Hard West is a blast from the past that many people were waiting for. It's a turn-based tactical squad game with a fresh setting and the gameplay to wake up your inner gamer from the slumber of the last decade.
The game was backed by the intended audience on Kickstarter and didn't disappoint. The developers promised a hardcore old-school experience with a couple of new additions to the classic formula of X-Com games. However, Hard West does not feel obsolete. In fact, it's more like the X-Com reboot from 2013 than anything else. It has nice enough visuals and stable enough game engine capable of being downright beautiful at times. But graphics are not the first thing to talk about.
It's the story that caught my eye. The setting is that of the "Weird West", a combination of classical Western and horror fantasy with demons and cannibalistic sorcerers running around the desert shooting outlaws and cowboys in the face. The story takes you across 8 unique and very challenging missions that you can beat in a non-linear manner, affecting the outcomes of several in-game choices and the gameplay balance. The plot is thick and interesting, and you won't get bored with the campaign. Especially since the gameplay is awesome.
Beside tactical turn-based combat, your gang of outlaws needs to travel across the region using strategic mode, supply themselves with weapons, food, medicine and gold to trade and prepare for new adventures. Micro and macro management aspects are well-detailed and developed with the kind of attention to detail only true geeks are capable of.
Hard West leaves a very particular impression, the kind of feeling you used to have when you played video games after school. It's a very nostalgic game, yet it stands on its own today.
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