When it comes to gaming, the Wild West has had a moderate share of attention, but remains a period that hasn’t been subjected to extensive use. Games featuring the age of outlaws and showdowns seem to pop up every now and then, but never are a constant presence. For better or worse, Switchblade Monkeys decided it was a good moment to fulfill everyone’s childhood dream of becoming a gunslinging outlaw and so, Secret Ponchos, an isometric third-person shooter set in the Wild West popped up on Steam’s Early Access.

Choose one outlaw from a total of five, kill the opposing team. The first team to get a five kill advantage wins. In case the enemy puts up a good fight, the team with the highest number of kills after the 220 allocated seconds expire wins. Should it end with a draw, Sudden Death kicks in, with the first kill designating the winner. This is what lies at Secret Ponchos’ core at this point in Early Access.

With a 220 second match timer, Secret Ponchos aims to offer quick fights. The game is an intense showdown where reflexes and quick planning are crucial. You need to know when to dodge and when to close distance with your enemy. You need to observe the movements of your attacker and even try your hand at planning ahead as often dodging, instead of shooting, or vice-versa, will determine whether or not you still breathe after the encounter. 

Besides having distinctive weapons and visual styles, the characters also play quite differently. Some are centered around speed, in both movement and firing. Others are slower or more melee focused. Some wound or knock down enemies, others blind them. The series of special moves turns the game into a dynamic experience that’ll have you alternating between attacks, jumping out of aim mode in the last second to avoid eating lead and taking cover behind objects.

Due to the Early Access state of the game, the community isn’t that numerous. In that respect, the Steam store page features suggested playtimes. At times the matchmaking system pits two rookies against more experienced players, making the matches quite one-sided. On the other hand, there were quite a few matches where control shifted constantly between the two teams, some ending only after sudden death. And those matches were an absolute delight to play. The five or so moves the outlaws have are enough to make the characters not feel stale without overwhelming the player.

As you win fights, you gain bounty which acts as experience. This allows you to enhance certain traits your character has such as health, damage or stamina regeneration. That’s why players with higher ranks get an advantage over those with lower ranks. The RPG system is a nice addition as it allows a bit of fine tuning of the characters. You also need to keep in mind that losing a game most likely means you lose a certain amount of your gained experience. While gained skill points don’t seem to be affected by this it will nevertheless make you play more carefully. Visually the game looks well enough. There’s a dosage of yellow and brown that meets colored capes and ponchos, but in truth, some more variety wouldn’t hurt.

Keyboard controls feel a bit clunky, and in order to discover the special moves of the characters you have to head to the Steam forums where they’re detailed quite nicely. The developers recommend a controller, however, those stubborn enough can win matches even without a gamepad. Those who decide to get into the game right away should know that, as it’s in an early stage, there are bugs. Animations sometimes fail to complete. Some hits fail to register. At times performance drops occur. Secret Ponchos also tends to forget the resolution settings every time you quit the game.

In a time when “isometric” and “online” will most likely make you think of DoTA-style games, it’s a relief to see there are people going for short, intense matches. Right now, Secret Ponchos is a mere skeleton, yet a sturdy one at that. It has tons of potential as it offers fast-paced, varied, dynamic combat in a setting that while perhaps not exploited to the fullest, adds to the title’s freshness. All that can be said is that Secret Ponchos is worth keeping an eye on as it gets closer to a potential release date.

MateÈ™ Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
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