If you need help navigating Hard West 2, here is a guide for beginners. You will find general tips and tricks as well as strategies for combat and gameplay.

Note: This guide still under development.

Welcome to Hard West 2: Another Guide!

This guide is in development, as I just started playing. It will be updated as I learn more.

You might find this guide helpful if you like it! 🙂

Last update: Aug 7, 2022

High Risk – High Return

Hard West 2 has a difficult gameplay, as you’ve probably already noticed. Unique to this game (at least to me) is the aggressive approach it encourages to combat. Every time you kill an adversary, you will get your actions points back.

This means that you will get high risk and high reward. It will also be very punishing if it fails. Keep your save/load files handy.

If you fail a task, you can use Retry in order to start it again. If you feel that you could have done more by the end, you can use Retry to your advantage. Persistence and completing side objectives will result in better gear and loot. This will be beneficial for future missions. Don’t miss out!

Note that you don’t have to play the Easy version of the game. You will get better with practice. And if you quit playing because it isn’t fun anymore, you are the one who loses entertainment. 🙂

Gameplay Strategy

Your life isn’t saved by combat. There are no healer heroes. If you don’t restore your life, you will find yourself in a very bad spot when you go to the next encounter. This will cost you money if you don’t have consumables.

Do side-missions They will give you rewards like better equipment or consumables. These are vital for the next challenges.

Consider which characters you would like to be friends first. Higher levels of relationship can open up new conversation options and eventually allow for new combat skills at higher levels (Ally, Friend).

Look out for quest items in the shops. They will help guide you to the right spots on a map. This will allow you to gain access to items and improve your relationships with your possy.

Combat Tactics

You can only have 4 combatants, so make sure you choose carefully. You should consider how you can combine your skills to benefit one another. You can save before entering a combat zone.

Certain characters require specific playing cards in order to access their combat skills. For Old Man Bill, a pair of playing cards. Before you start combat, think about which characters will most benefit from the cards. The cards are not needed for characters that aren’t involved in the mission.

Make sure that each character has two weapons. And don’t forget how to use them. The rifle will use 3AP but if it makes a kill, you get them from the Bravado!”-trigger.

Riflemen have 5HP which means you can kill one with a revolver, if you hit. You can move using 1AP. Once you have killed a Rifleman, you will get all of your AP back by using the Bravado!-trigger. This increases the speed at which you can traverse the map.

Whiskey, bandages and other food are all good options for restoring HP. You won’t get much HP from them, so it’s best to avoid causing damage. Recover from poor decisions with the automatic loads.

Dynamite can be used in combat to do area damage. However, you will also have access to hidden areas and special options in conversations so don’t use it all.

Splitter bombs may cause bleeding, but certain characters are immune (e.g. Revenants).

Characters (Spoilers!)

Note: If you are just starting out, there may be spoilers about the characters that come next!

Gin Carter

Gin is the leader of this gang. He is a skilled rifleman and can carry a revolver as a backup weapon.

Skill – Shadow Barrage – Shoots through protection

Flynn

Flynn was born into an orphanage. She is familiar with the dark arts and her family history. Flynn is weaker than most characters and can be used with a shotgun in close encounters.

Skill Shadow Swap – Swaps position with a friendly or hostile character at a cost up to -1HP

Old Man Bill

Bill is a Revenant, who has been woken from death. He is proficient in revolvers and has an extremely powerful combat skill that drains any enemies from view. The more damage he does, the lower his HP. This is used to make enemies easier for the rest to kill.

Laughing Deer

Laughing Deer is a man with a terrible and almost unknown history. He has no problem beating people to pieces when they have it coming. He also said that “a lot” of people have it coming. You can also give him another weapon to go with his melee weapon.

Cla’lish

Cla’lish has a rifle and will hunt for provisions for you once you are close enough to her. Do not forget to give her your revolver so she will always have a weapon for when she’s on-the-move.

Lazarus

Lazarus can be described as a priest. His purification ability removes any debuffs.

I hope you enjoy the Beginner’s Guide – Hard West 2 guide. This is all for now! If you have something to add to this guide or forget to add some information, please let us know via comment! We check each comment manually!