Colt Canyon Review

"A Million Ways to Die in the West"

Campaign

June 20, 2020 at 5:45pm
By Jason Stettner

Your partner has been taken, and it’s up to you to get them back. This is a rogue-like 2D pixel experience with hardcore shooting elements to it. It’s a twin stick game where you go about blasting away enemies with a wide range of weapons. After removing your foes, you then start progressing across additional randomized areas. You’re never sure what the next area will be like, but you can go back to revisit ones that you’ve already completed.

It’s interesting, as you don’t necessarily need to attack enemies unless it’s an ambush situation. You can use some stealth, but for the most part it’s more fun to annihilate anything in your way. That might make this sound easy, but it’s actually fairly hardcore as you’re trying to survive as long as possible. It’s quite difficult, and you really don’t feel a sense of progression if that makes sense.

You’re not really given carry over tools and you start from scratch. Along the way you’ll come across many unique events, with some kidnapped individuals. These folks, if saved will give you a choice of upgrades or to have them as a companion. You can give them a weapon, and have multiple companions too which was interesting in moments of conflict. There is a light story here to kick things off, but from there you’re battling to survive and even taking on the occasional tough boss fight.

Gameplay

I really enjoyed the visual aesthetics of Colt Canyon, it’s really interesting to look at. It’s a busy sort of world, being detailed yet very minimalistic. I really did like how this looked. It was easy to tell what I was shooting at, and at times nice to just look at. The locations were little segments of the west. You were never sure what might show up. It could be a dangerous ambush, maybe some open fields or even an empty desolate desert wasteland.

The enemies were greatly varied, with unique attacks and skills to deal with. On top of that, there were animals too. Nothing like getting bucked by a horse, what a way to go. There were many ways to die of course, and to come back for a new run. I would have liked a bit more of a sense of progression however. I will also note that this does support two player local coop play so that’s nice to have for those that want it.

As mentioned, many weapons and tools are available. Things such as throwing dynamite, or picking up various weapons you come across. Use melee attacks such as broken bottles, or blast at a distance with rifles. If you’re looking for ammo which is scarce, you either need to eliminate enemies or gather them by smashing crates and barrels that have been left around the areas. A final note, the music set the mood and atmosphere well in this one.

The Conclusion

Colt Canyon is a solid twin stick shooter that uses the rogue-like style of gameplay to produce a challenging western adventure. It’s all about saving your partner, and attempting a number of times to do so. There’s the standard character, and additional ones that you unlock as you play.

You’ll face off against a variety of enemies, using a wide range of weapons that you come across. It’s got a good difficulty edge to it, and mostly I would have liked a greater sense of progression for the character since the permadeath felt rough to work against.

The two player coop was nice to see, even if it is just local. The places you visited continuously felt fresh which is great and I thought the minimalistic pixel art style was just gorgeous to take in. Every scene was filled with a subtle amount of detail, and then was flowing with blood in most situations by the time I would leave it.

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Colt Canyon Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by Headup Games

Rating Overall: 7.2