By Badger Nimahson
It is no secret that here at Stoffel Presents we love our Indie games but Colt Canyon is a truly special title.
Developed by Retrific Studios. A one man indie game studio created by Jonathan Mannshoven. A 22-year-old games developer and student. Jonathan has worked on a number of titles and prototypes. He describes Colt Canyon as his “Magnus Opus” and it isn’t hard to see why.
At first glance, Colt Canyon doesn’t look like much. Its block pixel graphics overlayed on a brown-tinted backdrop are not very enticing but as the old saying goes “never judge a game by its pixels.”
Underneath the simple aesthetic of Colt Canyon lies an addictive, fun and highly replayable indie game. Procedurally generated levels combined with rouge-like gameplay mechanics instantly suck you into Colt Canyon.
The story is kept quite simple in Colt Canyon. Your partner has been kidnapped and you need to go save them. Story done, stage set, motivation explained. Nice and quick, now off you go.
This simple story allows Retrific to focus more on gameplay that is an absolute joy. This isn’t said enough about games but Colt Canyon is bloody good fun to play. This is a game that you will enjoy playing on your own or with a few beers and some friends.
Each level is procedurally but persistently generated. meaning whilst each level is different on every run they stay the same during each run so you can go back and explore.
Exploration is encouraged but the risk of permadeath makes you weigh up the risk and reward of exploring that bandit camp or native village. Kill everyone in the camp and you might rescue an NPC to fight alongside you, increase your stats, unlock a new character or find a sweet new weapon.
Speaking of weapons there are currently 40 weapons in the game with more to come later. Each weapon has its own advantages but as well as great gameplay Colt Canyon places a massive emphasis on ammo management and manual reload. Stumble across a couple of bandits without reloading…Game Over! Spray that bandit camp with wanton abandonment, lay waste to everyone and oh look a bear…Game Over!
With the amazing gameplay, ammo management, rogue-like elements, permadeath and unlockable characters Colt Canyon is an amazing indie title with a massive amount of replayability.
Currently, Colt Canyon is a single-player game but there are plans to add a couch co-op two-player mode and maybe even a party mode! With a release window of Q4 2019 for PC and Q1 2020 for PS4, Xbox One and Switch Colt Canyon is definitely an indie title to watch out for.
Stay tuned to Stoffel Presents because we will most definitely be reviewing Colt Canyon closer to release.
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