Setting dark westerngameplay turn-based strategy and a difficulty capable of putting even the most experienced of hardcore players to the test. These are the basis for creating Hard West IItitle developed by the Polish team of Ice Code Games which genuinely impressed us. So get ready to have to manage bloody clashes, assaults on caravans and many, many bullets flying and exploding barrels, here is our review of Hard West II.
The criminal, the gang and the demon
The story opens with the charismatic outlaw Gin Carter and his gang of 3 other criminals, who can’t resist the temptation to try to storm the ghost train. with the ambition to steal enormous wealth. The blow begins in the best way, with our protagonists who manage to get on board and, killing the various guards, to take possession of the various carriages. However, the situation worsens when the unexpected happens: suddenly spider legsmonstrous and enormous, emerge from the train.
The cause of it all turns out to be Mammon, a real hellish demon. Gin, in all his arrogance and swagger, decides to challenge this devil to poker, believing he can solve the situation. Alas, however, as it was easy to guess, Mammon will not only be able to win, but yes he will also take souls of the 4 outlaws as a reward and making one of them disappear, leaving them completely stunned and starting the real adventure for their recovery.
The setting that Hard West II manages to create is incredibly immersive, perfectly combining a very realistic and dark old west, with a fantasy hue that enriches the whole. In addition, thanks to the well-developed plot and with interweaving between characters and interesting twistsyou will remain glued to the screen all the time, anxious to know what will happen to Gin and his companions until the end of the adventure.
For a handful of coins
As we have pointed out, the narrative part of Hard West II is one of its great strengths, but it is not the only one. The gameplay in fact shows not only all the care and attention that the developers wanted to give you, but also all their mastery in creating increasingly difficult challenges and challenging, but that were not overly frustrating for reasons external to the player’s ability. You will die a lot of times during the various missions and chapters, especially at the beginning of the game, but the further you go, the more you will find that with a good strategic eye you will be able to overcome every enemy that stands in your way.
The gameplay will be a strategic one, in which in turn you will have to move one of the 4 members of your team to make him perform his actions: you will have 3 coins per turn you can spend on move, attack, hide yourself or use one of the special shots. The costs will change based on how far you move, the type of weapon you use to attack and the skill of the character in question. However, there is an interesting mechanic that will make the game more dynamic, the Bravado.
For a few more deaths
The Bravado is a Hard West II addition that manages to deliver a lot faster and more energetic the fight. The coins that you will have available each turn will be very few, as we wrote in the previous paragraph of the review, allowing you to do very few actions per round. But as soon as you kill an opponent these will be fully restored, allowing you to continue with your turn e chain multiple kills in a row. If you are really good at playing, and you prepare the “ground” well, you will sometimes be able to finish a fight with one big and spectacular action.
In addition to that each character has special hits based on their skills and weapons. There will be those who, for example, will have the ricochet from his, and can then make shots that bounce between the various boxes or obstacles along the way to hit enemies that are hidden. Or who can score one discharge of armor-piercing shells which will allow you to hit multiple targets at the same time. In addition, in the various scenarios you will often also find classic incendiary barrels which, combined with your supplied dynamites, will give that little touch of explosions that makes everything much more spectacular.
In addition to the clashes, however, you can, and must, also explore the various maps that make up the 3 chapters of the campaign. Here you can find characters and secondary tasks that you can carry out to obtain rewards, buy new weapons or upgrades that will be useful in future missions, or face various dialogues and make decisions that will strengthen relations with your companions, also improving its performance in battle.
Once upon a time there was the technical side
Now let’s move on to what i are keys a little more painful of the title. Visually Hard West II presents itself with an isometric view, with decent animations, cute characters from the point of view of characterization, and interesting visual effects. Graphically though realization doesn’t make you jump for joy and stands on being trivially acceptable. From the sound point of view, on the other hand, it acquires a few more points, without anything really exceptional, but in any case with a satisfactory sector and very immersive especially in the various battles along the adventure.
Although the plot is interesting and with intriguing twists (often told through cutscenes done very well also from the directorial point of view), and the gameplay has been really taken care of down to the smallest detail, the exploratory parts are really empty. In fact, these phases are full of mechanics that are all too simple and not very engaging that will make you hope to be able to skip them as quickly as possible to get back to the heart of the action as soon as possible.
Final thoughts
So let’s conclude this review, Hard West II is a excellent title for all lovers of turn-based strategy and those who are constantly looking for a greater challenge. The gameplay is studied in detail as regards the part of the firefights, with many tactics and different approach possibilities based on your style of play, while a little less during the exploratory phases that are a lot simple and sketchy.
The technical side, despite not being the main focus in this type of games, is still slightly above average, sinning a lot compared to the decidedly more interesting, engaging and immersive plot. If, on the other hand, you are interested in another strategic firefight game, but in real time and in first person, we recommend that you read our Isonzo review.
Review
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Hard West II (Tested on PC)
8Total Score
If you are a lover of the western setting, perhaps with some darker and fantasy touches, you cannot fail to fall in love with this title, which will be able to make you fully immerse yourself in it thanks to a well-written plot and interesting plots. Its high difficulty could be a double-edged sword, however, capable of making the adventure even more stimulating, but removing all those who are not great hardcore gaming lovers, and reducing the game to an infinite loop of attempts.
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