We analyze The Son: A Wild West Tale, where we will have to undertake a very stealthy journey to explore, hide and find our mother.
A title that undoubtedly arouses interest and makes an impression as soon as you see it set in the spaghetti-western subgenre, was presented at the PC Gaming Show 2019 and, since then, no relevant news about this casual game had appeared until its launch last year. December 3. The Son: A Wild West Tale has been developed by the German studio Honig Studios together with Quantumfrog and comes from HandyGames, the subsidiary of THQ Nordic. A story that deals with the reunion, we will have to be as cautious as possible to discover a way out, sneak out and find our mother, who has wanted to protect us by moving away from her, but it was not the best decision. Among monks and bandits who get in our way, we will hide, we will explore, we will be mischievous and without any violence and with great stealth we will escape from all of them.
A picture is worth a thousand words
The love of a mother for her child can be an extremely great love, and in this game we can be the protagonists of how protection and affection for a child is above anything else. It all starts when this little family is attacked by bandits on their farm, devastating all of it and causing them to have to escape, frankly a true story from the Old West. In this case, the mother decides to leave The Son in an isolated monastery in order to protect him and make her feel safer. However, she does not know that her son, a six-year-old boy, is the most mischievous, daring and courageous who will risk his life to decide to escape the dangers of his world. As you overcome your challenges, you will gain self-confidence and cunning, getting more ideas to overcome all your enemies.
In El Hijo we will have to learn to be as stealthy as possible, where violence will not be present, but the strategy to know how to hide and go completely unnoticed. This game is the clear example that we do not need cinematics to appear with lines of dialogue full of content that try to tell us the whole story behind, but rather each image it presents, the context that they place us and the gestures of each character they will be enough to put us in the game. Still, the story is what it is, don’t expect any unexpected twists or clues to appear, just help this mother and her son and enjoy an adventure in the west.
Merge with your surroundings and learn to be stealthy
In this game its playability predominates with all those mechanics that allow us to be as strategic as possible and achieve our objective. Being stealthy is not an easy task, but if our surroundings are in our favor we will play with a greater advantage. This is how Honig Studios wanted to present El Hijo, as well as helping us to enjoy each map we come across. Our way of walking will always be in stealth, but if we try to arrive on time we can run without looking back, although this will attract much more attention. However, our bird’s eye view will help us to discover the vision cones that the opponents present and also to be able to see useful objects that are nearby. Hiding inside a jar, jumping over obstacles, getting into a car, even moving at the same time as a bison, will be some ways not to be seen by anyone.
Thanks to the scenarios as linear as the rooms of the monastery, they will help us find a mechanic that will be rewarding for our hiding place, the lights and the shadows. We will be able to merge with our surroundings, thanks to the fact that the adversaries can see us in the light, but in the shadows we will be totally hidden and their field of vision will not reach us. However, if we are fully aware of our enemies, sometimes semitransparent cones will appear indicating that obstacles ahead partially block vision, so we can duck and go stealthily to the next point. Undoubtedly, in each level we will have to study the entire area to plan our strategy and advance without being seen, for this the game will help us with multiple control points that are very appreciated. Also, we will not be alone and we will not be the only child that appears on the map. As collectibles we will have “child inspiration”, which will consist of finding children who are treated as slaves, motivating them to strengthen their will and, sometimes, receiving small gifts for our mission.
With hints of mischief you’ll get away with it
Without unnecessarily adding new mechanics, the game develops naturally and other skills will be gradually introduced to combine them and increase the challenge. However, this challenge is not gradual, that is, throughout all the levels the game presents new challenges, but the level of difficulty goes up and down and sometimes you go from an easy and enjoyable level, you go to another that you have. I really appreciate the area in order to move forward. We must not forget that we handle a six-year-old child (and sometimes his mother), so toys will be our tools to distract and divert attention from opponents. The slingshot with which we arrived at the monastery cannot be missing in our pocket, and it will undoubtedly be the tool that can help us the most, since unlike the others it is not consumable and we can throw stones to break lamps or vases successively .
In the pocket there will be more space for other toys that will undoubtedly sometimes be essential to tiptoe. We can obtain a wind-up toy to attract the attention of all nearby opponents, but always taking into account where we launched it from and in which direction, because if we do it wrong, it can discover us. On the other hand we have the cactus flowers, a kind of pollen cloud that will make it easier for us to get inside it to hide and be invisible for a short time. And finally the fireworks, which will stun the enemies and break fragile objects that can obstruct our path. It is clear that thanks to these tools the game becomes much more interesting despite the difficulty that sometimes appears when we want to handle our character, since it presents us with somewhat imprecise controls due to perspective and the use of the keyboard and mouse.
A graphical representation that fits perfectly
El Hijo: A Wild West Tale stands out for its visual style and refines the indie character it proves, with multiple singularities and details that undoubtedly place you in the west. With a twist to the recent Desperados III, it proves to have a graphical representation that fits perfectly to the world it wants to show of stealth, in addition to being simple and with a color palette that fits perfectly. Of course, we will be facing a somewhat artificial and easy to dodge AI, without any intelligence that goes to more than a few dolls moving from one side to another. Added to this, the sound section is something far away, but not from the Wild West. It will be composed of a piano melody that will sometimes be repetitive, but it is quite flat, trying to create a spaghetti-western atmosphere with western music, but it is missing more depth in it. While a circle with a question mark will appear above our enemies if they think they have come to see us, our character will continue to fight to hide and we will only hear some scared or worried grimace. When we are discovered, our decision may be to run and get nervous, but the game does not make it that way. Do not create tension or nervousness by not being caught, on the contrary, there will be moments when we will be in constant silence that instead of getting tense will relax us.
Note: 7.2
CONCLUSION
This exciting stealth game called El Hijo: A Wild West Tale is undoubtedly one of the novelties that the year was missing, with very strategic moments and some remarkable mechanics, despite the unstable controls that already presents a somewhat boring AI . It is a game that punishes those people who are impatient, because if we don’t wait they will discover us very quickly, but if we are able to wait, the victory will be more than gratifying. Without a doubt, it is a game that has a combination of levels, with puzzles very adapted to the game that it is, with a difficulty that varies, but that makes you feel immersed in each area. Also, add a story in which you are willing to advance to know the end, but for this you will have to try it yourself and enter this old and far west, full of bandits and monks.
THE BEST
- Multiple checkpoints spread over the levels.
- Very balanced and simple mechanical design.
- A striking and perfect graphic representation.
WORST
- Inaccurate and sometimes clumsy controls.
- A somewhat boring and artificial AI.
- A very weak sound section.
Good
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, has quality and does not have serious flaws, although it is missing elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
