At point-blank range every shot automatically hits. Luck is reduced by the hit chance of a shot and a character is hit if a shot depletes his luck. Rather than relying on random number generation to determine hits, characters are given a luck attribute. Low barriers constitute 'half cover' and barriers taller than a character constitute 'full cover', the latter providing more protection.Ī major difference from most other turn-based tactical games is the absence of randomness in Hard West's core gameplay. The game also uses a cover system based on two cover types which lower the chance to get hit and damage received. During combat every character starts each turn with two action points which can be spent on either a move or shot each, although most weapons instantly end a character's turn upon being fired. Hard West's tactical gameplay largely follows the standards set by XCOM: Enemy Unknown. This way players can interact with characters, perform a variety of custom actions, hire new characters into the player character's posse or initiate trade or combat. Location visits on the strategic map are presented via simple text panels accompanied by static illustrations and allow the player to perform actions by picking entries from a list.

The game is divided into two strictly separate modes, turn-based tactical encounters and a strategic exploration map where the player can travel a map and visit locations. Creatures such as demons, ghosts and undead gunslingers are present in the game's vision of the old west.

Themes typical of the Western genre, such as bank robberies, lynching and the gold rush are commonplace in the game's world but also metaphysical beings such as Death and the Devil directly influence the lives of the local population. Hard West takes place in a heavily fictionalized version of the American Old West following standards of the Western genre but with the addition of supernatural elements, taking inspirations from XCOM.

Hard west wikia