Tin Star
By Allen Gies
(10/10)
Well, goddamn. Usually I have an idea of how my review will go as I play a game, but for Tin Star, I was just enthralled. I had literally no thoughts, head empty, because I was so focused on finishing the game. I’ve read at least 30 Interactive Fiction games, but Tin Star has shot up to the best of the best. You are strong-armed (long story) into being a newly-appointed U.S. marshal of Lander County, a wild place of land around Nevada. For ten incredible chapters, you act as the law. The unique, thorough mechanics system is happily married to detailed, historically-accurate writing. I haven’t even mentioned the two incredible female ROs, and the “conspiracy whose deadly web stretches from San Francisco to New York City.” I didn’t give the blurb much thought—it’s just trying to build hype—but . . . you know how in Ace Attorney you have random plot threads that all coalesce at the end? And how the theme song kicks in, you look back at the evidence, and everything makes sense all of a sudden? Yeah. That’s how Tin Star ends. I’m surprised the Steam page says it’s the first hosted game published; it sets the bar so high, even almost 10 years later.
Pros:
I have to praise choices that matter. There is reactivity to every choice you make—which big or small, can help or hinder you later in the game. I was incredibly pleased with the character creation first. There’s no basic hair or eye color or height. Instead, you can be male, female, or nonbinary. Incredibly, you can choose to be white, Indian, or Chinese. Other characters will actually react, negatively or positively to your choices. For example, I was a Chinese woman. Many people were incredibly confused at how I rose to my position of power. I was called a “celestial woman” with a tin star. But other Chinese immigrants asked for my advice, praising both my gender and race. Other bigots expressed their disbelief at me. The actual text responded to my race, as well: I could pipe up about Chinese foods, locations, and language. I even chose to be a doctor AND a lawyer, and folks commented on that too! This reactivity didn’t go away—it stayed throughout the game until the very end.
RPG system. Tin Star isn’t a linear simple visual novel—I would argue it’s practically an RPG. During and after each chapter, you have an interlude. You have little “side missions” and lore conversations. You can literally walk up the town’s blacksmith and ask for his story. (You can skip these, but they’re useful for improving your stats and opinions). You can build your own house, fix up your office, play chess with an RO, grow wealthy, and have brawls or gun fights. There’s a surprising amount of strategy for bigger conflicts, like group fights or diplomacy or flanking the enemy.
Freedom and player agency. Let me give you an example. (Minor story spoilers here, but it’s no big mystery.) When travelling, you encounter a cowboy and a prospector engaged in a shootout. You first choose how you want to arrive at the scene and how to engage with both characters. You can go in guns blazing, shoot before asking questions, or lend an ear to the men and find out what’s really going on. This is your first chance to act as a marshall. Listen to both sides of the story. Choose who’s in the wrong or right and even decide who pays reparations. I repeat: you can kill both these men. Oh, these are not some random NPCs. These are two major characters, one being an RO. There’s also another (female) RO you can kill because she’s breaking the law. Again, the player agency is unmatched. You almost always have the option to say “fuck it,” pull your pistol out, and start shooting.
Writing. The writing in Tin Star is doing an insane amount of historical heavy lifting. There’s so much real knowledge baked in—about the Gold Rush, railroads, bandits, Mormon settlements, Native tribes, Chinese railroad workers, early banking, guns—you name it. But it never turns into a textbook. All of that context shows up exactly where it matters: in conversations, investigations, or why people are angry or desperate or dangerous. The game is not black or white; it’s a lot of grey, as well.
Stat system. Usually I don’t like so many stats, and Tin Star has 12 main skills. However, the game gives you so many opportunities to improve them over time. There’s also a whopping 9 relationship bars with many minor characters. Order, Law, and Honor are also tracked. My favorite thing was how flavor text of stats changes as you advance a skill. So my gunfighting skill went from “Pull the trigger to make a lot of noise" to “There may be one person who can equal your lightning fast hands, and you haven’t met them yet.” It makes you feel like you’re actually progressing and building on a character. I checked the stat page many times—for fun.
Epilogue. Tin Star has one of the best epilogues ever due to its length. Usually, most IFs shy away from looking at the future. But Tin Star says “fuck that” and includes a Legend system. Basically, all the noteworthy events you do are tracked and listed in the epilogue. So I have the fact that I never took a bribe; that I had books written about me; that I used a bear skin hide as a rug; that I saved the town from flooding, etc. I had four pages of summary! Oh, but of course Gies, the mad lad didn’t stop there. Bro had futures for major and minor characters—at least 16, in total. Even places I encountered had endings. For fun, I adopted a mouse as a pet. You betcha, my mouse had a happy ending with kids who somehow remembered me. What the hell, dude? I could go on, but this review is already too long. Just play this game.
Cons:
More save spots. I love that Tin Star has a checkpoint save system at the beginning/end of a chapter. However, I got killed by a bear multiple times (long story) and ended up having to replay 15 minutes of a chapter. The chapters get longer, as well.
Couple noticeable typos and odd paragraph breaks.