Blood West - immersive stealth horror FPS set in a wicked Wild West - now with Dead Man's Promise expansion

[fantadomat]

Yeah,once you get a good rifle and the knife the game became nice...too easy even.

A few pointers tho.

Even a cheap rifle is better than the pistol,get the magic knife from the shaman,sneak is pretty powerful. Also get the artefact that keeps the enemy dead from the safe in the fort. Also use tab for looting,it shows item that your character see.

 

[Tyranicon]

Protip: merchants restock when you reload the game. No need to rest!

 

[fantadomat]

Protip: merchants restock when you reload the game. No need to rest!

In the second map you don't even need that shit. I am swiming in ammo and health lol.

 

[Tyranicon]

Finished the game. The last area started to drag and the gameplay overstayed its welcome.

All three bosses were kind of bad, and the game is easier than people would have you believe. It was also dark as fuck all the time, gave me eye strain and I had to bump up the brightness.

That being said, the exploration is great and looting around is very satisfying. The gunplay isn't great but each enemy requires a different tactic to them (although shotgun to the face works most of the time).

This is a game that's at home in the 90s, and that's a high compliment these days. Very much recommended if you like western-themed Thief + Dark Souls.

 

[HoboForEternity]

So i got to act 2 and was pretty surprised they are putting more weapon types and some new mechanics like the bush hiding perk.

All new enemies too (i know most are pallete swap, but how they fight is different).

This game is exactly what i wanted from the "is there a slower paced fps" thread i made 2 years ago. Rudimentary, but satisfying stealth, can go guns blazing if you want, but it's not as fast as boomer shooter, and plenty of exploration to be had. Like when i got the unique long shotgun in act 1 was really satisfying.

 

[fantadomat]

area

How many? I am at the second one when rogue trader dropped.

 

[Tyranicon]

area

How many? I am at the second one when rogue trader dropped.

Theres 3 areas.

 

[toro]

I'm in love. I wanted to try the game and I could not stop playing for the last 2 days. It took me 14 hours to finish the first 2 chapters (ocd). I had a peek into chapter 3 and I gtfo I need a pause anyway.

The gameworld design reminds me more of Gothic than Thief: handcrafted areas, hand placed loot, secrets everywhere, the roaming creatures. The dogs eat other dead dogs like scavengers in Gothic. Overall the exploration is excellent.

The atmosphere is more Thief than Gothic, especially when using stealth. As with Thief the world starts to grow on you and there are spooky moments. Good moments but I will not spoil them.

However I went the gunslinger way because the mobs respawn too much. It feels good, it feels tactical in the same way old immersive sims felt. There were a couple of issues with the hitboxes but the weapons are so satisfying. Not to mention the gore.

Simply put, this game has no right to be as good as it is. It reeks of old design but it doesn't matter if it works. No fillers, just gameplay. I love it.

Just look at these screens: they are not graphically impressive but they feel like taken from a 90's game

[Minor spoiler] Some stupid quest from chapter 2 but it made me laugh

Spoiler

[Major spoiler] Best weapons for chapter 2. The chapter boss was critically hit for like 20% of his health :D

Spoiler

 

[Arryosha]

How are the stealth mechanics in this game?

 

[toro]

How are the stealth mechanics in this game?

Not on par with Thief but pretty good.

You have a light bar which fills when at least one mob sees you or hears you. The mob is alerted once the bar is filled.

Other than this, you can scout, stalk and silently takedown the mobs. It's the classic stealth gameplay however a little bit streamlined.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Yeah, it's pretty rudimentary, but still pretty good. Unlike thief where you have to take account for lights, the tile you are stepping on, etc it's only vision cone and sound which iirc isnt affected whether you are on soil, wood or anything else but it works for the purpose of this game.

 

[toro]

Yeah, it's pretty rudimentary, but still pretty good. Unlike thief where you have to take account for lights, the tile you are stepping on, etc it's only vision cone and sound which iirc isnt affected whether you are on soil, wood or anything else but it works for the purpose of this game.

