West of Loathing

Genre: Turn-Based RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

West of Loathing is a Turn-Based RPG that aims to do one thing very well – it wants to charm your pants off and make you laugh. Everything else here is just garnish. Yes, it’s an RPG, there are turn-based battles and all that, and yes, there are technically graphics, in that your eyeballs will be looking at something, but more than anything, this game wants your focus on the funny.

That’ would be a terrible idea if this game wasn’t funny, and while different people are going to have different takes on what is and isn’t funny, but I think I can say that this game succeeds very well in this area – this game is a laugh riot. This game takes place in a very exaggerated and absurd version of the Wild West that’s ridiculous in just the right sorta’ tongue-in-cheek way.

To give you an idea, one of the first things you’re likely to do is read a book that will grant you the status “funny walk”, ensuring that your character walks around in a ridiculous manner for the rest of the game. The game’s currency isn’t gold or dollars, but meat. The first town you visit is called Boring Springs, where you’ll meet the local Sherf (the sign-maker screwed up, and the sheriff sherf decided to just go with it) who wants you to bring back his stolen jail door. And people keep alluding to The Cows Coming Home, apparently a terrible calamity involving demonic cows.

Okay, so probably I’m not selling it all that well here, but suffice it to say, the game uses a clever wit to make sure that every corner of the game is filled with something amusing, and while it may not be as funny coming from me, the game makes it all pretty damn hilarious.

That said, pretty much everything else in the game is pretty lackluster by comparison. The graphics look like stick figures drawn by a child in a black and white world. The gameplay is pretty simplistic turn-based JRPG fare. There’s nothing wrong with either of these things, they both get the job done and feel conducive to the game’s lighter tone, but you will definitely not be playing this game for either of these things.

I wold say that overall, West of Loathing does what it sets out to do magnificently – it is a game absolutely loaded with a great sense of humor that will propel you to keep playing to see more of its absurd world. However, if you’re looking for… well, anything else… suffice it to say, in that case this game probably isn’t for you. The graphics and gameplay here aren’t terrible, but they’re both clearly just in service to the humor.

tl;dr – West of Loathing is a turn-based RPG that is determined to deliver an absolutely hilarious experience with its ridiculous parody of the wild West, and it succeeds at this brilliantly. Don’t expect anything much in terms of gameplay or graphics, though – they’re not horrible, but they’re clearly an after-thought and mostly just here in service to the funny.

Grade: B

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