Hard West

The best thing about Hard West is that it has some novel and interesting combat mechanics. The worst thing about Hard West is that it has some serious bugs. I like Hard West--there really aren't enough Western games out there--but there are too many problems with the game for me to enthusiastically recommend it to anyone else. The combat is great. It looks a lot like XCOM. It plays a lot like XCOM--in fact, I beat the first two campaign scenarios before I realized that it wasn't just XCOM with cowboys--but something very different is going on under the metaphorical hood. Unfortunately, the in-game tutorial doesn't explain it very well. This is a game where you absolutely should read the manual. The thing that distinguishes Hard West from XCOM is that combat is non-random. Instead, all characters have Luck points in addition to hit points. Each shot you take at an enemy reduces his Luck and when that's gone it's the hit point's turn. Characters regain some Luck when they get shot or when they use certain items. Luck is also the fuel for special abilities, so there's a tension between saving Luck for defensive purposes or spending Luck to kill enemies. I really enjoy games with novel approaches to turn-based tactics. Unfortunately, Hard West has some serious bugs. The game crashes to desktop a lot. It happens most often at the end of a mission but can happen mid-mission as well. I almost gave up on the game at one point because it crashed to desktop mid-mission four consecutive times. I ultimately had to restart the entire scenario. There's also a bug where important elements of the UI will simply fail to appear at the beginning of a mission. The most reliable way to get them back is to deliberately fail the mission--using the menu to restart doesn't work for some reason--but it's also possible--if frustrating--to beat the mission without them, in which case they'll usually be back for the next mission.

The bugs in this game make it unplayable. You basically get stuck in an infinite enemy turn loop in act 2 and you can't get past this well at least I've given up trying as it bugs everytime, this isn't helped by the fact you can't save your progress on any of the missions so when it bugs you have ot restart the entire mission again.

This is a fun Western RTS tuen base. They story is great and when dealing with devil your choice will come back to bite you or help you.

This is an interesting and well made game. Good tactical combat with a lovely Gothic Americana wrapping that sucks you into the strange winding tales the campaigns tell. Heck the narrator is The Devil himself and the events even when you are winning always feel a moment away from disaster. The actual gameplay is a mix of RPG like choice making on a map with some light resource management, then some solid turn based squad tactics combat when things turn ugly. Highly recommended if you are a fan of Xcom style games or Jagged Alliance.

you get to be part of an intriguing story. a fine turn based strategy game with elements of choice based play and excellent storytelling