The sprawling, barren deserts of the Wild West make for a uniquely terrifying horror game setting, with its coal-black skies and seemingly endless sea of dry sand. There’s little to protect you from the line of sight of the horrors that are cursed to sulk across the dusty lands like tumbleweeds in the breeze.
Blood West puts the player in the shoes of the Undead Gunslinger. When a local Shaman happens to stumble upon the Gunslinger’s fresh corpse, he makes a noble effort to ensure a proper burial. Despite his efforts, a curse has taken hold, and the Gunslinger rises again. To free his soul, the Undead Gunslinger must purge the curse from the desert he is cursed to roam.
A nostalgic low-res art style and unsightly horrors
Hyperstrange leaned into the creepy factor of a classic horror-inspired low-resolution art style for Blood West, which lends an extra bit of dread to the atmosphere. While exploring the game’s canyons, swamps, and mountains, it is easy to get lost in just how wide open and empty a lot of the map is during exploration. The loneliness of it all makes spotting a fort or small town on the horizon feel a little more rewarding.
Each location you visit as the Undead Gunslinger has its own quirky inhabitants — both living and otherworldly. Just as the outline of a village on the horizon can evoke relief at the sight of new life, the outline of a potential human-ish form can stop you in your tracks. For all the individuals who just want to task the Undead Gunslinger with hunting down wendigoes while drunk, there are plenty more cursed beasts that are just as quick to cause the Gunslinger harm as look at him.
Winged birdmen armed with pistols. A masked lady in an old-timey gown could potentially have a side quest for you. Or she could be a brutal monster who aggressively attacks you if her mask breaks so that the horrible visage of her face is exposed. Coffin Zombies shambling around with their makeshift resting places serving as armor. Even creatures from the spirit realm stalk the Gunslinger as he attempts to break the curse.
Guns blazing or quick and quiet
While Blood West is a first-person shooter, at its core, it is a more stealthy RPG experience. Each foul creature has its own weaknesses, but many of them are easily dispatched with a well-placed knife to the back or a quick arrow to the head. Taking out enemies from a distance provides you, the player, the opportunity to avoid drawing attention from nearby foes, but it requires patience and the use of distraction aides to pull off.
When nearing enemies or stalking them, a meter displays if the creature can see or hear the player. Should that meter fill up, the chase is on. If you’re fortunate enough to pull off a stealthy approach, however, you’ll more than likely pull off a successful execution that is quick and quiet. Dispatching enemies and completing quest lines earns skill points, which can be doled out to various perks like better accuracy when shooting or less stamina use while using melee weapons.
The weapon selection is a smorgasbord of options, giving you the freedom to tackle the eldritch horrors you encounter however you see fit. Go in guns blazing with rifles, shotguns, revolvers, and carbines. Or take a more melee-centric approach with knives, axes, or bows. Of course, when all else fails, just throw some explosives at the problem. Blood West is all about exploring the game your way, from the difficulty you set the unapologetically brutal experience at to the perks and upgrades you choose to get you through.
Blood West is available now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox PC. The game supports the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative, so you only need to purchase it once to play on all your Xbox devices. The standard edition of Blood West features all three scenarios that make up the full game, while an additional Dead Man’s Promise DLC is also available that adds an additional story chapter. The DLC can be purchased separately or as part of a bundle with the base game in Blood West: Dead Man’s Edition.
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