Blogs
on November 22, 2025
<br>One of the most fascinating sub-genres that I discovered was the samurai western. There were three that I stumbled upon with one being bad, one being mediocre, and the other being fantastic. Let's start with bad, Samurai Western . You just know a game is going to be good when it’s named after its genre. I look forward to playing Platformer, First-Person Shooter, and Racing this Fall. Ahem, cheap jokes aside Samurai Western stars Gojiro Kiryu who has traveled to the U.S. in search of his brother Rando. It’s extremely cheesy, the voice acting is some of the worst on the system. Gameplay is your basic hack and slash with some RPG elements thrown in. It’s a great idea and the box art is gorgeous, but Samurai Western is awful on the wh<br><br>Until Rockstar reveals more, though, I will keep being nervous over just what Red Dead Redemption 2 is. A lot of rumors are floating around that it’s a prequel. If it is, they could knock it out of the park, I just don’t want them relying on The Magnificent Seven to do it. Give us an American classic, something steeped in our own mythos, while keeping it fresh. Running and gunning is fun in games, but you can get that anywhere ( GTAV /any shooter ever). Let’s see a western tale more in truth with reality than Hollywood. There are so many other stories out there that get overlooked. If it is a prequel, the fall of John Marston's gang could be done with style. How cool would it be to build up a bandit posse only to have it all ripped away (or in Marstons case, <a href="https://Www.openworldpilot.com/articles/genshin-impact-6-1-banners-nefer-s-lunar-debut.html">6.1 genshin banners</a> walking away)? Usually in games where the player must form a crew ( Mafia III /GTAV), it’s to set out on some serious mayhem and succeed. To have a game where the player forms their crew only to have it taken away would be the ultimate middle finger to that style of storytelling in gaming. Especially coming from Rockstar. Not only would it flip the script, but it would show Rockstar can even go against their own grain, while not borrowing from Hollywood.<br><br>Rockstar has such a great opportunity to deliver a tale that is bathed in more of a classic period piece than a ritzy Hollywood do over. If the game looks anything like what the teaser presented, they just might deliver that game. It seemed calm yet brooding. It seemed slower, while being thoughtful. The posse of men on horseback seen in the trailer is fitting for the time. It was stupid to travel alone through the wilderness of America, and cowboys relied on each other for not only companionship, but the journey ahead. My mind keeps wandering to The Magnificent Seven though and I can’t shake that this is what might be showcased. A band of cowboy bandits causing all sorts of mayhem in a sort of Magnificent Seven bizarro world. The previous two games were great because the stories encountered seemed real; the characters seemed like real people dealing with personal qualms that had nothing to do with me. It’s the reason I loved the Witcher 3, the world didn’t care about the player, but if I could stop and help, I’d go for it. Otherwise, time to hit the dusty trail.<br><br> <br>All right so dig this. You’re a vampire cowboy. That's a relatively simple, but brilliant idea, right? All of your gear resembles old-fashioned weaponry, but with a steampunk redesign. Plus there are vampire powers as well like draining enemies of blood for health. Like most vampire games the brooding gothic atmosphere may a bit too overbearing at times and it doesn't nail every mechanic set forth, but it's a really fun game regardless. I can’t believe no one else has made something like this since and it came out in 2005. High Moon Studios planned a sequel, but it was eventually canceled. Since then they’ve been relegated to working on games based on licenses or helping out Call of Duty . It tears my heart ap<br><br>Before diving fully into my gripes with something that only has just shy over a minute of game footage that’s been shown, let me explain what made the other two games so special. Both, Red Dead Revolver/Redemption were games that touched on a part of American mythos in the best of ways. Even other cultural mythos play into what makes these games so great, with many different backgrounds showcased. Each game is a unique tail of one man’s quest deeply personal to them. Not only exploring the characters presented fully, but also putting forth some of the best storytelling for video games of such a genre at each respective time. Each felt like a true American western tale.<br><br><img src="https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/class="; style="max-width:400px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;" alt="" />The Red Dead franchise succeeds because it's playing into the most American fantasies of what the Wild West was, while keeping it grounded. It was a time were America was still getting its footing as a new nation. Things were being discovered by a people who had largely still never seen most of what the land had to offer, thus appropriately titled, the Wild West. It seemed like a hellish dreamscape where those from the east coast talked of savages and wild beast, men who idealized the same sort of lawlessness discussed among certain circles. Yet, it was none of these things, for a people having just arrived to a nation, it was much tamer than one might imagine. Instead, it was a place not overly populated and begging for people to settle its lands (I hope we see Natives in this game). The west was a place of opportunity and discovery, somewhere one could make their mark in a relatively easy way (for the time).<br>