on the watch, and discusses the games RPG elements.

A Word on the RPG Angle

The good folks over at rpgwatch.com pointed out that we should highlight the RPG features clearly. Since we have a few.

Pleae note: I wouldn't dare to call Hard West a full fledged RPG, out of respect for the RPG crème de la crème. (you know what games I'm talking about) Plus, we I won't try to deceive you that it's everything at once.

Then again, it does have enough stuff to put it in line with numerous other games that call themselves RPGs :-)

The second update talks about stretch goals.

Stretch goals

For one, we'll really push it with EA. That's just $5k away from the base goal, but we really want to do it early on. It's a way of saying: we want it; if you want it too, you can have it.

For two, +2 scenarios, so a total of 8 instead of 6. Some of you have said that you'd wish more scenarios with the same character, so we could try to make a chain of 2-3 scenarios with one hero, and progression carried over. How does that make sense? Leave a comment, let us hear you.

For three, a lot of you have been asking about it.

And before I forget the game has made $47,340 of the $70,000 goal.

PlayWay posted another update for Hard West about he games combat system. Funding is going well also as the game has earned $42,540 of the $70,000 goal.

Combat at a glance

Contrary to some opinions, the development of the game has been started, and contrary to some other, it has not yet finished.

While actually - it’s exactly where we said it is! :-)

Philosophy

To avoid misunderstandings, allow me to explain our philosophy of game development. We believe in quality over quantity, and responsible, reasonable design. This means that we innovate in areas that are yet untouched or require attention/have been done poorly in other games. 

We do not, however, force it and reinvent the wheel - the prototype combat system and corresponding UI are based on the best stuff there is - and that is, in our opinion, XCom (2012). 

What you see in the images is by no means final.

PlayWays latest kickstarter update for Hard West is a response to some of the major concerns of the gamers bakers. So read on if your curious, or a future backer.

What's up with PlayWay and CFG?  

First - PlayWay has some finances invested in CFG, and works as a no-problemo publisher-proxy. They're OK with everything we give them, literally. That's sheer awesomeness, right there. Of course as long as it's up to par technically. The amount of trust here is enormous. So PlayWay allows us to use their KS account (it's very problematic to start KS campaign if you're outside of US, UK, Canada). Plus, PlayWay has a big brand to protect, and will wrap it up even if we fail - there's a huge workforce and lots of resources/options in there, "The Way" team is just one of the sub-teams. So PlayWay is actually a backup for all of us. Their history of published games is proof that they're good at wrapping it up.

Second, Let me reassure you a bit and tell you a word about us.

We're a close-knit team, delivered several games inside Techland together, and finished one RTS as CFG.  

$70k?

As mentioned in the Video (soon with subtitles!) (sorry!) we don't expect a full production funding. We need a kickstart. The funds from our last finished project are running late and we need a bridge to get across. Owing to our publisher, it wasn't revealed yet and we have to bootstrap through KS, else we risk going out of the market/miss paying our bills BEFORE you even get to hear the title.

Absolutely worst case scenario - $70k will allow us to survive until we can publish a solid EA containing what you saw in the trailer and the 6-scenario campaign, we go down, PlayWay wraps it up.  

Best case scenario, there's a lot of awesome stuff for us just around the corner, if we can only get there:  

• We'll get the final batch of funds for finishing our last project - 100% sure, but date remains unknown  
• Our RTS project gets released, and starts selling  
• Early Access sells  
• This campaign draws attention of investment partners to us (this is actually already happening, nothing solid yet though, we just started talking)

PlayWay posted a new kickstarter update for Hard West with a look at the guns in the old western setting. and compare guns from other games.

Celebrating a round number of 250 backers, here's a bunch of classic guns from Hard West. One thing about the guns is that we resigned from an outline or a sideshot - they don't do justice to the powerful machinery you get to hold

They also shared news in another update about DRM.

We're happy to announce that per backers' request, the game will be released in a DRM free version as well available for all backers along with the Steam keys.

Now as for funding the game has earned $12,863 of the $70,000 goal.

Seems we another tactical turn-based game on kickstarter this week called Hard West. The games developer PlayWay is asking for $70,000 to get funded.

Here is the usual video, and short game description.

Game Overview

Times are hard, people are ruthless and the land is unforgiving in this tactical turn-based western with exploration adventure.

In a nutshell, Hard West is a turn-based squad tactical with adventurous world exploration. Think X-Com combat with Heroes of Might and Magic world map.

Combat Overview

The combat is fast. The whole combat encounter takes no more than 5-10 minutes. It’s short, bloody, and decisive. All it takes is one well laid shot. It’s just not that easy to put yourself in the proper position.

No peeling off HPs. HPs represent the ability to withstand a shot or two, alternatively to sustain a powerful blow.

There’s little randomization: you either make good predictions and good decisions to land a kill, or you die. There’s no victory without risk, but it’s a well calculated risk.

Exploration Overview

The world is packed with adventures, stories, treasures, hideouts, mysteries, secrets and surprises. It’s a box of gruesome chocolates. Events aim to astonish you with how bad or how good they are. There’s no mediocrity.

People are destroyed by each other, by the unforgiving land, and eventually by their own vices.

It’s easy to destroy and kill, and much harder to survive and build something. With long enough timeline, the survival rate of everything drops to zero. There’s a shortage of everything, except weapons. And yet the liquor and drugs are in the highest of demands, and can buy you everything.