Boot Hill Bounties Review.

RELEASE DATE: PC: 2017 (reviewed,) Switch: April 14th 2020

DEVELOPER: Experimental Gamer Studios

PUBLISHER: Experimental Gamer Studios

PRICE: $12.99 (PC) $14.99 (Switch)

Taking place shortly after its predecessor Boot Hill Heroes, Boot Hill Bounties does a fine job introducing the party members and noting their previous adventures. This sets anyone up nicely, even those with no prior game experience. Rosy, Doc, Moon, and The Kid (that’s you) set out to collect the bounties on the various members of the Saints-Little Gang and along the way pick up a nice side order of vengeance for the gang riling the party members up in various ways.

It’s the end of the line. Also, there is a creepy guy dressed like Abe Lincoln hiding behind the privy.

The first part of the game is rather linear but opens up into four unique stories that can be taken in any order. Each focuses on following a clue to one or more members of the gang, and for the most part focuses on one of the party members adding some needed background to each. Be warned, the story doesn’t end when you accomplish your immediate goal, there is a post-credits cliffhanger to the next installment. (This is part two of a planned trilogy). Combat uses an interesting time system, with combatants accruing action points at a steady rate. These are used by various skills, called vantages, which are provided based on which hat the party member is wearing. Yes, I said hat, cowboys, hats, get it? “Sigh I guess not, maybe they should have gone with boots.” Anyway most hats start out with four vantage slots, though more slots and more choices can be unlocked as the hat levels up after battle. (That is a sentence I thought I would never use). Each hat provides a fresh set of skills and through the hats the party expands their abilities. Hat jokes aside, this is clever, a fusion of wordplay and game design. (Another sentence I never expected to use.) If a party member is knocked out during combat, they automatically revive after a time. Some skills can revive them immediately, but the time a character is down extends with each knockdown, and they also acquire a matching wound that affects their battle performance in some way; for example, bleeding will cause a health drop. Other status effects are also important and inflicting these or other hindrances, can be the key to victory. Wounds can only be healed by visiting a doctor, camping, or using a med-kit, and the game adds some additional depth through equipment loadouts, as well as via weapon enhancing, this is done by using items collected or found on The Kid’s farm. Difficulty can be changed freely in the menu, but even on easy the bosses will still give you a spanking if you aren’t prepared and some enemies have an instant kill ability even on the lowest difficulty.

Apologize to his mule or get four coffins, ready.

Difficulty wise, Boot Hill Bounties won’t hold your hand. This makes winning a battle feel much better but there are times where you just can’t figure out what’s going on. There are also some irritations, for example the auto-save picking weird times to activate, and the game not allowing access to settings menu during battle. You feel this when you are getting waffle stomped by random livestock and want to reduce difficulty. The game’s art is just what you would expect and pulls off both the retro look and the wild west theme rather nicely, adding plenty of cool touches, such as updating character portraits to reflect their current hat. In fairness, the retro graphics turned off my 9 year old, who thought it was some relic from the depths of my hard drive, certainly a double edged comment. There is a fair amount of variation in enemies, and I don’t detect any random encounters, you can fight if you choose or go another direction..

On the flip side, combat animation is minimal but the mood is well set by the soundtrack. Speaking of the soundtrack, it is enjoyable and matches the setting, providing a much needed sense of excitement to the combat and helping to figure out just where you are. Like many games, music changes with location and I found this helpful more than a few times. In addition to the main quest there are a fair number of challenges, quests, and puzzles for along the way. Experimental Gamer spent some effort to make certain there is plenty to do and Dilbert himself doesn’t have a spreadsheet that can keep track of all the potential side quests I happened across.

There’s a snake in my… uh ….Turtle, there’s a turtle in my boot!

Bottom line, Experimental Gamer Studios has certainly made a strong effort enough to resurrect interest in the Wild West and in this particular trilogy. This game marks a strong second title, and new players shouldn’t be afraid of jumping straight in although checking out the previous title certainly wouldn’t be amiss. I’ve no doubt the developer will be able to make a fitting conclusion to the trilogy.

Boot HIll Bounties Review