I was fully prepared to quit gaming, especially seeing as nothing on the current market interests me in the slightest. That was before I came across Blood West, and so I indulged my addiction for the last time for the foreseeable future. Lemme tell you about it.
Blood West is some sort of weird mish mash of whatever genres died a cruel and violent death back in the late nineties and a bunch of other stuff. It's an imsim with a bit of Thief stealth and treasure hunting in there, there's crpg style dialogue trees and the protagonist has the personality of a Build Engine shooter avatar but it's also got a Diablo style inventory system and then there's also some bits and pieces of Stalker in there and even some soulslike elements. Like I said, a buncha stuff.
The game takes place in a weird west setting with the player taking on the role of an undead gunslinger summoned by highly suspect spirits to purge the land of evil and eldritch horrors. The game consists of 3 different and separate maps, divided into their respective chapters, very much how a trooner shooter would divide itself into episodes. In order to progress, you need to fulfil several quests and maybe even do some sidequests along the way. On your adventures, you'll encounter many different enemies, some unique to a chapter, and get the chance to find cool artefacts and unique weapons.
The Primary Gameplay Loop (c) consists of sneaking from location to location and killing shit on the way. The game provides you with a neat selection of ranged and melee weapons so you can kill as efficiently as you can. Stealth is highly encouraged, since even basic enemies are incredibly competent and a head on encounter is always less optimal than taking out an enemy with a critical backstab.
Blood West sports a somewhat unique equipment system, giving you a slot for big weapons and a slot for small weapons. The big slot is reserved for larger melee weapons, namely axes and sabers, and long guns, while the smaller one is where you put revolvers, knives and the odd tomahawk. Ammo is never plentiful enough that you could shoot every enemy you come across, meaning that having a melee weapon with you is almost mandatory. Melee weapons are also the only weapons that can pull off critical sneak attacks, which as mentioned are the preferred way of dealing with the opposition.
The weapons are well balanced for the most part, each type having their own specific niche. However, some niches are smaller than others. Sawn off shotguns for example are terrible, because their range is so short that you may as well be using a melee weapon, which is "free" to use, requiring no precious ammo. They have a niche as an emergency burst damage option when equipping a melee weapon in the big slot but in most close encounters, melee weapons deal more dps and require no reloads. Guns are able to shoot special types of ammunition but the enemies that are best taken out with a silver bullet for example are few and far between. There is exactly one single enemy that requires special ammo to be killed and that one doesn't show up until the last chapter.
The game in general seems very skewed towards melee even when disregarding sneak attacks. As mentioned, they require no ammo and have higher dps than most guns. In a game with respawning enemies and limited ammo, a weapon that is free to use comes out on top even on that virtue alone. The lack of range is rarely an issue, since there are plenty of ways to sneak around and get close in order to deliver a quick kill. During the end game, I ended up stockpiling loads of ammunition because I had gotten the hang of stealth and was rarely using anything other than my saber to sneak kill most things I came across.
Look at how dead that guy is lmao
This is a shame because the gunplay feels great actually. Sound design is good and aiming feels substantial. In a wild western setting I'd have liked more of an incentive to go with a gunslinger sort of build.
When you're not killing things, you'll be exploring whatever area you're currently in. The game does a great job of incentivizing exploration even in places that are off the beaten path because more often than not very useful supplies and weapons will be hidden in some shack or down some hole in the ground that's not marked on your map. The maps themselves contain many interesting sights and feature quintessentially 90s environmental storytelling at times.
Pictured: Environmental storytelling (the horses are dead and there's a broken carriage, meaning the horses mugged the carriage and the carriage killed them both in self defense)
While traversing the prairie/swamp/mountains you'll be constantly haunted by an eerie ambient soundtrack and the weird noises the different enemies make. My favorite one is the one that goes YEEEEEEEHOOOOO (that's not a joke). Speaking of enemies, they're also great. Each of them is given something of a personality with the aforementioned noises and voice lines, their animations and of course their attacks. Since each and every one of them is best approached stealthily however, a lot of their design sadly goes to waste. All backs look the same when you stab them. A notable exception are the Hellbears, late game enemies that are so badass that they're best avoided entirely.
Now that's what I call a stabbed back, fellas.
Blood West contains some very mild narrative rpg elements, giving you the opportunity to roleplay with some NPCs via dialogue. This falls very flat, the only notable NPCs that you may have any attachment to or interaction with are in chapter 2 and they're underdeveloped as all hell. You have a *whispers* woman an alcoholic and a small child.
Truly, the greatest of all eldritch terrors.
The lady is a bitch at first but turns nice when you give her flowers. There's a joke to be made here. The alcoholic is a priest and gives you nothing much of use and the child really is just a waste of space. No meaningful choices and consequences here.
THE HORROR
The voice acting though is surprisingly good. I expected nothing from this midrange indie game but the voice work in there is actually very enjoyable. Still, the roleplaying aspect is woefully undercooked and chapter 3 all but drops it entirely.
This didn't detract from the overall experience, though. All in all, exploration is fun because it has a purpose and is rewarded, combat is meaty and satisfying enough even with the overly heavy emphasis on stealth and the premise and the little story there was kept me engaged throughout the 20 odd hours it took me to complete Blood West. It has no glaring flaws, nothing in it greatly annoyed me, not even the inventory and I was also greatly immersed within the game world thanks to good visual and sound design.
Relatable.
I wholeheartedly recommend Blood West. I wouldn't call it a hidden gem but it is the kind of game that we have seen very little of in the modern era and it is worth playing for that fact alone. Similar to Stalker it would greatly profit from several iterations and improvements. Maybe we'll see Blood West: Call of Nevada in the future, who knows. In the meantime, I'll return to my retirement from this stupid hobby.
-Humbaba
