Rustler (Grand Theft Horse) Reviews

game got abandoned

[h1]⚠WARNING - THIS GAME HAS THE WORST FLAMETHROWER IN ANY VIDEO GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED⚠[/h1] [b]TL;DR[/b] - Quite amusing love letter to old GTA titles. It's been a while since I've laughed out loud while playing a video game, but Rustler managed to make me laugh multiple times. It's also really janky (like the old GTAs were - high fidelity?) and this jankiness can lead to furstration. But I've had a lot of fun playing it - [b]get it on a discount[/b]. [h1]⚠WARNING - THIS GAME HAS THE WORST FLAMETHROWER IN ANY VIDEO GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED⚠[/h1] Rustler will take you back to a simpler time, when video games were more about gameplay and having fun than longwinded narratives that tried to mask the fact, that the game has no gameplay. I've beat GTA 2 at least six Times, and I still have no clue if the game had any story at all. With that said, what suprised me in Rustler was that it had a story, that I actually read through. It's oldschool humor not only made me smile but laugh out loud. Monty Python influence is strong with this one. [h1]⚠WARNING - THIS GAME HAS THE WORST FLAMETHROWER IN ANY VIDEO GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED⚠[/h1] As for the story you play as a guy named Guy who has a buddy named Buddy. Their dream is to get rich and famous by joining and winning a knightly tournament under the nose of their boss Boss… I mean Herb. Simple as. Journey to the end is full of funny, bizzare and criminal adventures. Guy isn't a blank canvas and we get insight into unfolding events thourgh his, a bit cynical, lenses. If you liked GTA 1 or 2, you'll like this game. Gameplay is a bit janky - I often got stuck on some seemingly minor obstacles - which is especially annoying when trying to either dodge in combat or you're on a timed mission and your carriage gets stuck on a pebble or a stick. Same goes for combat, I had no trouble for the most part, but some weapons are better than others that have confusing hitboxes (WE'LL GET TO FLAMETHROWER). My major gripe is the stamina system - you can't just spam attack. But enemies can. And they'll easly stunlock and kill you, even if you've upgraded your health (yes, this game has skillpoints system). Armor easly breaks, sometimes I lost it after being hit like twice with, no kidding, a stick. In short - you're not much stronger than an average NPC - only thing to your advantage is your arsenal. [h1]⚠WARNING - THIS GAME HAS THE WORST FLAMETHROWER IN ANY VIDEO GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED⚠[/h1] Alright, alright, I'll adress the flamethrower. It sucks. It's disappointing. I love flamethrowers in games, and remembering GTA 2, I was hoping for something similar. And not... This. Basically you have to walk up to almost point blank range, then hold down the buton to slowly do damage to an NPC. And only after few hits they get set on fire, at which point they walk off and come back since usually being burned doesn't kill them. It doesn't even do splash damage. Reminds me of the old YouTube video - "The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon". I thought it's gonna be some type of crowd control weapon, meanwhile it's just worse auto-crossbow. Granted, you don't have to reload it, but the crossbow kills enemies faster and has far more reliable hitbox. I miss GTA's 2 flamer… Humor - oldschool, unapologetic, not pulling any punches. As I mentioned above, it's been a while since I laughed out loud while playing a video game and it was nice to see that they didn't just do a bunch of references (of which there are a lot) to popculture, but also came up with some creative jokes and dialogue. Music! Music in this game is great. It ranges from atmospheric period pieces to the goddamn electronic Pumpin Mumble, which has been stuck in my head for the past few days. I have no idea who decided to sample and mix polish christmas carol, but that guy (hehe) was evil genius. A solid soundtrack, it would definitely work in Witcher or older Assasin's Creed. Graphics are decent - I love that NPCs walk around, spit, lean on buildings, get in random fights, smoke cigs and so on. You can see a lot love and care went into creating enviroments. Which is a bit of a shame - I think most people won't even notice this stuff - but I think it's like a good sound design - un-noticed when done right but really jarring if missing or done wrong. Top notch job from whoever worked on the enviroment and NPC animations. Side activities seem like an afterthought thou. Most of them are just copies of eachother with little to no variation, you're just riding a different horse/carriage. Especially carriage activities - if you get any wanted stars - good luck to you. Carriage is unable to outrun guard horse in the long run - they'll catch up to you and destroy the carriage - thus failing the activity. These were pain to get through (yes, I have to max those statistics out). Having written all that, I really had fun playing Rustler. I've beaten game twice (gotta get that achievement) and despite all the jank in the end I would totally recommend it. Made me feel like I'm playing Gothic and if that's not endorsement, I don't know what is. Rustler doesn't just ape old GTAs but also adds in more modern features, I doubt I would have a good time playing original GTA 2 nowdays. Overall solid game, get it when it's on sale. I hope devs will do a sequel or build up on the idea. Just please, make a better flamethrower next time...

Steam needs a "middle" option. Any hooch. It has a weird launcher. If it wasn't for that, I would definitely recommend it. But the moment its meh