Colt Canyon from Headup Games and Retrific is a twin-stick wild west roguelike on Nintendo Switch with a minimalist look. Learn more about it in our Colt Canyon review!
In twin-stick wild west roguelike Colt Canyon from Headup Games and Retrific, you must set out on a journey to save your significant other, who has been kidnapped by bandits. You two were minding your own business, relaxing by a fire out in the woods, when the bandits attacked without warning. They knocked you out and kidnapped your significant other, leaving you for dead. You’re hurt, but that won’t stop you from collecting a nearby shotgun and following their trail so that you can take justice into your own hands.
For this twin-stick roguelike, you’ll move with the left analog stick, aiming with the right one. You have a melee weapon you can use at close range with the R button. Once you get your revolver in the Prologue chapter, you’ll be able to use the rounds you find to reload your weapon with the Y button. Once you’ve aimed at your target, shoot away with the ZR button to deal some mighty damage. If you have more than one weapon on you, switch between them with the X button. To dodge attacks, you can press the ZL button to do a roll. If you find yourself some TNT, you can use it to make things go boom by throwing it with the L button. If there’s something – or someone – you need to interact with, you can do so with the A button.
When you die – not if, but when, you’ll get to see how long you managed to progress, how many enemies you killed, if you, unfortunately, killed any innocent bystanders, how long of a distance you walked through, and the overall time you played. You will get to unlock additional characters as you progress through the game. There are ten characters in total, and each one will have a specific starting weapon, as well as different stats that will change how you take on what the game will throw at you. You can also unlock additional weapons for each character’s initial loadout, so there’s definitely plenty of replay value for this roguelike!
You will find others who are being held captive, and you’ll need to get rid of any enemies in the area so that you can easily set them free. When you do this, you will get access to an upgrade to your overall ammo, health points, reloading speed, or you could decide to have them join you as a companion so that you can have a better chance of surviving. If you select them as a companion, you will need to provide them with a weapon they can use to fight by your side, so be ready to find an extra weapon for yourself to make up for it!
Colt Canyon features an in-game achievement system, with a list of 40 achievements in total for you to complete. There are achievements for saving prisoners you find, for defeating the bosses you’ll meet, for surviving an ambush, unlocking a locked crate, killing all enemies in a level, killing more than five enemies with a single TNT load, beating a bear with nothing but melee attacks, for adding companions to your adventure, killing more than one enemy with a single projectile, or by killing 15 enemies in a row with stealth kills without being spotted, to name some examples.
If you’re a fan of twin-stick action games and feel like having a healthy dose of western on top of it is exactly what you need on Nintendo Switch, then Colt Canyon checks bot boxes with ease. Due to its roguelike nature, it features an addictive gameplay loop that will keep you coming back for more, and the minimalist art style and the soundtrack do a great job of complementing the action. Colt Canyon is available on Nintendo Switch with a $14.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Cold Canyon review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Headup Games.
