West of Loathing

3:10 to Humour

PC | US$11 WESTOFLOATHING.COM

Welcome to the Old West, where snakes are used as whips, cattle are demonically evil, and alongside stick-figure cowboys there are goblins, necromancers and a lot of ghosts. There are ghost horses—I ride one myself—and ghost cowboys. There are even ghost pickles, and they’re not the strangest food you’ll encounter. A comedy RPG, West

ofLoathing is goofy and wonderfully written. After choosing from one of three classes—the magical Beanslinger, the smoothtalking Snake Oiler, or the rough-and-tumble Cowpuncher—you’ll journey through tiny towns, gang hideouts, and a Daveyard (which is like a graveyard, but only Daves are buried there).

The wit sells it. Flush a toilet for an XP gain, search a haystack for a needle, or dig through a mine cart for a hunk of meat ore ( West

ofLoathing has a meatbased economy). Insult yourself in a mirror to gain a combat buff because you angered yourself so much. There are branching text conversations with a cast of oddball characters that are almost always entertaining, and everything from item descriptions to menu options are fun to read. Where WestofLoathing falters is with its turn-based combat, but overall is both fun and funny from its opening to whenever it is you decide you’ve read every last word in the game.

Chris Livingston