The Wild West is known for cowboys, bandits, trains, and a whole lot of sand. However, there is also a lot of spooky folklore attached to the place. Solo developer Michael Janisch wanted to mix these tales with the survival crafting genre, so he created the Western horror game Hauntsville.

Set in the Rocky Mountains in the year 1897, you play as a nameless traveler who arrives in a town in the middle of an attack by creepy monsters. You and a strange merchant are the only survivors, and after gathering some basic items and resources from the town, you head out in search of answers about what is happening in this rocky valley. The game has a main quest line to follow, and unlike many survival games made by a single developer, the characters you meet during your journey are fully voiced.

As you explore the cursed West, you find other empty towns and mines. A great feature, if you want to focus solely on the story, is that after you’ve visited one of these locations, you unlock a fast-travel option. This can be activated from the map screen at any time. However, the world itself is rather small, so it won’t skip a whole lot of walking.

What it will skip are the encounters with the various monsters you’d otherwise face. These range from a banshee to a floating ball shooting lasers. I’m not up to date with these folktales, but they sound pretty wild. In classic Wild West style, you can defend yourself with a revolver, shotgun, Winchesters, and more.

You can also sneak around enemies by crouching and hiding; this might be a good option, as bullets are only found in small quantities at points of interest. You’ll need these, as monsters can nest in these locations after you’ve left them, creating a not-so-welcoming surprise the next time you return to what you thought was an abandoned town. While they can be spotted during the day, the enemies become more active at night.

So you’d better build a base to keep yourself safe during these hours. When building, you are able to place the foundation of your house in any location you want, except for the POIs. Once you’ve placed the foundation, the rest of the parts easily and quickly snap into place, making it a breeze to use. While there aren’t a lot of pieces, there are enough to construct a cool-looking wooden fortress. There is a variety of furniture to choose from, and for survival, you can place a rain barrel and farm plots.

Besides crafting from the inventory, you can also place a forge to make more advanced items, like iron ingots. While creating tools and slaying monsters, you gain XP. By leveling up, you get skill points that you can use to increase HP and stamina, or decrease the speed at which your hunger and thirst go down.

Hauntsville is available on Steam and is offering a 20% discount for the first two weeks, making it a great opportunity to get it at a lower price.