Actually the sounds is diferent when you walk on different surfaces but it makes no difference when you are stealthing.

 

[toro]

How are the stealth mechanics in this game?

Not on par with Thief but pretty good.

You have a light bar which fills when at least one mob sees you or hears you. The mob is alerted once the bar is filled.

Other than this, you can scout, stalk and silently takedown the mobs. It's the classic stealth gameplay however a little bit streamlined.

One more comment: this is not a stealth game like Thief therefore don't buy it thinking that you will have the same experience as Thief. You will not, combat is not optional in this game. There are locations you cannot ghost.

The game is more like a combination between Thief, Stalker and Hunt: The Showdown. I did not play the latter but that seems to be the closest thing to this game. Also sometimes it feels like Call of Juarez but really, this game is a mixture of many things taken from other games.

Spoiler

The Bloodsucker from Stalker appears in chapter 3. It's the same but different :D

 

[toro]

I just finished it. 21 hours but I've checked everything I could and I think 1 hour was lost afk.

My build was a walking cannon but the nice thing is that you can actually have different but viable builds: melee, bow, tomahawk.

It's a solid good game. It cost me 10 potatoes during the last steam fest but it's worth every penny.

Honestly, I don't know what to say. This was such a pleasant surprise. A small gem of a game.

[last chapter spoiler]

Spoiler

 

[Tyranicon]

Fun fact, it has choice and consequences! Well, at least one.

Spoiler

I didn't bother to cure the madame from chapter 2 and she shows up in chapter 3 as a recurring enemy!

Tugged on my heartstrings a little since she is the most likable bonfire character.

Also giant tits help.

 

[fantadomat]

Fun fact, it has choice and consequences! Well, at least one.

Spoiler

I didn't bother to cure the madame from chapter 2 and she shows up in chapter 3 as a recurring enemy!

Tugged on my heartstrings a little since she is the most likable bonfire character.

Also giant tits help.

Are you saying that you are in to hunchback puss ridden degenerate thiefs ?

 

[Tyranicon]

Fun fact, it has choice and consequences! Well, at least one.

Spoiler

I didn't bother to cure the madame from chapter 2 and she shows up in chapter 3 as a recurring enemy!

Tugged on my heartstrings a little since she is the most likable bonfire character.

Also giant tits help.

Are you saying that you are in to hunchback puss ridden degenerate thiefs ?

Didn't help either of them, mostly because I was too lazy to do the quest.

I'm here to kill things and loot treasure, not help people.

 

[Trithne]

So I've been tinkering about in the game, looking to decouple sneaking from crouching because I'm sick of every stealth game requiring me to play a hobbit.

Based on what I've seen, it looks like there's a randomiser mode in the works.

 

[Zombra]

So I've been tinkering about in the game, looking to decouple sneaking from crouching because I'm sick of every stealth game requiring me to play a hobbit.

Normally I don't go in much for modding if the vanilla game is good ........ but this is a hill I want to fight on.

 

[HoboForEternity]

finished chapter 2. the map is amazing. great atmosphere with great location, map 1 feels boring compared to it. the cultist cave, the fort, the town are all very interesting.

the boss is still bad. the bosses are bad so far IMO, but that's fine.

 

[Ivan]

I've also rolled credits and would like to share some thoughts. Firstly, I highly recommend this title, especially if you're a fan of STALKER and Betrayer. It captures that STALKER feel of scrounging for resources as you explore a hostile world, learn the new enemies, and solidify your general playstyle. I did find the game become weaker the stronger you got, so about halfway through the 2nd hub, I felt like I was breezing by. By the time the 3rd hub came around, I was left craving more survival mechanics (weapon durability, shopkeeper services to spend money on, perhaps some light item crafting since enemies drop so many resources) I still enjoyed myself in hubs 2 and 3, but by the halfway point of hub 2 I felt like I was the danger, not so much the world anymore. Heck, the game even awarded me a cheevo for not dying at all in chapter 3, which I think speaks to the game's difficulty and how it plateaus in chapter 2. I think harsher survival mechanics would have helped alleviate that feeling. I was frugal in my playthrough and bought a ridiculously powerful gun in hub 3 that managed to 2 shot the final boss. Pretty lulzy. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this dev and hope they keep producing excellent titles like this one.

