- Unique "Weird West" aesthetic.
- Engaging stealth-focused, deliberate combat.
- Deep build variety and progression.
- Repetitive gameplay loop becomes tedious.
- Unfairly punishing difficulty.
- Unengaging story and characters.
Emotions
Players felt satisfied by the game's high overall quality, engaging gameplay, and immersive design, including versatile combat, rewarding exploration, and atmospheric elements. This was further enhanced by the game's value for money, diverse mechanics, and the sense of accomplishment gained from mastering its challenges after an initial learning curve.
Excitement stemmed from the game's unique blend of mechanics, high overall quality, and the thrill of discovering it as a 'hidden gem.' Players were also excited by the anticipation of future content, sequels, and the game's challenging yet fun gameplay, including its build variety and intense moments.
Disappointment arose from the game's linearity, repetitive content, and perceived poor execution of core mechanics like stealth and gunplay. Players also cited unsatisfying boss fights, unfulfilled potential, and a decline in quality in later acts or DLC as sources of this emotion.
Frustration was primarily caused by the game's high difficulty, punishing death mechanics, and restrictive save system, which often led to lost progress. Clunky controls, inconsistent enemy AI, inventory management issues, and game-breaking bugs also significantly contributed to player frustration.
Players experienced enjoyment from the game's engaging gameplay, appealing art direction, and immersive atmosphere. The challenging nature of the stealth-based combat, rewarding exploration, and the overall positive experience despite minor flaws contributed to a fun and captivating playthrough.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 80% · Negative 20%. Score: 20 / 100
Positives:
- Players consistently report high levels of enjoyment, finding the gameplay addictive and challenging yet fair. The game is often described as a surprising gem that provides significant value for its price and offers a satisfying experience from start to finish.
- The game is highly praised for its distinctive retro-pixel art style, exceptional sound design, and immersive atmosphere that perfectly blends Wild West themes with gothic horror and Lovecraftian elements. This unique presentation creates a memorable and captivating world, often drawing comparisons to classic titles while standing out as an indie masterpiece.
- The game features thoughtfully designed, dense, and non-linear open-world maps across multiple chapters. Exploration is consistently rewarded with useful loot, secrets, and environmental storytelling, encouraging players to thoroughly investigate every corner.
- Players appreciate the extensive array of weapons, artifacts, and perk-based skill trees, which allow for diverse character builds and playstyles. This system fosters experimentation and significantly enhances replayability, letting players tailor their approach to combat.
- The game maintains freshness across its multiple chapters, each introducing new settings, enemies, and challenges. The DLC is also highly regarded for further expanding content with new mechanics, weapons, and more aggressive enemy types, adding significant value.
Negatives:
- Players consistently report that the game's core loop, characterized by respawning enemies, endless fetch quests, and uninspired level design, quickly becomes monotonous. This leads to frequent backtracking and a feeling that progress is a chore rather than enjoyable exploration.
- The game is frequently described as unforgiving, especially in the early stages, with high enemy damage and scarce resources. A significant pain point is the death mechanic, which applies stacking debuffs and incurs costly removals, heavily penalizing experimentation and leading to frustrating death spirals.
- The game's plot is frequently described as minimal, uninventive, and lacking depth, often feeling like a mere vehicle for traversing levels. Characters are underdeveloped, and repetitive 'fetch quests' constitute much of the side content, contributing to an overall unrewarding progression system.
- Player feedback on boss fights is polarized; some found them too easy, boring, and forgettable, often defeating them on the first try, while others described specific bosses (e.g., Chapter 2) as frustratingly difficult or poorly designed. This indicates a lack of consistent challenge and quality in boss encounter design.
- The game's chapter-based progression system forces players to advance after boss fights, often preventing the completion of previous content and leaving side quests unfinished. This structural flaw contributes to a noticeable drop in content quality, polish, and narrative engagement in later chapters, particularly Acts 2 and 3.
Gameplay:
- The game strongly emphasizes a stealth-first approach, especially in early chapters, utilizing line-of-sight mechanics and one-shot melee takedowns. While direct combat is possible, it is slower and more tactical than traditional FPS games, often requiring precise headshots due to limited resources and high enemy lethality. However, late-game progression can make aggressive gunplay more viable.
