Deadwater Saloon Prologue

The prologue to Deadwater Saloon is a promising start. It sets up an intriguing world and has a lot of atmosphere for a short experience the art style and setting immediately give it a unique personality. I liked how it introduces the main characters and hints at the story to come, and there’s definitely potential for some interesting gameplay mechanics in the full game. That said, being a prologue, it’s very short and leaves a lot unresolved. Some parts feel more like a teaser than a fully fleshed-out experience, and a few mechanics aren’t fully explored yet. Still, it does a good job of showing what the full game could be like, and if you enjoy narrative driven adventures with a Western flair, it’s worth checking out.

"Deadwater Saloon Prologue" is not a game. It's an advertisement for a product called "Deadwater Saloon". Deadwater Saloon is a half-baked "Tycoon" game where, instead of the usual restaurant or whatever, you're managing a rather crappy wild west saloon in what looks like an attempt at making a mobile app that got dumped on Steam as a cash grab. But this isn't completely relevant because this is not Deadwater Saloon, it's just an advertisment for it, so it's not correct to try to review that completely distinct product. We must instead review this for what it is... an advertisement. If you enjoy advertisements, you can consume them for free on the web or on Youtube without needing to add them to your game library, download them, and then launch the advertising. It's impossible in a general sense to recommend people should do that over playing real, full games on Steam, and that applies here with "Deadwater Saloon Prologue" too. It's strange to see paid/fake reviews on an advertisement, but it does look like PlayWay S.A. went off to the paid Russian review farm uncovered by Sentinels of the Store and bought fake reviews for this crapware. This is only free in the same way …

[h1]A short and brutal trip to the American frontier. Très effronté. [/h1] Deadwater Saloon Prologue drops you straight into the rough‑and‑ready cowboy era of the United States, where business was dirty, relationships were transactional and survival was a daily negotiation (if you really could negotiate without violence or deceit!). It captures that atmosphere well. You can customize your character, build up your saloon and carve out a living in whatever questionable way the frontier allows. Your entire moral compass NEVER matters! Want to run a respectable establishment? Too bad. The frontier laughs at your dreams. [h2] À prendre ou à laisser. [/h2] Random encounters shape your fate and the odds rarely lean in your favor. Every choice feels like flipping a coin that’s weighted against you. Sell something risky? Get arrested. Bribe? You might pay high but end quickly. Try to charm someone? They might rob you. Try to rob them? They might be armed. Provoke a fight? Get killed. Try to mind your own business? You might get caught in the crossfire of someone else’s bad day. The game doesn’t shy away from showing how harsh life could be. Customers brawl in your saloon, employees c…

Very interesting game but a bit lack interaction

What a fun game. I has a Red Dead Redemption feel to it, down to having the pigs sort out bodies for you. It's funny, has the western grit vibe and the look is cute. How long you'll play this before you're bored is hard to say. I did get a bit frustrated with the small amount of action points you get and once they are up, you kinda just sit there staring at the town going about their lives until the points refill again. Overall I've played this demo a few times now, died a lot because of stress (even in my games I'm overworked man) and I keep coming back for more. This is on my To Buy list for 2025 for sure.

Nice little economy game. The two keys at the beginning are manage your: Budget: buy what you can fill/use (but I buy a quality bar for the long haul), hire cheap workers until you are settled. Stress: do NOT overuse the action points (failures cause added stress), get a dog/pig, close when very few customers or when the saloon reputation is recovering from a fight