Haunted West is an incredibly ambitious undertaking and could be this decade's quintissential Weird West game.

The $39.95 buy-in price is steep for a PDF, but it definitely delivers on content and quality. There is just SO much within these 800+ pages. Histories both broad and personal, adventure hooks, unique and exciting character options, alternate rules, intersectional and inclusive prose, and some excellent advice for running the game.

In terms of rules, Haunted West seeks to please as many people as possible. There's an ironclad foundation of traditional gaming rules, variants for more narrative-oriented play as well as options for crunchier combat, and there's even an entire Powered by the Apocalypse hack towards the end of the book too. You are bound to find a style of play that works best for you.

In terms of setting, it's obvious that the author did some thorough research of the time period and there are so many wonderful details behind each plot hook, NPC, and location. But Haunted West turns the Western genre on its head by incorporating Weird West elements (which isn't all that nuanced with Deadlands being a thing) and, more importantly, by heavily prioritizing and highlighting the marginalized peoples of the era.

My only gripe is that the page layout is a little too traditional for my tastes, and I would have liked to see some infographics that show how some of the rules work, but that's just me being picky.

This is a monumental achievement for Historic/Old West Roleplaying and I'm so glad I took a chance on this.