- The game features robust RPG elements, including XP-based leveling, a perk system for playstyle customization, and equipable artifacts that provide unique bonuses and penalties. A critical aspect of survival is the grid-based inventory system, reminiscent of Resident Evil 4 or STALKER, which necessitates constant scavenging and careful management of scarce ammo, health, and other vital resources.
- The game is structured into three distinct chapters, each featuring its own large, semi-open map or biome that encourages extensive exploration for quests, secrets, and resources. While the main story can be completed relatively quickly by focusing solely on objectives, full exploration of each map significantly extends playtime. Enemies partially respawn upon player death or resting, offering opportunities for farming.
- The game incorporates a 'Souls-like' death mechanic where each death incurs stacking debuffs, or 'curses,' impacting player stats like stamina or HP. These curses can only be removed through specific items or quests. While players retain all loot upon revival at a safe zone, a portion of previously defeated enemies respawn, adding a persistent challenge.
Performance:
- Players have encountered multiple bugs, including unresponsive stashes with many items, audio settings not saving, and enemies being silent until visible. More critical issues include a bug preventing merchants from selling ammo, enemies losing the ability to leave spawn points, and a specific 'Perforated heart' artifact causing unremovable bleeding. The choppy rendering issue was reportedly fixed, indicating a past significant bug.
- Players note the game's graphics appear dated, resembling those from the mid-2000s. There's a desire for more granular graphics options to disable, and issues exist with mouse focus on multi-monitor setups. Enabling V-sync is also recommended by a player to prevent stuttering.
- While the game supports gamepads, players found them less suitable for the game's difficulty. This suggests that a keyboard and mouse is the preferred and more effective input method for many, impacting controller-only players.
Recommendations:
- Players overwhelmingly recommend the game, praising its value, encouraging purchase at full or sale price, and expressing strong eagerness for sequels or DLC. Many give it high ratings (e.g., 9/10, 10/10) and consider it an underrated indie gem worth playing multiple times.
- The game is strongly recommended for fans of specific genres and gameplay styles, including stealth FPS, immersive sims, survival horror, exploration, resource management, and the 'Weird West' setting. Comparisons to STALKER, Hunt: Showdown, Thief, and Deus Ex are common indicators of its target audience.
- Some players advise against the game, citing issues with difficulty or poor design, or even suggesting alternative games. Others offer conflicted recommendations, advising low expectations, or only recommending it on sale, contributing to a somewhat divisive overall impression.
- Reviewers suggest that the game improves significantly after the initial hours or first map. They advise players to persist through the beginning stages to fully appreciate the adventure and its unfolding story.
- Players note the game's high and escalating difficulty, particularly in later chapters, with some comparing its intensity to 'Elden Ring.' It is recommended for those who enjoy punishing and challenging experiences, often suggesting starting on harder difficulties.
Miscellaneous:
- The game offers highly variable playtime, ranging from 15-20 hours for a focused playthrough to over 30-70 hours for extensive exploration and side quests. Some players find the initial chapters, particularly Chapter 1, to be very expansive and slow-paced, which can be challenging for those expecting a quicker experience.
- There is a strong desire for more content, including additional DLCs, New Game Plus, and new difficulty options like hardcore or survival modes. Players are eager for more maps and appreciate the developers' ongoing support and planned updates, indicating high engagement and a desire to extend the gameplay experience.
- The game benefits from the positive reputation of its publisher, New Blood Interactive, who is known for consistently releasing quality indie titles. This esteem often influences purchase decisions and fosters trust among players for continued support and future projects.
- Players often bought the game on discount or in bundles, sometimes refunding it initially due to unmet expectations or early game pacing challenges. A small, less constructive point regarding character design and developer understanding of games was also noted, but with very low significance.
- The game features a unique, stylized retro visual aesthetic, often described as low-res or low-poly. This distinct art style, combined with its 'weird west' and stealth horror atmosphere, is charming to many players and is seen as a key part of the game's identity.
