West of Loathing Review

"Ye Olde West"

Campaign

West of Loathing is a stickman based western game of choice and RPG design. Playing as your own custom stick person you move through the lands completing main goals while exploring the incredibly in-depth landscape. Things start off small as you work through a quaint old west town, grab yourself a partner and learn the basics of how things work within this world. It's simple, yet full of charm and there are just too many things you can do. Each adventure has you run into some sort of situation whether that's a new place to visit or a random enemy encounter. This leads to possibly discovering some unique places, finding helpful items or engaging in turn based combat.

You don't really need to fight in the game and that's really what's great here is that there are multiple options for completing almost everything. It's also large in scale providing a pile of interesting places, characters and parts of the story to enjoy. I loved just how much you could possibly do aside from moving through the core narrative and it just sprawls out. There are mystical, magical and just regular old west elements that all can come into play at any time. You never know what's around the corner or what sort of side thing you're going to happen along.

Gameplay

The game is very simple in design, yet incredibly detailed despite carrying just regular stick based graphics. The animations were fun and it all felt very natural despite the look. It's also littered with items to collect, purchase or pillage from enemies and by the end my inventory was just stacked with things. There are multiple clothing items to grab and things to stockpile such as food which can alter your abilities. These abilities can be self-allocated or you can just let the game do them and additional skills are obtained through experience. The UI is simple and it can all be played with little inputs being a relaxing time. It's also rather funny with some great little jokes on ye olde west. The turn based combat was fine though sometimes difficult, it could have been a tad more engaging though overall that aspect worked fine.

The Conclusion

West of Loathing is a highly entertaining, sometimes bizarre and mostly a charming RPG. It's a blast to play and over the decently lengthy game it's an enjoyable time to the point you don't notice it passing by. There are so many things you can do while adventuring in the west and a pile of activities just waiting to be explored. The turn based combat was fine though never pushed as you can find other ways to take on challenges. There are a wide range of characters to meet, items to collect and secrets to explore. It's also dynamic based on what choices you make and by the end you'll see your impact on the places you visited. Watch out for deadly savage cows!

West of Loathing for PC
Review Code provided by Asymmetric

Rating Overall: 8.5