El Hijo: A Wild West Tale Reviews
A suitable title for the Nintendo Switch, El Hijo introduces a lighter touch to the more familiar stealth genre. With its endearing art style and storytelling, it is plainly set for a younger audience. Although more seasoned players may find it lacklustre or too laid back for their taste, some will still find enjoyment through the challenges set by taking the mixture of diverse paths.
This isometric stealth game doesn't bring anything new to the stealth genre table, and it struggles with believability, but it's still a fun and charming little game worth checking out.
El Hijo: A Wild West Tale’s focus on a non-combat brand of stealth, as well as its forgiving mechanics, serves as a very pleasant change to most stealth games on the market, and its overall style is cute without being cloying. It’s not perfect, with some roughness round the edges mechanically, but there are much worse ways to spend a few hours.
El Hijo is a fine stealth game. It does what it intended to offer, but besides its nice visuals and excellent Morricone-esque soundtrack, it does little to stand out over the dozens, maybe hundreds of much better stealth titles out there. If its nonviolent approach isn’t exactly something so important to you, then I’d recommend looking at its polar opposite in terms of color, violence. and vibe, A Plague Tale: Innocence, instead.
El Hijo: A Wild West Tale is a challenging and fun stealth puzzle solving platform game produced by an indie developer with an obvious love for the Spaghetti Western genre. If this review strolled into your local saloon and piqued your interest, you will not be disappointed by what the game delivers.
It may look deceptively cute, but El Hijo hides a level of stealth cunning to rival its peers in the genre. Not so much difficult-to-master as tempering your own patience, the reward for persevering is ultimately worth sticking it out.
El Hijo feels a bit like an introduction to stealth games. It’s restrictively linear nature makes it an excellent choice for beginners, but a frustrating experience for inveterate stealth players. Still, its monotonous nature can, at times, be overshadowed by the cutesy, innocent spirit of the game which shines through in spite of gameplay concerns. Oddly, El Hijo might scratch the itch for players that have either never played a stealth or who have played nearly all of them. For those players in the middle of the pack, who still have plenty of options left, your time might be better spent elsewhere first.
The stealth can be frustrating at times, the bugs can be grating, and it can be simpler than you might want it to be, but El Hijo still has a lot to love. Honig Studios have crafted an incredibly wholesome experience with a freedom in choice about how to approach each scenario that leaves things nice and flexible. It's an extremely breezy experience, one you can glide through in a few sittings, that I think this industry needs more of.
It's hard to play El Hijo without wishing for a little more flair in its stealth system.
With its unique visuals, clever environmental puzzles, and non-violent gameplay, El Hijo is a welcome entry in the somewhat overlooked stealth/puzzle genre. If you don't buy into the gameplay before the repetition sets in, however, it can become an adventure that's easily abandoned.
If you’re in the market for a good old-fashioned stealth adventure, El Hijo – A Wild West Tale is certainly worth a look – just don’t expect it to wow you in any way. Its charm, while initially strong, soon starts to wear thin, while its repetitive gameplay may eventually struggle to hold your attention. Throw in some unnecessary frustrations, and you have a game that will occasionally delight, but rarely truly impress.
El hijo undoubtedly has good ingredients to get attention and stand out: planning an adventure in the Wild West as a pure infiltration game without hitting a single shot is remarkable. The problem is, as happens on so many occasions, making everything work up to the idea generated by the game. In any case, we have an ideal adventure for lovers of the genre, wrapped in a charming story and with an exquisite artistic design, we have to restore the illusion to the children.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If you like the idea of a Western-themed stealth game with cute graphics, El Hijo: A Wild West Tale is just the game for you.
Looked at as a puzzle game, or as a strictly entry-level stealth adventure, El Hijo has a lot to recommend it. It has a distinctive and attractive look, and a charm all of its own. Those looking for a genuinely emergent or inventive stealth experience, however, will be better served elsewhere.