Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is collection of dying things. It is set in Abilene, Kansas, in 1910, twenty years after the American frontier took form and killed the Wild West. The myth of the gunslinging outlaw is surging at this point, only because its culture is withering, as the last of the desperados succumb to old age and hard lives. Oral tradition is fading with them as news and history are spread by print and radio and not by mouth.
The story is a montage of memories, recounted by an old bounty hunter named Silas Greaves as he drains whiskey and entertains a few saloon workers and patrons. We’re alongside him for the length of his tale, though we only briefly step foot in the place. He is freshly archaic. He’s tired and directed by revenge. The time away from killing has made him look back, and he is vulnerable from the emotional weight of so many dead bodies. It is new to him. His charred voice narrates each chapter, and he strays from his stream-of-consciousness at times to converse with his audience or pee or have another drink. The dialogue is natural. Its delivery is delicate enough to soften the litany of Wild West clichés that make empty threats at satire but never commit to it.
The action advances in a sentence-by-sentence parallel to the story. Greaves is a habitual embellisher, and his spotty recollection makes him unreliable. His idiosyncrasies cleverly impact the player—he will often send you on short diversions that lead to inevitable death before pulling back and starting over and telling it true. Sometimes, he’ll recall being surrounded by dozens of bandits, caught in crossfire with no escape. The full scene will develop, with the player spinning, cracking off pistol rounds, and stringing along skillshots for bonus combinations before Greaves corrects himself and the scene rewinds to the beginning. The points that accrue for these combinations unlock skills that allow mastery of the weapons—a loose, possibly unintended evolution that traces the man’s path from blooming outlaw to legendary killer.
The relationship between the emphatic arcade style and the folksy storytelling is hypnotic. Each of his sentences foreshadows what will soon occur, and you work tirelessly to deliver on his story’s expectations. It is straightforward and exhilarating and compelling in the moment, but not beyond it. When his tale becomes larger than a highlight reel of gunfights and duels, there are only small hints of the emotional impact it is trying to deliver.
