The Turn Based Lovers have reviewed the recently released tactical RPG The Feud: Wild West Tactics:

The Feud: Wild West Tactics – Review

Recent release of Desperados 3 showed that action and shooting gallery aren’t the only genres that work in the Wild West setting. Though Desperados series is a stealth tactic game, it’s still in real-time. The Feud: The Wild West Tactics, however, not only went full turn-based, but it also added a strategy layer.
Heroes of Guns and Horses

And its strategy gameplay feels a lot like the HoMM series. Except you don’t upgrade your main base. And posses you send from there consist entirely of ‘heroes’, that are hired guns with their statistics and abilities.

You also have a research tree that holds various ‘technologies’. Some increase production of the game’s four resources – money, ore, wood, and goods. Others raise some statistics during combat. Or grant bonuses for the ‘strategy level’, increasing amount of posses that you can own simultaneously, for example.

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For a Fistful of Dollars

For what it’s worth, The Feud: Wild West Tactics offers a rare tactical experience in the ‘Wild West’ setting. It has its moments. And strategic mode with capturing settlements has a lot of potentials.

However, that potential is never fully realized. Research and characters leveling-up doesn’t offer much new abilities beside ‘+10 to some stat’ or ‘a shot that stuns or puts other debuff’. And because of lacking variety, the game can become boring rather fast.

Maybe you could squeeze some more tactical ideas from multiplayer. But the game doesn’t have multiplayer.

So, overall The Feud deserves a score above the average, as it stands out among indie games due to its setting. But not by much.

Score: 6/10

Some info about the perks and quirks of The Feud: Wild West Tactics:

Perks and Quirks

When we set to making hired guns that you could pair up with your “hero” characters we decided we wanted them to have more gameplay flavor than which weapon they used and their visual look. The system we came up with is Perks and Quirks.

Each hired gun has a potential for Perks (good thing like a special ability or stat bonus) and Quirks (bad things like being a drunkard or having, being overconfident or having a bad knee). These elements help define how a hired gun plays and add some character during fights. A drunkard may whip out a bottle and decided he’d rather pound down a little whisky instead of taking an action while a quick draw specialist may have some surprises for anyone who takes a shot at him.

The rarity of hired guns affects how many quirks they have. Low rarity means you’ll be dealing with potentially more than one Quirk while a legendary hired gun may have some amazing ability Perks and few Quirks. Like many of the systems in Feud, hired guns are assigned these benefits and shortcomings randomly so in Saga mode you should always keep your eye out for surprisingly good or bad recruits.

In play modes like Skirmish you can make life rough on yourself by trying out an oddball team of randomly created hired guns to see if you can take them through a fight with as few casualties as possible. It can be fun working within a handicapped posses’ limitation and pulling off a victory.

Choose your posse wisely!

Until next time,

The Feud Team

The Feud: Wild West Tactics is an upcoming strategy RPG:

The Feud: Wild West Tactics

Feud: Wild West Tactics is a turn based game all about gun blazing, shotgun blasting, knife stabbing and dynamite throwing action in the Wild West. Centered on the famous Hatfield and McCoy feud you’ll be able to play special storylines from each side with sets of unique characters, each with a ton of personality and grit! Learning how to use your posse effectively against the dangers of the world is the core of the game. Only the hardiest gunslingers can expect to go the distance and survive!

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When you get through with the story, you can try your hand at empire building in Western Saga mode. Based on traditional 4x strategy games, you’ll be able to capture resources on the map, research numerous upgrades, explore, investigate events, hold up wagon trains, hunt down wanted men, and most importantly drive the other enemy families off your land for good!

Key Features

Turn Based Tactics in the Old West

Polished and fun turn based gameplay that focuses in small team battles. You’ll need to learn your character’s abilities and specialties to survive the fights. The Enemy talent system means the harder battles differ each time you play, giving enemies a personal touch.

Develop your Characters

As you move through storylines you’ll level up your characters choosing new abilities and developing existing ones. You’ll also be able to equip your characters with a variety of items including ones specially made for them.

Multiple Storylines

Play through three storylines and 32 missions with unique maps. You’ll face a wide range of challenges from straightforward kill missions to destroy missions. The advanced difficulty mode provides the ultimate challenge to the seasoned player!

Western Saga

A massive meta game that lets you see if you can build the ultimate western empire by taking over the map from three enemy factions. Choose from two different sides. You’ll explore, research, recruit and conquer. Saga includes a variety of difficulties including hardcore mode where your losses for fight to fight are permanent.

Endless Mode

Endless mode lets you throw together a team of hired guns, heroes or a combination of the two for a quick endless series of challenges on a variety of maps. Endless mode comes complete with a load of in game achievements to test the heartiest gunslinger.

Game Features

RICH STORY MODE CAMPAIGN with a total of 32 missions and two difficulty levels

BUILD A WESTERN EMPIRE in saga mode where you can recruit hired guns, take over territory and research a massive amount of upgrades. Create your own strategies and see if you can defeat the enemy factions.

ENDLESS SHOWDOWN MODE featuring hired guns, battle quirks and random challenges

11 HERO CHARACTERS inspired by History and the archetypes of the old west with unique abilities and talents that allow you to develop different strategies.

RPG STYLE ITEM SYSTEM with dozens of common, uncommon, rare and legendary items to equip on your heroes

CLASSIC WESTERN WEAPONS from pistols to long rifles and knives

DEEP RESEARCH TREES with over a hundred improvements to research in western saga

DOZENS OF DYANMIC EVENTS await in saga mode including: Bank robberies, wagon heists, bear battles, deer hunting events, curses, hog stealing etc.

RANDOMIZED WORLD MAP and hero discovery order means no two games are the same

DIVERSE LOCATIONS including grassland, swamp, moutains, woods, towns, mines, lumbermills, caves and the desert with multiple maps in each area.

UNIQUE PERK AND QUIRK SYSTEM gives your hired guns memorable traits like being a drunkard who occasionally takes a turn off to down some whisky or being a quickdraw master.

CLASSIC WESTERN STANDOFFS where you draw and shoot, the gunslinger with the best timing wins.

SPECIAL WEAPON ABILITIES are activated along with extra action points and boosted stats after a kill. Learn how to master them to change the flow of a fight

BEAUTIFUL ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK with over a dozen tracks

CINEMATIC CAMERAS highlight special attack and brutal hits