Tombwater
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Tombwater
All in all, Tombwater is one of my favorite Soulslikes, if not one of my favorite games, period. I’m not usually a fan of Zelda-likes, but I could barely put this one down. And only part of that was because I kept getting lost and wandering into a new miniboss arena.
Zelda meets Dark Souls, Tombwater is a fantastic action adventure set in a Lovecraftian reimagining of the Wild West. Tricky combat is king here, but thanks to difficulty options you can choose to focus on exploring the rich world around you and uncovering its secrets. This is a real hidden gem, and one that really should be on any action-adventure fan's radar.
Good Western games are few and far between and great ones are even more of a rarity. There have only been a few handfuls of truly great westerns like the Red Dead series, Oddworld: Strangers Wrath, Outlaws, Oregon Trail and a small selection of others, but now Tombwater needs to be placed in these hallowed halls alongside these icons. Tombwater features gameplay inspired by The Legend of Zelda and Bloodborne that gets paired with a faithful western story revolving around an anti-hero trying to live an honest life, who becomes forced to pursue frontier justice in this Eldritch universe. The result is an experience that would make Clint Eastwood proud as Tombwater is one of the greatest Westerns games ever crafted.
Tombwater sets up an intriguing space in the current indie game landscape. A Western horror game disguised as a Soulslike is a brilliant sale, but Tombwater is so much more. It is a triumphant realization of the 2D Zelda formula in a non-medieval, Bloodborne-esque setting. I hope I get to return to this world sooner than we’ll likely return to Yharnam.
Tombwater is a well-crafted blend of top-down soulslike, horror, and western setting. Even though its limited map doesn't offer much help for planning backtracking, the diversity of locations and how they intertwine to form a greater whole, dotted with secrets to discover, makes exploration one of the highlights of this fun pixel art eldritch adventure.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Tombwater captures the soul of a soulslike game and wraps it in a retro-western inspired skin, while offering a deeper focus on story without short-changing the mechanics you’d expect from the genre. The basic map definitely hurts exploration, and the lack of accessibility will mean the game is unplayable for some people, but even then, it’s impossible not to recommend Tombwater to fans of soulslike games and retro games alike.
Tombwater has convinced me that this Soulslike's top-down perspective is well worth exploring.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Tombwater is a perfect addition to the Metroidvania soulslike genre. It did a phenomenal job of bringing Eldritch Horror to the wild west and making it a truly immersive and fun experience. Even with the issues with controls for non-mouse and keyboard users and the sometimes questionable sound choices, this game has absolutely stolen my heart with its storytelling and beautifully horrifying art and atmosphere.
