Rustler, AKA Grand Theft Horse, makes an old game new again
Rustler, by developer Jutsu Games and publishers Games Operators and Modus Games, has a lot of things going for it—it has fun meta references, it boasts the same police system as the classic Grand Theft Auto series, and it doesn’t shy away from breaking the fourth wall or being aware of itself. However, the game can get boring fast if you get bored by lots of simple tasks and the travel times can really be quite annoying. And like a lot of other parts of this game, it can get boring fast if you pay too much attention to it; the soundtrack, which can be amusing at first as you go through different areas and hear different bards, will fall apart if you pay attention and realize how few tracks there are. If you pay attention to what you’re really doing in a lot of quests, you tend to realize how much its really just fight, fetch, and escort quests. And if you do a lot of side quests, you realize how the world doesn’t quite feel lived in by the characters who inhabit it, with their lack of complexity.
All that being said, Rustler is still perfectly enjoyable as a background game or something to play while watching something else. It’s a perfectly fine game for relaxing after work, because not every game can be an extremely complex, just difficult enough to engage, emotionally rich story driven masterpiece. Sometimes, you want to play a game that you can just run through and enjoy. Sometimes, Legend of Zelda sounds like fun and other times you want to play a game where the two main characters are named Buddy and Guy.
One thing that isn’t obvious at first in this game is its sly sense of humor—while there are more obvious things, like this picture of castle wall graffiti (seen above), the game slips in meta references to all sorts of different works of popular media. For example, (light spoilers) in one side quest, there is a group of knights fighting French knights making references to Monty Python. Another one is that the Spanish Inquisition shows up, seemingly out of nowhere, because no one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Lastly, a bardcore version of Break Free by Queen starts to play while Buddy tries to break out of jail. (end spoilers)
Finally, the gameplay does deserve some mention for its nuances; the skill system is fairly useful and is rewarded often, the fighting is fairly difficult because your character is fragile, and you usually have a very clear idea of what you need to do to complete a quest. On another note, there is a lot more game content than expected. Multiple times the story seems ready to end before some sort of intervention occurs. And lastly, all the little anachronisms that the game brings in are absolutely hilarious. Chalk outlines of horse bodies on the floor, graffiti on castle walls, dinosaur skulls being discovered, etc. Rustler has a sense of humor that is semi unique and that deserves mention.
Check Out the Rustler Trailer – https://youtu.be/ZVBqpmdO56k
Rustler is available for $24.99 for PC via Steam.
Steam Review
I play videogames all the time and have played all sorts of games, from Pokémon to Sekoro to Valorant and Apex Legends. I often prefer difficult or competitive games with high skill ceilings, but still love the beauty of more open world games like Breath of the Wild. The community of a game is also a determining factor for me, which is why I'd rather have an Animal Crossing friend than a Rainbow Six Siege friend."
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