Ride With Your Pals in 4 Player Co-Op RPG Boot Hill Heroes

When was the last time you couldn’t power-level your way through an RPG?

When was the last time you couldn’t power-level your way through an RPG? For me, that was Boot Hill Heroes . The game features a complex, yet straightforward battle system that should make every RPG fanatic sit up and take notice. Bringing along a couple of friends may help make the fighting easier with the game’s four player co-op, but developer Experimental Gamerhas no intention of going easy on anyone who picks their title up. Now that it’s available on Steam, more people will be able to feel the pain from this difficult Wild West RPG.

Instead of mindlessly mashing attack, Boot Hill Heroes offers players a handful of offensive and defensive moves with various casting costs. If it hits harder, it takes longer to do. Your enemies hit harder and faster than the player characters, though, so you’ll have to choose your moves wisely. You can cancel them at any time, but looking at what the enemy is doing and building your strategy on that (in real time) is much more important. Party wipes come fast when facing the game’s tougher enemies, which might seem surprising given the game’s lighthearted art style. Bringing along four allies on dedicated tasks helps make things a little easier, but many players may find themselves stunned at how unforgiving the game is when it comes to carelessness.

Beyond the combat’s draw, the Old West setting is just something that rarely gets explored in the genre outside the occasional game. It’s a nice change of pace from swinging a sword around, and feels especially good given the dialogue details and Jake Kaufman’s (composer for Shovel Knight) fine soundtrack. Players interested in a serious, yet charming Old West storyline, and playing a satisfyingly challenging game with friends, can now grab a copy of the game from Steam for half price($4.99) until October 17.