Hard West - Review Roundup

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:



More information.

The user reviews are much higher than the 'pro' reviews @ least so far. I'm personally waiting for my gog key. They kind of messed with the kickstart and didn't make keys readily available for non-steam users.

Originally Posted by you
The user reviews are much higher than the 'pro' reviews @ least so far. I'm personally waiting for my gog key. They kind of messed with the kickstart and didn't make keys readily available for non-steam users.

I emailed them earlier, and got my GOG key fairly quickly (within 4 hours).
It is indeed a bit of a pain to have to contact them explicitly if you want a GOG key…

I plain want to play this game ASAP, but…
FO4, then RC:EE… I'll squeeze it up as the third one.

Meanwhile Blackguards2, Grimrock2, PoE and many more are staring at me desperately…

Weird; I did not get a key. I emailed them yesterday shortly after the update specified that we had to email them.

Originally Posted by wiretripped
I emailed them earlier, and got my GOG key fairly quickly (within 4 hours).
It is indeed a bit of a pain to have to contact them explicitly if you want a GOG key…

I think this is one of the best turn based squad-tactics games I have played in a long time. The mechanics are simple but well thought out, positioning is extremly important, no luck involved. I play on hard an normaly on hit in the open and you are dead. Same for enemies. Story and atmosphere is Weird West, think Deadlands. And fucking great. You get a vibe of despair all the time. The narrator is great. It has the best music I heard in any indie game!
KI is good. Not perfect but I have to think before moving and mistakes are often your death.
The only not so good point for me is that there are no real RPG mechanics. You don't level up, but you get after winning random cards, with abilities that you can combine to get boni.

This game stopped me from playing FO4. Way better for me. Way better storytelling.

Originally Posted by you
Weird; I did not get a key. I emailed them yesterday shortly after the update specified that we had to email them.

Not sure what to tell you. You didn't redeem the EA Steam key they sent backers a few months ago? And you emailed them from the mail address you're registered with at KickStarter.com?

I also found those review scores strange. I have not seen bugs or problems with the game. It is not new Xcom but it is not 6.5 or 7.5 game as well.
This just shows how reviewers give good scores to real buggy games like Fo4 but low scores to others. I guess journalistic integrity does not exist in 21 century.

Originally Posted by Archangel
I also found those review scores strange. I have not seen bugs or problems with the game. It is not new Xcom but it is not 6.5 or 7.5 game as well.
This just shows how reviewers give good scores to real buggy games like Fo4 but low scores to others. I guess journalistic integrity does not exist in 21 century.

I think it shows how much things like graphics, cinematics, music, and good voice acting are for reviewers. Very good indie games are lucky if they get an 8/10. The sequel to a great indie game may even get an 8.5, but that's only because reviewers know these games have a huge fan base.

Just for example: The German magazine Gamestar used to break their ratings into 10 parts. 1 part was for graphics (10%) and one part was for sound (10%) . They don't do this anymore, but its still apparent from their reviews that those things play a big role in their final scores.

Originally Posted by wiretripped
Not sure what to tell you. You didn't redeem the EA Steam key they sent backers a few months ago? And you emailed them from the mail address you're registered with at KickStarter.com?

Definetly odd in that case as I did receive and use the key.
Maybe the e-mail there ended in spam part of the mailbox?

-
Anyways I sent a second message via the kickstarter message in case there is some issue with them receiving my email so I'm sure they will eventually get back. Just kind of wish they had handled this issue before release rather than after.

Originally Posted by wiretripped
Not sure what to tell you. You didn't redeem the EA Steam key they sent backers a few months ago? And you emailed them from the mail address you're registered with at KickStarter.com?

Key Received This Evening.

Originally Posted by you
Key Received This Evening.

Nice. Enjoy the game.
Haven't had a chance to try it myself yet.

Originally Posted by Archangel
I also found those review scores strange. I have not seen bugs or problems with the game. It is not new Xcom but it is not 6.5 or 7.5 game as well.
This just shows how reviewers give good scores to real buggy games like Fo4 but low scores to others. I guess journalistic integrity does not exist in 21 century.

Angry Centaur Gaming is enthusiastic, listen to what he says at 11:35.

Reviewers I feel have so many games to review; that I think they rate some games more harshly if they are not immediately accessible. Thing is with niche genres these types of games require some persistence and learning from the gamer in terms of what works. Not everything can be explained in a tutorial that used to be explained in a manual. I really like these types of games and I come across this attitude of 'I didn't learn the game so its the games fault' often when reading reviews of indie games.

Fans of these games have no such problem because we go in with these expectations. Reviewers should be reviewing in-line with audience expectations for this genre. Games like these shouldn't be marked down because they are not for everyone, especially for this price point.

Really enjoying it and agree with most of Khayyin's points.

What I like most about this game is that the devs took some chances and made something interesting, not just yet another clone.

All the parts don't fit together wonderfully, but this is very entertaining and I look forward to more from Creative Forge.

Put 19h into it yet and I am about 50% finished.

Have to say that I strongly dislike the combat system. For the very same reasons I dislike XComs combat systems. It's extremely abstract and unrealistic.
It surprises me though that XCom was praised into heaven and this game receives so low scores.

Guess the campaign is not getting much sympathy either as it's split up into 8 separate scenarios which just have some overlap in the story. In addition you actually play "bad guys" most of the time. I find this quite refreshing. but I guess that the press doesn't.

Personally, as someone who strongly dislikes the combat system, I would still recommend the game. I think something like 7/10 or so would be a fair raiting.