TLDR: captures that STALKER feel, but left me craving harsher survival mechanics, more uses for money/resources, but nonetheless an excellent experience that scratches a pretty niche itch

 

[Junmarko]

I'm in love. I wanted to try the game and I could not stop playing for the last 2 days. It took me 14 hours to finish the first 2 chapters (ocd). I had a peek into chapter 3 and I gtfo I need a pause anyway.

The gameworld design reminds me more of Gothic than Thief: handcrafted areas, hand placed loot, secrets everywhere, the roaming creatures. The dogs eat other dead dogs like scavengers in Gothic. Overall the exploration is excellent.

The atmosphere is more Thief than Gothic, especially when using stealth. As with Thief the world starts to grow on you and there are spooky moments. Good moments but I will not spoil them.

However I went the gunslinger way because the mobs respawn too much. It feels good, it feels tactical in the same way old immersive sims felt. There were a couple of issues with the hitboxes but the weapons are so satisfying. Not to mention the gore.

Simply put, this game has no right to be as good as it is. It reeks of old design but it doesn't matter if it works. No fillers, just gameplay. I love it.

Just look at these screens: they are not graphically impressive but they feel like taken from a 90's game

...that is some seriously hefty praise. Name dropping Thief and Gothic in the same post.

I might have to give this a shot.

 

[fantadomat]

it is neither lol

 

[Zlaja]

Protip: merchants restock when you reload the game. No need to rest!

In the second map you don't even need that shit. I am swiming in ammo and health lol.

Shame that the resource managment aspect of the game gets worse in ch2.

 

[SharkClub]

Been playing this for the past few days, it's quite fun. I'm on to Chapter 3 now and I'd say that the game dips in difficulty during Chapter 2, the enemies in Chapter 2 felt more witless and sluggish compared to what you're up against with no levels in Chapter 1, but Chapter 3 cranks the difficulty back up high to make up for it.

Gameplay-wise it's probably most similar to STALKER CoP than anything else, minus any roving NPC bands and neutral NPCs out in the wild - but the rest of it is there, you have a big map to explore for each chapter with various objectives within it to complete, a bunch of secrets within these maps, equippable artifacts that give bonuses and sometimes also a tradeoff malus (which is extremely STALKER-esque), lots of different creatures and monsters which move around and act differently from eachother that also have differing weaknesses to certain ammo types.

The guns feel pretty good and the sound effects are appropriately chunky sounding for old cowboy guns, interestingly the player's guns are hitscan but when an enemy shoots a gun at you it's a dodgeable projectile, I never actually followed this game during development so maybe that was something they tried for the player's guns too and scrapped at some point. I'd hesitate to call the game an immersive sim because it doesn't really check off much of the emergent gameplay stuff that you'd see in Thief or Deus Ex, it's really just a supernatural horror cowboy STALKER clone with levelling up and more lite RPG elements and honestly I can dig it. Stephen Russell does a good enough job with the VA, it's no performance of a lifetime role from him or anything (that's Garrett of course) but it's not bad.

I also like that the developer likes boobs, it's not often these days that you see a game acknowledge that women have boobs, most of the time they're covered up and constricted or simply A cups for every female in the game so as to not offend trannies (for not having tits) and feminists (for not wanting people to see tits (without paying for their onlyfans)). In Blood West even the injun ghost ladies have naked boobs and the grotesque skinless hags have jiggle physics for their floppy muscled meat boobs.