Image credit: Steam / Midwest Games
I love this game. I could honestly end this review there, I’m almost tempted to just so I can play it again. I do admit, though, that this may be because the game’s themes and gameplay seem tailor-made for me.
I will be objective; however, I love cowboys, Soulslikes, and anything with eldritch horrors, which this game contains all of. With that, let’s get into exactly why I think this game is fantastic.
Through hell and back
The main gameplay of Tombwater is incredibly satisfying. You play as a young gunslinger having just arrived in the town of Tombwater. After picking a class and having a small prologue, the game flings you right into combat with the town’s monstrous residents.
Combat in the game is straightforward but incredibly fun. You have access to a variety of possibilities with attacks; however, all fall under three main categories: melee, magic, and (my personal favorite) guns. In standard souls fashion, stamina will be your most valuable resource in combat, as everything uses it.
With one exception, firearms. This means combat becomes a fascinating dance of rushing in for melee to refill your bullets, falling back to shoot, and occasionally throwing out magic. Bosses are where this system shines the best, as weaving between attacks and shooting back is amazingly entertaining.
To assist you in this, the usual staple of the genre, the “return by death” campfires, are dotted around the map. Here you can upgrade a few of your stats and change your “charms”. The charms provide some useful passive effects, with my favorite being the one that allows you to deflect enemy projectiles (I used this against most of the bosses).
Alongside the combat, the occasional puzzle-solving segment will appear. Throughout the game, you will unlock various abilities to allow you to complete these puzzles, but the game only vaguely instructs you on how to use them.
While this can make some segments confusing, especially given the usual Soulslike lack of direction, the game puts a lot of faith in the player. Many of these puzzles encourage experimentation, meaning any mechanics that aren’t strictly told will be easily learned through trial and error.
Overall, the gameplay loop is simple yet effective, allowing for great customization with different weapons and firearms, broken up by the occasional well-crafted puzzle.
This town ain’t big enough
The game’s setting lends itself well to its gameplay and overall style. The town of Tombwater has several areas, all linked together, to the point that it feels like an actual town overrun with monsters.
While the pixel graphics may not be everyone’s cup of tea, there is enough detail in the sprites to give an eerie feeling while playing the game. Combined with the appropriate sound design, this game is stylistically captivating.
In terms of presentation of the story, you mostly receive tidbits through flashbacks and character interactions. Like in puzzle-solving, the game puts a lot of faith in the player to fill in the gaps, leaving it brimming with speculation and mystery.
While this may again put some players off, many may find the lack of a more concrete narrative upsetting, especially given the ominous world created. With terrors lurking around every corner (literally and figuratively), I feel a more exposition-based narrative would only take away from the sense of unease this game tries so hard to establish.
Additionally, having a faceless main character with no clear motivation beyond “find out what’s happening” greatly plays into this sense of unease. Everything in this game exists to put the player on edge, which, when combined with the gameplay, makes every encounter with the monsters that roam feel impactful.
Overall, this game thrives in its simplicity. Benefitting greatly from allowing the player to theorize and speculate not only on the story, but also within gameplay, causing you to constantly be problem-solving. The combat is simple but allows for improvisation in both builds and application, and as such, I can highly recommend this game to anyone interested.
FAQs
Tombwater was developed by Moth Atlas and published by Midwest Games. Based out of Columbus, Ohio, solo dev Max Mraz is behind the Moth Atlas studio. While it’s unclear whether or not he worked on this game solo, it is a truly impressive project nonetheless.
In every definition, yes, Tombwater is a Soulslike. You will die frequently, respawn, and grow as you do so. With a variety of combat options, this game fits the moniker very well.
No, at no point do you restart an entire run to gain further progression. It is undoubtedly a Soulslike, though, on par with some of the genre’s larger names.
In Tombwater, you play as a gunslinger trying his best to survive, while uncovering the mystery of a strange affliction plaguing the town. You’ll fight the townsfolk, as well as several scarier entities, all with the objective of finding your father figure, the sheriff, and uncovering exactly what’s going on in the town of Tombwater.
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