Developer: Hyperstrange
Publisher: New Blood Interactive
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Playable
Rrp: £20.99 (Gog.com, Humble, Steam and Epic)
Released: 5th December 2023
Available on: Gog.com, Humble, Steam and Epic
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 30+ hours
Blood West is an immersive sim with a wild west setting, or rather the weird west, which is a setting that combines the wild west with eldritch strangeness and magic. Now, I do want to clarify that while I have said it’s an immersive sim it’s actually more accurate to say it’s a ‘lite’ immersive sim or as they used to say in the early two thousands it has ‘rpg elements’.
You play as a nameless gunslinger who has been raised from the dead by powerful spirits to cleanse the Barren Lands of evil.
A major thing I must stress is that even though it does share a similar art style to many boomer shooters, don’t treat it like one. You’ll just die immediately. In this game stealth and patience are required, even the weakest enemies can kill you in only a few hits. It’s best to take your time and find the right moment to strike.
Something that I found very interesting was working out the best way to dispatch enemies. Sure, in many cases a simple headshot does the trick however there are some that simply will not work. You also have several ammo types to alternate between, such as silver or cursed gold that will do much more damage than normal ammo but also are in quite short supply. Personally, I tended to default to a melee approach where I snuck up on enemies and saved my ammo for when I really needed it.
On the subject of melee attacks, Blood West features a stamina bar that gets depleted when you run, jump or perform said melee attacks.
You can only have two weapons equipped, those being a primary and a secondary. Certain weapons will only fit into one of those types, for example an axe can only be equipped as your primary weapon but a pistol can be either a primary or secondary weapon. Due to this I found myself often diving into my inventory (which utilises a grid system similar to Resident Evil) to swap out weapons depending on what I was facing. It’s also during this time that the game will remind you that it doesn’t pause while you do this (or look at the map, journal or skill sheet), so make sure you are confident you have all you need before you jump into a combat.
Stealth and preparation are the name of the game here. Enemies can hear you and running makes more noise. This is represented by an awareness bar at the bottom of the screen. As you move the amount the bar fills up increases and will decrease if you stop moving, if you also happen to be within sight of the enemy the speed the bar will fill greatly increases. Though if you are able to break the line of sight that added awareness will disappear quickly as well.
For each enemy you kill you’ll gain XP which in turn will eventually cause you to level up. Each time you level you are given 3 skill points. Some skills cost more than others and the cost increases with each rank of a skill that’s taken.
In the fairly likely event that you die you receive a ‘soul flaw’ which gives a small debuff. If you gain three soul flaws they become a curse which is a large debuff. You can prevent getting a soul flaw by keeping a gold coin in one of your artifact (more on artifacts later) slots, which is consumed upon death. If you do get a soul flaw you can remove them by drinking a specific potion or performing a mission such as killing enemies in a specific manner.
Those gold coins aren’t only good for keeping you safe from soul flaws but also can be traded at totems for a blessing. When you do this you’ll get a choice of four blessings that increase a stat such as strength. You can only have one blessing active at a time and they disappear once you die.
Artifacts are items you’ll find as you explore the world and dispatch enemies. Artifacts grant passive benefits, such as health regeneration, increased chances of enemies having items etc. Not all artifacts are entirely beneficial though, several will do something like grant an increase to one type of damage you can deal but also make you take more of another type. You can have up to three artifacts equipped at a time. Some artifacts (and a few weapons) are cursed, and require you to drink a specific potion to be removed.
As I played it became very apparent to me that the developers had been very inspired by games such as Thief and System Shock. Two things made this abundantly clear to me (before I confirmed it in my later research). First was the inclusion of the lean function, this isn’t something you really see in many games but I wish more made use of. The second thing was that I recognised the voice of the protagonist, it took me a while to place it but eventually I realised that it was Stephen Russell who voiced Garrett in the Thief series (except for Thief 2014).
The graphics style reminds me of games like Quake 2 or Thief, it’s an odd choice given that Unity can make some beautiful looking games. But perhaps those somewhat blocky character models and slightly murky textures add to the creepiness of the game and its enemies. It may also be that the developers wanted to pay homage to their inspirations by utilising the graphics style.
The game is separated into three acts, each of which has its own open world and some new enemies to encounter. Any items you have in your inventory or storage box will transfer from act to act.
Earlier I briefly mentioned the map, which is something that you’ll need to purchase in each act. There are no quest markers visible on the UI, if you purchase a map for the area your in quest markers will appear on there. This means you’ll need to learn the lay of the land and identify landmarks to get around.
I have to say I loved this game, so much so that I bought the recently released DLC just so I could experience more of it. It’s not a game for everyone, there are plenty that will bounce right off of it because it’s not a power fantasy like Doom. But if you want a game that will challenge you, one that will make you feel proud of being able to take down a creature that should easily destroy your through careful preparation. Then this game just might be the one for you.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Metro: Exodus
Thief 2: The Metal Age
The Dishonored Series
