Blood West review: The wild west meets the depths of hell

Developed by Hyperstrange, Blood West is the newest game to join the realm of stealth shooters. While it’s not exactly along the lines of Splinter Cell or even the Hitman franchise, it’s got some similar elements. The game was in early access for quite a while, and the full version of it is finally available. Almost everything works in favor of the game.

Despite not being a huge fan of stealth shooters, I had a lovely time getting my hands dirty in the world of Blood West. That said, let’s move on with the review!

Blood West’s plot is filled with monsters lurking in the shadows

The premise of the game is simple. You are a gunslinger who was buried by a shaman. However, the spirits of the lands have other plans and have brought you back to life to seek out the root of evil and destroy it.

The entire game is divided into three stages. For the first stage, you will find yourself in a derelict town in a canyon. The second stage takes place in the bayou with the final stage taking you to the mountains. Over these three stages, you will come across different types of monsters, some of which can be distracted quite easily, while others are a bit more difficult to distract.

The enemy AI is well-made, and it’s important that you deal with a single enemy at a time. Do not try to deal with groups of them, especially during the early stages of the game. Later on, when you have access to a better arsenal of weapons, it will become easier to take down groups of enemies, but I would still advise you not to.

One of the many monsters you will come across in Blood West. (Image via Hyperstrange)

There are multiple ways in which you can approach these enemies, so you can always get creative. Furthermore, as you progress through the game, you will come across notes that have information about the monsters that you encounter in the game, so make sure to read them. The information within these notes can help you easily avoid or kill these monsters.

As is with all horror survival games, ammo is limited. So, you will have to ensure that all your shots count. You will be able to buy them from traders spread across the lands and loot them from houses and caves, but it will never be enough if you want to go all guns blazing unless, of course, you manage to land a headshot with every single hit.

Blood West has a unique take on the inventory slots

The Inventory system can be upgraded as well. (Image via Hyperstrange)

One of the most interesting features of Blood West was how their inventory was designed. In most games, you will come across inventories where items are stacked in a list, with their corresponding numbers in the lower right corner. Some follow a grid format as well.

Blood West, on the other hand, follows a grid format, but the items occupy multiple grid spaces at the same time. It looks like a Tetris puzzle, so once your inventory is full, you can try to rearrange the order in which the items are to extract some additional space. This inventory size is also expandable, so that’s somewhat of a relief.

You earn skill points for leveling up. (Image via Hyperstrange)

Unfortunately, you can equip only two weapons at any given point in the game. So, you really need to decide what you want to use and what you don’t. You can obviously switch out weapons as and when you need them, but it won’t pause the game.

Furthermore, if you feel that you don’t require a particular weapon, you can always sell it for additional gold. It’s a nice way to make a quick buck on the side.

Blood West features dark Western music at its finest

Music is one of the primary features that I look at when it comes to picking up a game. The background score in Blood West manages to add a beautiful and dark undertone to the already grim environment that the visuals set up.

What’s more is that the monsters have their own sets of audio cues as well, which will allow you to figure out where they are. Overall, the audio segment complements the other aspects of the game very beautifully. Yes, there are no jump scares, but the music and the ambient sounds will send a chill down your spine every now and then.

The areas are very dimly lit, which adds to the overall spooky environment. (Image via Hyperstrange)

The visuals are pixelated, and there's a lot of gore. Blood West uses low poly graphics, which adds a slight retro vibe to it as well. The combination of the visuals, the sound design, and the gameplay work in favor of the game to such an extent that it can be really hard to put down.

In Conclusion

The skull totems are nothing but checkpoint markers. You spawn here if you die. (Image via Hyperstrange)

Almost every feature in the game works in its favor. From the music to the way the inventory is managed, everything just hits the correct spots. However, the only major flaw that I saw was the lack of adequately spaced checkpoints. If you die, there’s a lot of backtracking you need to do, and if you die thrice, you’re cursed, which acts like a debuff on your player.

While the curse bit doesn’t hurt the overall gameplay that much because it acts as a challenge modifier, the tedious backtracking can be very annoying. Apart from that, the game has a few RPG elements that allow you to assign skill points to certain skills.

The game has a power creep, yes, but it’s spaced out very well. You start as a player who struggles to dispatch enemies and then slowly grow your way into becoming this fearless warrior of the dark who is one skill point short of turning into a force of nature.