Willo
Saddle up and defend the town of Willow Creek from nefarious outlaws and city slickers! It all starts when a rancher’s daughter goes missing, and it ends at the showdown at Willow Creek, where greed, lust, science and Mother Nature will face off at high noon.
Showdown at Willow Creek is an interactive western mystery novel where your choices control the story. The game is entirely text-based–without graphics or sound effects–but powered by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.
Gamble, seduce, brawl, or shoot your way through Willow Creek, where gunslingers make the laws, and everybody has secrets. Will you romance the gambler or the soiled dove (or both)? Will you side with the scientists bringing electricity to the Old West, or with a tribe of native American Utes? Will you unravel the conspiracy that threatens to tear the town apart, or will you light the fuse to blow it all sky high?
Game Discussion
Steam User 23
Well, its no Tin Star, but Showdown was okay.
Pros: -Western setting, with funny colloquialisms to describe some of your stats
-Decent writing, author made efforts to include each attributing stat a choice in important decisions
-very forgiving got shot 3 times and lived happily ever after?
Cons: -VERY SHORT, I read fast, but 1 playthrough was just 60 minutes.
-very linear story, nothing to really side track you
-very little character progression
-very forgiving got shot 3 times and lived happily ever after!
All in all, I recommend if you want a short story to play with. Showdown looks to have some replayability with the other stats and choices. Maybe get a couple extra hours out of it...
Steam User 2
In a quick summary. It could have been better. I found it a little bit short for my liking. The characters were interesting, as was the story, but you don't lose anything for not playing it. Could be a 3.5/5
Steam User 4
my biggest takeaway from this game is: could've been better, could've been worse.
pros:
- very nicely established setting with little nods and slang terms fitting for the time
- likeable characters with their own motivations and relations
- interesting story, with a couple twists and turns despite the length of it
- the writing has a good flow and doesn't feel overly cumbersome or needlessly pretentious
cons:
- very short
- narration often tells rather than shows, and brushes past events very quickly
(e.g. the choice
o i talk them down
immediately leads to the statement 'you talk. they didn't like that and beat you tf up. you go home.')
- often doesn't clarify between your character's thoughts and speech in choices
(e.g. someone insults you and the choices are
o i don't take offense, i'm just here to get paid
o "go sit on a cactus," i tell him
but both lead characters to react as though you've said everything aloud one-to-one)
???:
- i got beat up by a gang, knocked out and left for dead in a cave, and then shot twice, but still somehow lived through a happy ending
- you can pick a sweetheart, but only get to know their name and occupation beforehand
- there's no strict time constraints for activities (aka you can pm just ask all the questions always)
- you can be a native american lesbian who spied for the confederacy. or a gay cowboy who fought slavery. or a former slave and buffalo soldier.
- everyone will treat you the exact same, regardless of your choices about gender/race/alignment in the civil war/etc.
all in all, a neat little story, but not really anything to write home about either
Steam User 1
I've played many of the "Choice of Games" and this one is one of my favorites. It's short and sweet and does the western theme well. I felt satisfied with all of my choices and all the characters were quite entertaining.
Steam User 3
I actually really loved this story. Great characters, fun and entertaining to read through.