West Of Loathing: The Perfect Western Rpg
Yee! Haw! Cowboy! Let’s go West in this comedidic stick-figure RPG!
A slapstick comedy stick-figure wild west adventure role-playing game
What is West of Loathing?
Created by Asymmetric Publications, West of Loathing was released on August 10, 2017. It’s a single-player video game that won Best Comedy Game in 2017 in PC Gamer’s 2017 Game of the Year Awards.
Interestingly, the game takes place in an already established universe of Asymmetric’s Kingdom of Loathing, but this time in a fantasy Western themed frontier setting set in the year 1895.
You play as a customizable stick-figure ranch hand who has big dreams and leaves westward from home. Although some may call the animations crude, I think they have a special charm to it. But regardless, the overall story, plot, and dialogue is eloquently written.
There is a set number of places, but the order and how you find out about these places varies. There are so many different ways to interact with NPCs and objects in the game that everyone’s journey is different. Your actions directly reflect your character and the world around you. You can choose what attributes to focus on and which NPCs to befriend. One of the first choices that the game forces you to make is your character class. Now, a “normal” RPG game’s character class probably looks something like: knight, archer, bard, etc. West of Loathing’s character class pertains to three unique choices: beanslinger, cowpuncher, and snake charmer. (Talk about an authentic western themed game!)
My favorite part was the ending. The culmination of all your choices will make the ending differ. Every choice that you make in the game matters. For example, focusing on different attributes will unlock different dialogue and action options. You may be able to get away with more things if you upgrade your charm level. Or you may be able to interact with more objects if you increase your intelligence level.
To learn more about this game, you can check out the game’s official website here.
