Hard West II: Xcom-like turn-based action in the old West

Talk about your favorite games and any new or upcoming ones. Share cool tips & tricks
Post Reply
User avatar
FlyingPenguin
Flightless Bird
Posts: 32773
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 11:13 am
Location: Central Florida
Contact:

Hard West II: Xcom-like turn-based action in the old West

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Like the subject line says: Xcom-like turn-based action in the old West

But with undead zombies too!

A friend recommended this because he knows I like Xcom games. I'm 7 hours into the game (it's a 20 - 30 hour game, depending on the side-quests) and enjoying the hell out of it. As an Xcom fan I initially missed overwatch, but the game's "Bravado" system is actually better in some ways: If you kill an enemy, your movement points reset to full. Thus you can make multiple kills if you set things up properly.

Like Xcom, you can make multiple save game points, and the game makes saves automatically as well. Don't like how a shootout turned out? Load the save point before you started it and try again.

It's on sale for $16.49 (45% off): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1282410/Hard_West_2/

There's a free demo if you want to try it out first, but you can't load the demo save games into the full game.

"Turns out I’m 'woke.' All along, I thought I was just compassionate, kind, and good at history. "

Image
User avatar
FlyingPenguin
Flightless Bird
Posts: 32773
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 11:13 am
Location: Central Florida
Contact:

Re: Hard West II: Xcom-like turn-based action in the old West

Post by FlyingPenguin »

Okay, 22 hours into the game. I'm at the end of chapter 2 of 4 chapters, so about half way, and I have chosen to do every side mission. They're worth it because you can use the money and items you get for rewards to improve your load out.

Game is a blast. If you're an X-Com fan, I'd rate it a must-have.

Well worth reading a strategy guide or two. I was struggling with a few missions until I read about how you really need to make proper use of Lazarus who has the ability to transfer health to and from himself. So, for instance, if Bill is down to 6 hit points (HP), and Lazarus has 22, he can swap hiss 22 for the Bill's 6, then he can swap his 6 HP for a some enemy's 20 HP (assuming they're in range and line of site). Once I figured out to keep Lazarus up high with a good view, and close enough to the enemies and posse to do his thing, I'm relying less on med kits and bandages, except in a crunch.

Hard West 2: Beginner Tips & Tricks:
https://www.thegamer.com/hard-west-2-be ... egy-guide/
"Turns out I’m 'woke.' All along, I thought I was just compassionate, kind, and good at history. "

Image
User avatar
Losbot
Almighty Member
Posts: 4991
Joined: Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:59 am
Location: South Florida

Re: Hard West II: Xcom-like turn-based action in the old West

Post by Losbot »

I used to play Xcom but it's been ages.
------------------------------------------

Image
User avatar
FlyingPenguin
Flightless Bird
Posts: 32773
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2000 11:13 am
Location: Central Florida
Contact:

Re: Hard West II: Xcom-like turn-based action in the old West

Post by FlyingPenguin »

I would call it X-Com lite as you don't have to worry about the world strategy situation, just going places, finding out things, doing fetch quests, and getting into shootouts which is the real meat of the game.

Combat is simpler than X-Com in some ways, more complicated in others. There is a card aspect, but it just involves some simple poker mechanics. I'm no fan of cards in games, but this is okay. You earn cards after almost every main mission. Those cards can be put in 'hand's for each of your characters and the hands can be changed before every mission to optimize each characters abilities for that mission.

Each card gives some kind of benefit (more, luck, more HP, etc), but the real power is that when you have enough cards, giving a character a 'winning' hand gives them access to special abilities. The better the hand (a flush for instance gives more abilities than a pair), the more abilities the character has.

I'm not even a poker player, so I had to refer to a wikipedia article on poker hands, but I like the way it works. Since the lead character is a gambler, the poker concept works well in the game.

Like XCom you can save any time, and the game also does auto saves. Often I have gone back several minutes or the beginning of a mission to find a better way to complete it.

Trick shots are fun (ricochets off metal objects) that often increase your chance of hitting an enemy if you don't have a line of sight. The Bravado system is also a very cool idea, where if you manage to kill an enemy, you get all your action points back and, if you get good at it, can have your best shooters killed several enemies in a row.

I'm really looking forward to playing the game again on a harder difficulty, now that I've mastered the techniques.
"Turns out I’m 'woke.' All along, I thought I was just compassionate, kind, and good at history. "

Image
Post Reply