Rustler Reviews
Rustler attempts to take us back to classic top-down GTA action in a neat medieval setting but poor performance, shoddy controls, weak humour and a dull, short campaign hold it back from reaching its potential. There are glimmers of good stuff here, a few fun pop culture references, those beat-boxing bards and a good-looking world to stomp around in, but the game underneath is just so underwhelming and uninspired and, in the end, it all feels like a big step back from its most obvious inspirations.
With a bit more thought and consideration towards the controls, combat and structure, and less reliance on fart and poo gags, Rustler could have been a riot.
A promising and fun - if a bit rude - game hindered by a not-so-clever implementation of a nice setting.
Review in Italian | Read full review
For all of its issues, Rustler is a fun little game that tries something a bit different, recapturing a long-lost element of game design and adding a fun new twist. Its humorous and satirical elements help keep it light-hearted, and though it occasionally has some comedic misses, its also full of genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. I'd hope to see some adjustments to the combat system as well as a general cleanup of the odd variety of bugs encountered, but as a whole Rustler is a clever and fun title that has zero shame being exactly what it is.
Rustler has some obvious technical and structural limitations but it is the first to laugh at them because it knows you should never take yourself too seriously. That's what it does and that's how it goes for the player too, who cannot avoid to be captivated by the absurd medieval setting, by the old style gameplay and by mountains of elegant vulgarity.
Review in Italian | Read full review
This is Rustler’s biggest crime. The game just doesn’t work in the ways I wanted it to. I never felt compelled to keep going forward. Whether it was a glitch or just subpar writing Rustler never managed to draw me into its world. I struggled to finish the game and had little desire to return and mop up any side quests afterwards. There is a fun game buried underneath all of its issues, but Rustler never manages to achieve what it sets out to do. It would have made a solid addition to Game Pass, but for now I recommend waiting for a sale if you desire some Grand Theft Horse.
While Rustler manages to live up to everything it says on the tin, namely Grand Theft Auto with horses, there's not much in its delivery that leaves any sort of memorable experience. Relying almost entirely on its humour, Rustler tries to steal your fancy with crass jokes and pop culture references. However, it never quite manages to stand out as anything more than a basic sandbox romp, with all the repetitive fetch quests in tow. Couple that with some lacklustre mechanics, and what you've got is a fairly disappointing GTA clone.
As such Rustler is not quite the retro callback to early sandbox games that players may have hoped for. It's an enjoyable fun diversion for a little sharp burst of low brow humor, but in the long term it's unlikely to keep players engaged. Combined with a wide variety of technical issues, Rustler feels like something of a missed opportunity.
What we can agree on is that mechanics and gameplay are at least as important as the setting and story, and this is where Rustler fails to deliver a consistently fun experience.
DualSense support is included to reflect your stamina through the adaptive triggers. Unfortunately, despite the generally simplistic presentation, performance is worryingly inconsistent on PS5, which is a shame. All in all, though, this is a fun if forgettable medieval romp: much of the appeal stems from seeing how GTA series staples have been adapted, like the Pimp-a-Horse drive-thrus which clear your Wanted level and the end of mission beats that accompany each quest you complete.
Rustler is a fun pastime without particular pretensions that succeeds discreetly, and at a low cost (on Steam it is on sale for only 14 euros), in order to entertain the player with a series of characters and events out of all logic. If you love the game structure of the old GTAs, you are willing to turn a blind eye to some imperfections of the control system and you are not frightened by the continuous jokes of the protagonist based on vulgarity, alternating with the emission of body gases, then Rustler is exactly the game for you.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The mirror is a perfect artifact that presents an irrevocable truth and also a cover to hide another truth. The point is that the mirror itself is an interesting artifact and the yardstick of many companies that fear being reflected, since they prefer to look in the mirror of others to act in consequences. Rustler is a reliable example of what we can consider as the reflection of others, given that beyond a more than attractive visual plot that reproduces the rot on a large scale, it clings tooth and nail to the concept that the first iterations of Grand Theft Auto have treasured, in good and bad.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Rustler is a medieval crime-game that's fun to mess around in, but not for long
Rustler is a game that does a little of both but doesn’t commit to either idea enough to make an interesting experience. This indecision to commit hampers the game’s enjoyability and leaves players with a confused understanding of what the game wants to be. This compounded by a lack of black representation while directly referencing black culture everywhere, makes this game difficult to recommend.
Almost more a "skin" than a homage to the original GTA... the same feel in a different era. Simple silly fun!
Rustler brings classic Grand Theft Auto to a twisted version of the European Middle Ages, but its reliance on other media for laughs and a finicky release build makes it a title worth trying only for those nostalgic for the vintage entries of a now-juggernaut series.
Crazy and fun, Rustler may feel a bit outdated in some design choices, but you must absolutely give it a try.
Review in Italian | Read full review
‘Disappointing’ is the best word to describe Rustler. It takes the original Grand Theft Auto template, plops it within a medieval world, then delivers ho-hum missions. Add to that an overall lack of polish, some mechanics that don’t entertain quite like they should, and the absence of voice acting, and you have a small open world adventure that never quite delivers on its promise. Still, chances are you’ll get some fun out of it if you pick it up. Just perhaps not as much as its introductory FMV would suggest.
Rustler is not great game, but crazy open-world is funny and still much better than awful GTA The Trilogy.
Review in Slovak | Read full review