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Hard West - tactical turn based + wild west setting

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
That mission is also a bit bugged. When you free the sister more enemies spawn, they just appear out of thin air in places where none were before, some even on top of other guys lol.
 

Jimmious

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 18, 2015
Messages
5,132
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
So I'm playing a bit of this recently..
I got to say, I like the combat and the card/poker system too. Of course I would prefer something more consistent where you develop your own posse etc... Something like Hard West meets Battle Brothers I guess :)
Hopefully we'll see that in the future!

However performance wise:
I'm getting extreme slowdowns in specific occasions: When I enter the character screen and when I enter the card screen. The game basically "hangs" for over 10 seconds. Can be really annoying.
Is it something you are aware of Kacper Szymczak ?
 

Dr Skeleton

Arcane
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
811
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I've finished 5 scenarios so far, 4 on hard ironman and I think I'm done for now. The game has been pretty fun, but I have a lot of issues with it.

The setting and stories are very enjoyable. That's coming from someone who doesn't really care for Wild/Weird West. The narrator is great, even better then the one in Darkest Dungeon. I wish the non-essential characters were a little more meaningful, but it's impossible with how the game was cut into episodes.

The graphics are not great, but they're passable. The art style is good, so I can't really complain. It looks better than Wasteland 2 DC, and that probably had a much larger budget. Music and sound are nice too.

Cards, card abilities and hand bonuses are sweet. They're broken, but the idea is great.

The game is too easy. Or rather it's too easy to solve/break battles with card abilities and conservative play. The AI is weak, the best they can do is run and shoot, often leaving cover for no good reason. It will only flank when you get into a very bad position or miss someone behind you. On the top of that, the enemies don't have any tools other than shooting, even when they have a boss, even when they outnumber you, they're horribly outclasses once you get any cards and items. I remember seeing the 20hp demon prince in Graveyard Shift and thinking at least he'd do something interesting. Nope. Run straight into my guns, not taking cover half of the time, all he did was shoot a gun once or twice. First and maybe second battle of a scenario can be tricky, but everything after that is a joke if you know what you're doing. A character with 7-10hp, 100+ luck and 1 or 2 healing items is basically immortal because the AI will just hit them for 1-2 and replenish their luck. That's not even taking card skills into consideration. If you somehow screw up, you heal up/restore luck and kill with a card ability. Don't get me wrong, card abilities are awesome (ricochet shot!), but they're often also just straight-up broken.

Luck, shooting, cover and RNG (or the lack of it). It's an interesting system, but there are problems with it. Cover reducing both %to hit and damage makes "timing" your hits very important, so you don't waste turns to hit for 1-2 damage while replenishing enemies' luck. The AI is, again, too dumb to exploit it and will waste a 6 damage flank shot to hit you for 1 a moment later. Maybe some sort of a mixed system between depleting luck and RNG %to hit would work better? As it is, it far too easy to game the system.

I don't really care there's no overwatch. The game works fine as it's set up in that aspect, it encourages somewhat more active play.

The setup stage. The idea is good, the way it works... not really. I guess there are no silent kills because of balance concerns? There's no move/time limit and the enemies aren't moving so it's too easy to go wherever you want, nobody notices you unless you walk directly in front of their face, you can run around their back all you want. The card that makes the enemies ignore you during setup breaks some scenarios, like the one where you rescue the priest in Graveyard Shift.

Weapons have some really cool design visually, but overall they feel samey, you just go for higher damage. Close range shotguns, short range pistols, medium range rifles, long range one-shot sniper weapons. Still more choices than XCOM.

The episodic, pseudo-open world setup that game uses is in my opinion the worst of both worlds. The unique mechanics "minigames" for each scenario are gimmicky at best and very annoying at worst (the peon-food-hunt-heal-explore-peon-food-hunt... cycle from In Gold We Trust is the worst offender). The scenarios are way too short for the player to learn and appreciate them, and they don't matter enough anyway. Having a map to move on is pointless, it's too small and there's no time passage and no random encounters, you might as well use a list of location or scrap it altogether, just have a shop/camp screen between battles. I don't like how you lose progress on characters either (balance reasons, I know, but it's annoying all the same). Either go for open world and continuity or don't. A series of linear hand-crafted battles with no filler would work better. One huge scenario with progress, exploration, meaningful party development, character death and choices and consequences would work better.

Don't get me wrong, the game is not bad and I don't regret buying it, but it has a lot of problems and unrealized potential.
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
I started playing this game (while waiting for post release patchs of Underrail :)). I played the two first scenarios on Ironman medium difficulty, just tried the third one, I think I'll no longer play ironman for now, maybe for further ones.
I really like the setting. I don't particularly like redneck wild west but I like any setting with some occult sub-plot (ok it's more than a subplot here).
Concerning combat I like how cover reduces damages and how damages from different weapons differs depending on covering) ; the preparation phase is rather good.
The small choices are pleasant. So far the stories are good. As already said the presentation is great.

Good purchase so far.
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,030
Finished it. Or at least 6 campaigns out of 8.

Not perfect but a good game considering that is the second title of a small polish company. It almost makes me wanna play the first title ... but nah :)

The combat needs some tweaks (the aforementioned card abilities and the cover mechanics), fix the broken AI, add stealth mechanics (at least silent kills and perhaps knives), implement a better single-player campaign and that's about it. Potential for a great sequel.
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
Been playing this game for a few days now and quite like it.
The game does have a couple of issues, but overall it's a very respectable game from a small studio.
The atmosphere and story are good, very dark and moody, supported by very good and fitting presentation.
Gameplay is quite good, too, although I think there's some room for more - currently it's a bit on the easy side, even without exploiting some of the more OP card abilities the game is usually not that difficult as long as you don't play too risky. Making the AI play a bit more aggressively and cooperative might help there. Also placing some "special" enemies here and there (e.g. sharpshooters or grenadiers).

