Blood West

Blood West doesn't pull any punches and is more than happy to kill you over and over again, but it makes overcoming the odds so satisfying.

But perhaps Blood West’s strongest component is its exploration, and the pull to devour every inch of its creepy map design can be reason enough to turn the game into a 30-hour experience or more. The amount of that time spent dying and backtracking are all part of the hellish journey, but the difficulty is balanced such that gamers of all stripes should find enough equipment and upgrades to power their way through. For a combat-heavy horror game, Blood West focuses on the most important details and leaves the rest to rot, and their full release version delivers one of the year's best surprises.

Blood West is a fantastic stealth FPS with some light immersive sim elements. The world feels incredibly bleak, yet super atmospheric, definitely worth the pickup!

Blood West is a cruel and tough stealth FPS. Moreover, its retro approach and slow-gameplay will appeal to older gamers. However, its brutal learning curve will put off many would-be fans.

Blood West is an FPS with a strong stealth component and a soulslike difficulty that will see you try over and over various ways to wipe out enemies. The penalties assigned whenever you die in the long run can make your character almost unplayable, but once you tame the insane difficulty curve, the various possible builds are very different from each other and you will definitely have fun experimenting. The sound is excellent and the lowpoly graphics are good, although it would have been nice to make the maps a little richer. Some will find it very punishing, and the absence of difficulty levels does not run to its aid, but the Wild West is a ruthless world.

If you are a fan of classic stealth FPS games, classic FPS games, or even Western games in general, Blood West will be right up your alley. And if you’re not, Blood West may still be worth your time if you have any interest in it based on some of its other factors such as the eldritch horror, resource management, or even challenging gameplay. As someone who hasn’t had as much experience with stealth FPS games, it did take a bit of time to get accustomed to its workings, but once I hit my stride, I found it hard to put the game down.

Blood West is a great addition to the horror western genre with level design and a range of approaches that would be fitting for an immersive sim. The chapter bosses can be a little underwhelming, but after nearly 30 hours spent in this world, I highly recommend you do the same. Just don’t expect to come back alive…