The land is cursed, and the dead are roaming the Wild West. You are a deadly gunslinger who was laid to rest by a Native American and revived by a totem. You have returned to exact your vengeance and break the curse overtaking the land.
Blood West is an old-school first-person shooter with stealth elements made by Hyperstrange. If you took Doom, Deus Ex (2000), Fallout 3, a pinch of Thief, and a large chunk of S.T.A.L.K.E.R and threw them into a blender, Blood West would be the result. The retro graphics remind me of games like Turok 2 but with a bit more of a pixelated style. Just roaming an old-timey Western world with your six-shooter will make you feel nostalgic and remind you of all your love for old-school FPS games from your past.
Scavenging and stealth are your go-to early on, but dying isn’t the end. Being revived does have consequences. Dying brings about debuffs that can be removed but can also make the game more difficult. You can lose amounts of your maximum HP or stamina. You could end up being easier to detect when using stealth. You can also make builds with artifacts. There is a lot going on, so let’s break it down.
Image Credit:
Hyperstrange.
The story in Blood West is good; think of Clive Barker with some bits of Stephen King’s Gunslinger. Fans of these two will love this story. It’s reminiscent of how a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R handles its story. How you get to the end of it depends on you. The non-linear exploration adds even more fun to how you interact with the story. There are a few choices to be made for character side quests that can have some different outcomes. Beyond that, it’s about scavenging, shooting, and traveling through its open world to end the curse that allows the dead to walk the earth.
The gameplay is the star of the show. You can use melee weapons, guns, and bows. During the first few hours, you will need to rely on melee weapons because ammo is scarce. Big firefights early on are not recommended due to the high damage of the enemies. Using a six-shooter, axe, and a shotgun got me through the first few hours. Some weapons have stats attached, so stealthy exploring is highly encouraged early on to help you find ammo and decent weapons. Stealthy planning can help you overcome the more challenging battles, or you can run and gun if your build allows it.
You have a skill tree that will help with your base stats. You also have three slots for artifacts. Artifacts have stats that can really change the way the game is played. You can use artifacts that complement certain weapons, which can put you in an advantageous situation and also increase your survivability. For example, there was an area with a hazard on the ground that caused damage over time. You find a bow that has increased damage in that hazard, but you can also find an artifact that makes you invincible to it. This is a significant example of using weapons and artifacts to create a strong build.
There isn’t much going on music-wise regarding themes or boss music. However, Blood West has a very good ambient soundtrack that fits the areas you are exploring. Sometimes, less is more. The voice acting is solid; I mentioned how it has similarities to the Thief series. Well, wouldn’t you know, Stephen Russel stars as the protagonist here.
Image Credit:
Hyperstrange.
Let’s talk about the visual presentation. Blood West reminds me of a lot of late ’90s and early 2000s games graphics-wise. Hyperstrange relied on pixelated graphics that look great. If you love going back and playing retro FPS games, you will really admire the minimalist approach. The enemies look creepy. The environments look great. The characters you meet vary from cowboys to people who look like they have some kind of affliction.
With multiple ways to approach areas with different playstyles and the overall visual presentation, Hyperstrange really hit a nostalgic home run. I spent 22 hours and had a blast the whole way through. The devs said it may take up to 35 hours to see and do everything. The game starts pretty difficult, but stick with it. That difficulty starts to decrease with weapons and items found. Dying often can increase difficulty due to debuffs, but some people might want to make challenge runs by collecting debuffs and trying to beat the game. The totem will give you ways to lift the debuffs.
This game is a real diamond in the rough. You won’t find many modern, old-school FPS games of this quality. Slap on those nostalgia goggles and grab your cowboy hat. If you love shooters from the early 2000s and wish they still made ’em like they used to, well, it turns out they do.
While not perfect, it is pretty close. If you are an FPS fan, I’d put this on the must-play list. The gameplay, exploration, overworld, and visual style are very strong. $24.99 for a solid retro-feeling FPS with 20+ hours of gameplay is a win in the value column. Blood West is only available on PC right now. Hopefully, we can see it on consoles in the future.
