Review - Bounty Star: The Morose Tale of Graveyard Clem

Roberto Nieves
2 hours ago
6 min read

Developer: Dinogod

Publisher: Annapurna Interactive

Available on: PC (Steam), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5

Review system: PlayStation 5

The Wild West. It tells the tale of the hero of the villain. Of brass steel and the gun. Cold, hard justice mixes with the desolate and arid deserts, a true wasteland devoid of life. It is here, in this apocalyptic desert, that the tale of Graveyard Clem arises.

Bounty Star: The Morose Tale of Graveyard Clem puts players into the role of a bounty hunter. Seeking redemption and justice, players are set out on their mechs to tame the lands in a wasteland where what matters is true steel and justice.

Cold Steel

The West. A distant future. Clementine, like many around her, is a survivor. A long war, a disease known as The Buffalo Plague, and many hardships forged her into a Protector. She fiercely defends the vulnerable and the helpless, until one fateful night.

During an unexpected attack, a ruthless gang engages her community. Taking to her mech, known as a Raptor, she engages the enemy and even spares their leader’s life. This decision costs her as her moment of mercy devastates her town in a hail of rocket fire. A survivor once again, she goes into seclusion, shaken and distraught over those she failed to protect. She buries the fallen and earns the name Graveyard Clem.

A Chance

Some time passes, and Clem is offered a chance to return. She is reluctant at first to head back into a raptor but resolves to get back on the saddle, taking odd jobs and trying to tend to a broken-down farm. She is faced with facing her trauma once more, but in a torn world of injustice, you need to take it head-on and forge a new life.

Now back on her feet, Clem takes to the land, seeking redemption and a way back. By building her raptor, her farm, and herself, Clem musters on, getting stronger with each mission. It's only a matter of time before justice is met.

A New Life

Bounty Star is a hybrid action game. Bounty Star consists of lite base building, lite farming, mech customization, and mech combat. Players play in the shoes of Clementine, a former. Protector turned freelancer.

The beginning of the game shows the ropes of mech combat. The mechs, referred to as raptors in the game, have a rustic and retro-futuristic appearance, clearly relics of a great war. They still function, featuring both melee and range weapons. The mech combat has the familiar trapping of mech gameplay, with a big focus on regulating temperature.

Let it Grow

Following the opening prologue, players are introduced to the rest of the gameplay mechanics. To progress the story, players interact with the intercom. From there, players may interact with the rest of the farm and follow objectives.

The farming mechanics begin with feeding Clementine. Fighting bandits on an empty stomach is harmful. Eating gives perks to combat, such as increased melee attack power and speed. To be fed, Clementine has to cook. In order to cook, Clementine needs ingredients. The beginning introduces a cactus salad for starters, but over time, players gain access to recipes, such as chicken burritos. Players grow ingredients in the farm or purchase ingredients in the shop.

Trinkets and Doodads

The shop is essential to the operation of the farm. Here, players can purchase ingredients and blueprints. Once blueprints are purchased, they can be assembled in the shop, as long as players have the right ingredients. Important items, such as batteries, can be assembled on the workbench.

Later mechanics introduce the ability to grow crops through a solar-powered plant box and using a hydrocycler to both water the plants and cool off the raptor. Grown plants can be culled to be used for cooking or sold for curio, the game’s form of currency.

Putting it all Together

The final component of the gameplay is the mech combat. The Raptor can be customized with different parts, weapons, and paint jobs. Weapons can be purchased in the shop, with some being blueprints. The same rule applies to auxiliary parts and other attachments. Once the Raptor is customized to the player’s liking, they may select a bounty from the bounty board and set off to cull the desert wastes.

The mech combat is exciting and action-packed, with a degree of heft and weight. The Raptor isn't something as swift and nimble as an Armored Core Unit in Armored Core, but it isn't as slow and bulky as a mech in Mech Warrior. There's a bulk to consider and a thermal regulator that needs attention.

Metal and Grease

Mech combat features ranged weapons from machine guns to grenade launchers. Melee weapons start off with a basic sword, but can include hammers and chainsaw swords. The melee attacks have a simple combo that swings with a degree of weight. Special melee tricks are unlocked later as players progress.

Every attack builds temperature. If the Raptor gets too hot or too cold, the Raptor shuts down for a few moments and reboots. This leaves players vulnerable to enemy fire and can be fatal if players find themselves surrounded by enemies. The time of day also affects temperature, with the morning and night being cool enough to swing a sword and dish out damage, but missions in the afternoons need careful consideration, as the high temperature can easily render a Raptor useless after a few swings.

Taking Notes

Taking on bounties is the meat of the experience. All missions involve defeating enemies from rival gangs, including Raptors and mutant creatures. Each enemy downed yields curio, but if enemies can be captured alive, there is more curio to obtain. Players are equipped with a wrangler to tie up enemies. Enemies need to be weakened before they can be wrangled.

Fighting is intense, giving a white-knuckle sensation. A combination of shooting and melee attacks makes the action satisfying. The variety of enemies keeps things different as well. Some enemies are typical bandits that can be eliminated in a single hit, but players square off against other machines and other raptors. These tough enemies truly feel like a badass mech-on-mech brawl, requiring patience and aggression. Some enemies require taking down their armored plating, represented by a blue bar. Cutting that down makes the enemy more vulnerable.

Nourish the Mind and Body

Easily, the highlights of Bounty Star are the combat encounters and the story of Clementine. Bounty Star could have just left the narrative bare bones, but there's a surprising amount of introspection from Clementine that carries the story. At the end of certain missions, Clementine reflects on where she is in her journal.

It's a relatable narrative. Sometimes in life, there are things that happen that turn into a dark pit of anger and resentment. Sometimes the best thing is to hop back in, move on, and forge something new. There is an expected reluctance, but each step forward, no matter how small, leads to something new and reinvented. It's a relatable story, and it’s done well, right down to how Clementine talks.

Rinse and Repeat

Bounty Star becomes a game about habit. Eat, take care of plants, customize the mech, take missions, rinse and repeat. I do believe that Bounty Star could have leaned harder into the mech combat and had more variety to the missions, but the quieter moments of tending a garden and building a farm do offer a moment of reflection and pace between the carnage.

It's a unique and engaging type of game that I haven't experienced elsewhere, ultimately. It's satisfying and relaxing at the same time, providing a loop that is perfect for anyone who is looking for a different pace, one that is slow and fast when necessary.

The Shield of the Bounty Star

Visually, Bounty Star has a sharp art style with the retro-futuristic Raptor and colors that evoke the West. Some levels and sections could have been more dynamic, but the work is done well enough. The Wild Western music fits the style and tone, reminding me of Rebel Galaxy.

Bounty Star: The Morose Tale of Graveyard Clem is an interesting hybrid of a game. While I wish it could have leaned more into the combat, the mixture of different gameplay elements works. The story is strong, the combat is solid, and the mixture of planting and base building makes the moments between combat special. Grab your steel, fire up the Raptor, and face your demons head-on.