I'm a bit torn over the mechanical "gimmicks" on the worldmap in each scenario (gold digging, expedition management, etc.). On the one hand they provide some variety and usually fit to the respective scenario, one the other hand they aren't used for long and since tend to stay a bit underdeveloped. Seeing some of them return in a future expansion/DLC/2nd part with some more impact and depth would be nice.
The small choices you can make over the course of the campaigns are a nice touch as well, but similarly their impact could be expanded.

On that note, so far the scenario I liked least was "In Gold we trust". While the basic premise is nice enough, it stayed a bit too superficial and had too few possibilities for meaningful player input (although that might partly be due to it just telling the backstory of one guy from the main campaign and thus being somewhat restricted there). Furthermore the combat vignettes in that scenario were much too easy. I played one of the bigger ones with 2 of my guys severely crippled (because one of the hunting spots repeatedly summoned a Jaguar that maimed my characters when I really needed some food) and still finished it without having to try again once.
Maybe I should switch to highest difficulty.

Anyway, I'm enjoying my time with the game and hope to see more of it in the future, as well as some of the kinks ironed out in future patches.
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
I got stuck on second to last scenario (the bottom one) when trying to enter a map game froze :(
Kind of put it on pause after that to play Thea and Underrail instead.

I finished 6.5 out of 8 scenarios. For next game I would prefer that the game was not made of scenarios.
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
I just finished the last mission and, despite its flaws, it's a very enjoyable game. I played on medium difficulty so I can't comment about the difficulty in hard mode.

I agree with most of what Gord said.
Basically, the presentation is very good, the combat system is comparable in quality with any TB with guns but it is pleasant. However the AI is a bit too weak. Also considering there's some occult plot some weird opponents with particular skills could have been there without it feeling too stupid.
The stories are very good. The choices are pleasant. The "minigames" are good ideas but unfortunaley they are not well implemented in the sense that you don't really feel like you have something to actually do.

The narrator voice acting (like in Bastion) is well-spent money. It's very cool (much more than voiced playable characters which I usually don't like at all).
 
Last edited:

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

Filthy Kalinite
Patron
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
19,113
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
This should be out tomorrow.
Hard West: Scars of Freedom DLChttp://store.steampowered.com/app/441700
http://store.steampowered.com/app/441700

DLC Features
  • A new tale in the Hard West universe, featuring a unique mix of classic western and gothic horror.
  • A deeper, longer story, narrated through its numerous twists and turns by protagonists, Libertee and Dr. Gorman.
  • 7 new tactical combat encounters and a world map with new, unique mechanics.
  • New Unique Surgical Bodily Augmentation System: Revamped character development system, allowing for strategic planning and more informed choices.
  • Rebalanced combat and character progression, offering a tighter, more challenging gameplay experience.
  • Fitzpatrick Revolver - a new, powerful gun in your arsenal.
  • 10 new playable characters.
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
If only it also came to GoG :(

They also said a bigger patch for base game should be coming with DLC, I wonder what that one will change.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

Filthy Kalinite
Patron
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
19,113
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
If only it also came to GoG :(
https://af.gog.com/forum/hard_west/patch_14?as=1649904300
CreativeForge
Support
2ddec75f36562100d5f2cd89e93f1c9e8a66a912be89e84c784d8f6d629288ba_avm.jpg

Developer
Registered: Feb 2016
From Poland
Posted 1 hour ago
7ac6508f5ea4fc36dfe65811092c286a59ada450463698103d5255ea27e4b3bf_avm.jpg
Hi, the patch and DLC are on their way and should be available very soon.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Lucky

Arcane
Joined
Apr 28, 2015
Messages
672
There've also been patches for the main game, with the Gameplay Mods feature as the biggest addition.


Patch 1.4 New Features

  • Added the Gameplay Mods feature, i.e. ten new features modifying some of the rules established in Hard West, such as disabling reaction shots from enemies, forcing AI to use a wider array of abilities more frequently etc.
    Gameplay mods are only available for the vanilla game and cannot be used in the expansion.
  • Added the missing Straight Flush hand.
  • Added a new graphics option: Water reflections.
  • Added an additional highlight to the tile, from which a usable object will be used, when hovering the cursor over said object.
  • Improved dynamic cover cursors for more clarity.
Fixed issues

  • Fixed a rare issue where saved games could be corrupted.
  • Fixed an issue where the XBOX 360 wireless controller would not be recognized by the game on a Mac.
  • Fixed an issue in which the barter screen would not appear.
  • Fixed an issue where players were unable to open a world map location after loading the game from the main menu.
  • Fixed an issue where game completion achievements would not be unlocked correctly.
  • Fixed an issue in which decomposing bodies would not disappear when the camera changed elevation to a lower one, than the body.
  • A Matter of Time: fixed problems related to purchasing the Laxative Potion (different price + money is subtracted correctly)
  • Improved ability balance.
  • Increased Fate Trader item prices.
  • Fixed some missing GUI text in the French localization.
  • Fixed a bunch of erroneous gamepad controls descriptions.
  • Fixed several typos across game text.
  • Fixed wording on certain achievements.
  • Improved the credits section to prevent ugly line breaks.
  • Made the face in the Cracked Skull icon to be a little more serious.
  • Fixed a couple of minor texture glitches.

Version 1.4.1 fixes:
- Achievements from the Scars of Freedom DLC should now unlock correctly on Steam.
- Enemies will now use abilities even more frequently while “Enemy Abilities” are enabled.
- Fixed a misleading caption in the Options screen (regarding Worldmap decor).
 

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