I started playing Kingdom of Loathing in 2004. This isn’t terribly unusual on its own. I started playing a LOT of games in 2004. What is terribly unusual about Kingdom of Loathing is that 13 years later, it still matters. I didn’t really start playing a game, I joined a community.

That sounds ridiculous (it’s not even funny!), but in a month I’m flying across the country to spend four days in a house with 17 people I only know because of this game. We’re going to hang out together, then go home. And we’ll do it again next year. I’m doing this instead of going to GenCon, so you can get a feeling of where this falls on a scale of ‘things Arsh wants to do with his time and money’.

So maybe that makes me the wrong person to be objective about Asymmetric’s new game West of Loathing. Or maybe it makes me the right person?

I've known about West of Loathing for forever, and I finally got to play it at PAX East this spring. I was actually surprised it wasn't more KoL-like, but was an actual walk around point and click style game with JRPG combat.It looked good, was funny, controls were tight, and the animation was excellent. I played it for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and then had to get to work, and didn't think much about it for a while.

But then, it got released. I’d been hearing DanBob talk about it constantly, and I really wanted to play it. So when it released, I bought it at work, told Steam to install it remotely, and got home that night and played for a couple of hours.

It grabbed me. It’s hilarious. It’s fun. It rewards exploration. Combat is tight, fast, and deadly. It’s got snakes. It’s got bandits. It’s got the Undead. It’s got clowns. It’s got a Necromancer. It’s got ghosts. It’s got alien technology. It’s got spittoons.

It has Stupid Walking.

I don’t really want to say too much. I don’t want to spoil any of the humor. You could decide you’ll wait for a Steam Sale and grab it for $5. To be totally honest, that’s likely what I would do with most new games. But if you buy it now, you won’t regret it.

Go get this game.

[h1]Return to Loathing with West of Loathing[/h1] I started playing Kingdom of Loathing in 2004. This isn’t terribly unusual on its own. I started playing a LOT of games in 2004. What is terribly unusual about Kingdom of Loathing is that 13 years later, it still matters. I didn’t really start playing a game, I joined a community. That sounds ridiculous (it’s not even funny!), but in a month I’m flying across the country to spend four days in a house with 17 people I only know because of this game. We’re going to hang out together, then go home. And we’ll do it again next year. I’m doing this instead of going to GenCon, so you can get a feeling of where this falls on a scale of ‘things Arsh wants to do with his time and money’. So maybe that makes me the wrong person to be objective about Asymmetric’s new game West of Loathing. Or maybe it makes me the right person? I've known about West of Loathing for forever, and I finally got to play it at PAX East this spring. I was actually surprised it wasn't more KoL-like, but was an actual walk around point and click style game with JRPG combat.It looked good, was funny, controls were tight, and the animation was excellent. I played it for maybe 10 or 15 minutes and then had to get to work, and didn't think much about it for a while. But then, it got released. I’d been hearing DanBob talk about it constantly, and I really wanted to play it. So when it released, I bought it at work, told Steam to install it remotely, and got home that night and played for a couple of hours. It grabbed me. It’s hilarious. It’s fun. It rewards exploration. Combat is tight, fast, and deadly. It’s got snakes. It’s got bandits. It’s got the Undead. It’s got clowns. It’s got a Necromancer. It’s got ghosts. It’s got alien technology. It’s got spittoons. It has Stupid Walking. I don’t really want to say too much. I don’t want to spoil any of the humor. You could decide you’ll wait for a Steam Sale and grab it for $5. To be totally honest, that’s likely what I would do with most new games. But if you buy it now, you won’t regret it. Go get this game.