Boot Hill Bounties

If you played and liked Boot Hill Heroes, its sequel Boot Hill Bounties is a must buy. It takes the RPG formula from the first game, refines it as well as adding a plethora of additional content. This is an example of how to do a game sequel well. Boot Hill Bounties stands out as one of the retro-inspired RPG greats making the developers, Experimental Gamer Studios, a studio well worth keeping an eye on in the future.

It is a sequel to Boot Hill Heroes, an RPG of the same cut released nearly a decade ago for PC and PSVita, and created by an independent studio called Experimental Gamer Studios, captained by Dave Welch. And it is that the friend Welch has been with the worm of creating an RPG since he put very strong in his SNES to Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger or the aforementioned Earthbound.

Boot Hill Bounties is a bit rough around the edges, but features a great narrative, interesting characters, engaging systems, and a fascinating western world.

Boot Hill Bounties doesn’t do a whole lot original as far as old-school RPGs go, but its neat Wild West setting and fun gameplay ensure that it’s still worth checking out. Sure, it can get a little bit repetitive in places – especially within the combat against standard enemies – but the attractive world and the varied gameplay mechanics do enough to make it stand out as another enjoyable RPG to add to the Nintendo Switch’s ever-expanding library.

Boot Hill Bounties would be considered a serviceable JRPG without the bugs. The visual glitches are just out-of-place, but the progress-ending bug in the opening tutorial had me worried every time I would open a menu or click through dialogue that my playthrough would be ended prematurely. Given that the story, systems, and mechanics are so familiar, it's a shame Boot Hill Bounties does nothing to make its versions unique or exciting outside of the trope-filled, spaghetti-western theme.

Ultimately, Boot Hill Bounties just doesn't do much of anything.

The game marks a strong second title, and new players shouldn’t be afraid of jumping straight in here — though checking out the previous title certainly wouldn’t hurt. Signs are good that the developer will be able to make a fitting conclusion to the trilogy.