Skip to main content
If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Hard West Kickstarter Offers Turn-Based Cowboy Tactics

Life's not peaceful there

"In a nutshell, Hard West is a turn-based squad tactical with adventurous world exploration. Think X-Com combat with Heroes of Might and Magic world map."

The idea of an elevator pitch is that it explains the concept of something in the time it takes to ride an elevator. Hard West's Kickstarter pitch does it in the time it takes to travel between a single floor, and the rest of the page only cements my interest: it's made by some of the same people who worked on Call of Juarez, it's going for a "weird west" atmosphere, and the pitch video contains little snippets of existing game footage.

Is a wild west XCOM something you want? Watch the embed below.

Developers Creative Forge are aiming to make a game in which combat is quick and dirty - a single bullet is enough to fell friend or foe, and so your focus becomes about positioning. Tipping tables to make cover in bar fights, or ricocheting bullets off scenery to take out enemies around corners.

Whether they'll succeed or not is anyone's guess, but I like the gritty detail present under 'Production Plan' on the Kickstarter page. They're being clear about what they've built so far - three prototyped scenarios of a planned six, for example - and it doesn't sound too unbound in scope. Also one of the features is that "Survived wounds are forged into permanent perks," which sounds exciting.

The game is already $18k towards its $70k target, with 26 days to go. If you want to posse up, $15CAD nets you a Steam key upon release.

Read this next