Hell, even 80s band The Bangles gets a poke.

There’s even film and music references in there. There are plenty of quips in there, ragging on overused tropes of the genre, and there are lots of little nods that any avid gamer will get a kick out of. It balances this carefully, never being condescending or derisive rather, it’s an ode to the RPG games that have come before it. It toes a fine line of being a genuine RPG and being a parody of one. In terms of gameplay, West of Loathing is very typical of an adventure-RPG. I’d really like to see more games try to achieve something similar. Somehow, the stick figures ooze character, and although fairly limited in variety, the locations are quirky and inviting to explore. It’s very charming – on paper, a game made up of nothing but hand-drawn black and white stick figures may sound like a recipe for disaster, but in action, it’s executed with such style that it just works. Developer Asymmetric has managed to cram some kind of comedy into almost every line, yet it never feels forced or over the top.Īnd actually, its stick figure art style isn’t to West of Loathing‘s detriment, either. It only takes a few seconds with the game for its incredibly intelligent wit to shine through. When it’s stripped of any awe-inspiring graphics, a game has to rely purely on engaging gameplay and writing to be enjoyable – and boy, does this deliver.

It’s this overly basic style that makes West of Loathing work so well, though. It’s also completely black and white, and the most complicated character model in the game is a stick-man skeleton. It’s brilliantly funny, and has some of the best comedy writing I’ve seen in a game in a long time. West of Loathing is a simplistic 2D adventure RPG, telling the story of a young farm girl “heading west” in search of a better life. I wouldn’t have thought one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played this year would feature line drawings and stick men, but here we are.

Best games of 2017 west of loathing