Colt Canyon review

It seems cowboys might be the new thing again what with the release of Desperados 3, West of Dead and now Colt Canyon. It’s not something that ever went away, but it’s definitely a time in history that still seems under appreciated and is full of untapped potential. Colt Canyon is the newest game to try and tackle the Old West, with mixed results.

Much like a lot of old westerns, this is a game of revenge and rescue. Bandits have come and stolen you’re buddy, shot you and left you for dead. What happens next is a journey across several procedurally generated levels and bosses with a hope that you can rescue your partner. The story is uncomplicated, your objective is clear and only the classic rogue-lite challenges will stand in your way. Choose a character, select a weapon and off you go.

What we have here is a twin stick shooter where every round of ammo is precious and upgrades are random and limited. You only start with a few rounds for your weapon and are expected to break the barrels and boxes that litter the areas. Thankfully, you’re also equipped with a knife and sneaking about makes it easier to take enemies out. With a quick roll and a tap of the melee button, most enemies can be put down in one hit. This also prevents others from being alerted and minimises the risk of being shot to ribbons.

Like all of these games, the starter weapon is weak, the starter character is weak and progress will be slow. Success also relies heavily on luck when it comes to which weapons and upgrades are found. Thankfully, you can build a posse if you can find and rescue the person hidden somewhere in the level. Well sometimes you can – these guys offer a variety of upgrades whether it’s ammo, a health boost or one of the others available. Should you decide to hire them into your posse, you’ll also need to give them a weapon so they can provide backup. Thankfully they appear to have unlimited ammo, but they can be a little overzealous in combat. In these situations, stealth kinda goes out the window. However, they’re pretty much essential when it comes to the boss fights.

Levels are sizeable and encourage exploration, mainly to find the aforementioned hostage but also to find better weapons and more ammo. There are also breakable walls to destroy that contain weapons and ammo. Despite the simplistic pixel art graphics, there’s lots of environmental detail. Little cacti, farms filled with wheat fields, petrified forests and more give the play space some character. I also liked the old timey sepia effect but it sometimes makes it a little more difficult to make things out. Unlockable characters and weapons add a little life to the game and make things a little easier as well.

However, game does have some minor issues, mainly with the aiming reticule and the difficulty spikes. Traversing the levels is pretty straightforward and presents only the most minor of challenges. As soon as you bump into a boss, things get a bit more hectic. The bosses are bullet sponges and spam the arena with mobs making it even more difficult to get hits. Limited ammo capacity for each weapon and slow reload times become a hindrance. Even more so when you consider that reloading a weapon slows the speed of the player. The cool down on the roll makes it difficult to avoid all contact and things like fences and rocks become frustrating obstacles. The aiming reticule has been designed to let you see further into the distance, but the further out you push it, the more inaccurate weapon seems to be. Throwing dynamite becomes a pain as getting the distance and judging the timing gets more difficult.

Overall, Colt Canyon is fun but more than a little frustrating. Moment to moment gameplay is challenging, boss battles are grim roadblocks and the luck required far outweighs the skill the player can bring. It’s great to pick up and have a few runs whenever you have a spare half hour, but slow progression will hinder most, and that’s what makes it difficult to recommend.