Nightmare Frontier Key Art
Image: Ice Code Games & Slitherine

It is a known fact that I am a sucker for all things Weird Western. Give me an old revolver, a lever-action rifle, and a world full of magical creepy-crawlies, and I'm happy as can be, so I can't NOT mention that Nightmare Frontier launched today, graduating out of early access. Developed by Ice Code Games (developers of the solid Hard West 2 and the piratical Rogue Waters), this one splits the difference between their two prior games, with you leading a squad of old-timey eccentrics on a turn-based tactical quest for loot and fame through an incredibly haunted city.

For all its horror stylings, this is a particularly aggressive tactics game, with small battlegrounds you're meant to blitz through in just a couple turns. Melee attacks do extra damage when enemies bounce off walls or (even better) other monsters, and your characters get an extra free action with every kill they score. With smart play, you can soften up a whole group of ghouls and ghosts with shotguns and explosives, then have one guy charge in to punch them all into paste, which is rather satisfying.

Not that it's easy, though. Plan poorly for just one turn, and you can end up carrying injuries that'll last until the end of your current run. And failure means losing your loot and gear, because there's some extraction shooter inspiration going on here. There's tons of items with procedural stats, and you're expected to hoard everything you can, equipping your squad best for their next little sortie. You can dial down the difficulty to reduce the penalty for failure, but given the aggressive setup, 'easy come, easy go' feels about right, from the bit I've played while it was in early access.

One fun twist to Nightmare Frontier is that the 'nightmare' part isn't just a cool catchy title. Each party member you bring along has some kind of phobia that causes their personal worst fear to manifest as monsters if fights drag on too long and the Nightmare level increases too high. It adds a fun extra twist to picking who to take on a mission beyond their gear and abilities, because it's a real pain when your long-range sniper character just happens to attract melee rushdown monsters.

Today's v1.0 update doesn't change the game much from what I'd played previously, other than overhauling the main story. There's a lot more sassy old-timey prose adding more context to your looting and shooting, but otherwise, the launch patch notes mostly highlight quality-of-life improvements, making it easier to re-equip your squad between fights. There are some other fun balance twists, like some enemies having specific weaknesses (pushing, burning, etc) and your own characters suffering nightmare debuffs if hit by the monster type corresponding to their personal fear. Until they kill something and cool down, that is.

Nightmare Frontier is out now for £22.50/$25, with no launch discount, but a little extra off if you own Hard West 2 or Rogue Waters already. A post-release roadmap also mentions at least two rounds of DLC planned, both due out by the end of the year.