Hard West 2 review of brutal strategy between musketeers and demons

What happens when you combine a classic western scenario with a horror story and seal that alliance using a brutal and harsh strategic approach as the glue? With bullets, spells, blood, and curses flying through the air, a group of outlaws seek to save their own souls from a mysterious demon, something far more valuable than money.

Developed by Ice Code Gamesa Polish team that takes this task directly from the authors of the first episode, Hard West 2, this and much more: an adventure filled with references to the world of playbooks with crossroads and decisions that can change the balance on the pitch, as well as battles, several edges that can test even the most knowledgeable players. It’s a really challenging experience with a lot.

Therefore, it is time to load weapons, distribute bandages, organize the arsenal and carefully select the fighters we will deploy, because the slightest error of assessment can cost us really dearly: here it is. Hard West 2 review.

History: between trains and demons

Gin Carter and her band of thugs couldn’t miss their chance to rush the legend. Ghost TrainWho knows, imagining what riches are hidden inside those wagons. But when they get into the convoy, what they find is quite different: monster and huge legs appear next to the cars, as if the vehicle were indeed a huge monster, while the driver reveals that he is a demon named Mammon.

Gin makes the mistake of challenging her evil opponent with a poker hand to get out of the stalemate, but she inevitably loses: After all, she can’t get out of it. His soul and his friends, who were thrown off the train and scattered in the train, were in danger.western setting This is the background of the Hard West 2 campaign.

Gin, his friend Flynn, and the Native American warrior Laughing Deer are still alive, but their comrade Colt is missing: they must find them to find him. rescuing their lost soul When the Ghost Train stops its progress, the bandits decide to join forces with the mysterious immortal Old Man Bill, hunter Cla’Lish, and Priest Lazarus, forming a tough new team.

By freely exploring the different maps that characterize the three parts of the campaign, we will have the opportunity to try our hand at a series of complex missions and interact with other characters to unlock secondary missions, use the earned money to buy new weapons and equipment. , assign poker cards that unlock upgrades, also make decisions and dialogues that will strengthen our relations with our teammates and increase performance in battle.

Gameplay: brutal strategic

narrative component that develops during discovery stages On the map, a lot of text on the screen (fortunately translated into Italian), interactions with NPCs, inevitable visits to doctors to restore the health of the team after each mission, and adventurous elements in general reveal themselves. as something new to the genre, but they often seem simple and you’ll soon be taking advantage of the possibility of speeding up scrolling up to four times.

luckily Gameplay The real and tangible version of Hard West 2 is something else entirely, and is shaped at times in tough turn-based battles where four of our characters will face off against wanted factions, but also law enforcement and, frankly, more numerous and insidious evil armies. consists of multiple units, distinguished by skill and strength: no prudent job has been done in front of various enemies.

during each shift It is shown on the screen on which we can spend three tokens with percentage success, which serves as indicators for our ability to move (via the classic section of the map boxes) or attack, depending on the distance traveled and the weapon, object or special power used. However, there is a significant variation on the theme, the named mechanic bravado: when one of our characters kills an enemy, three coins are restored and can therefore perform his actions again.

It is clear that it is possible to mix this feature with other traditional tactical elements, the use of dynamite and the elements mentioned above. special powers: each member of our gang has one to teleport by changing the position of an enemy or a friend (very useful for repelling opponents) or firing a shot, darting in various directions or occurring in a frenzied manner. and fierce charge, machete in hand.

There is no doubt that the guys at Ice Code Games were able to master all these aspects perfectly without creating balance issues. The facility looks very solid from the start, but difficulty medium (difficult), imagined by the developers as the best representative of experience, seemed to us really difficult: enemies deal tremendous damage, seemingly discounted shots fail, our units cannot heal each other, there are only two. slots for consumables and often the death of a character can make it absolutely impossible to complete the quest.

This type of hardcore environment requires an overly cautious approach that takes too long and doesn’t add to the quality of the experience in general, but rather becomes obsessive. trial and error where automatic saves created by the game itself are reloaded after each shot. Added to this are some shortcomings in the quality of life of the experience: If you made a mistake, there is no possibility to undo the last action and you cannot escape to reorganize yourself. Downloads are long even with SSD, we’re about 40 seconds.

Technical realization

Hard West 2 looks like a title discreet from a graphic point of view, with well-made characters, good animations, a freely adjustable look and an adequate overall rendering. The sections on the open map look frankly ugly, but the real missions present a wide variety of scenarios and in some cases take place “in action”, for example attacking trains: the solutions adopted in this sense look interesting. and no doubt the title has character.

There is nothing extraordinarily sophisticated, so it is normal for the game to run in 4K at 60fps and all settings at maximum, without major problems, but lowering the resolution does not mean big sacrifices. As for sound, movie soundtrack It’s less impactful than we thought, but the English dialogues seem well-interpreted, although some phrases are somewhat obsessively repeated during the game.