Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

Sometimes gems are found in the strangest of places. The first two games in Techland’s Wild West-themed Call of Juarez series were—you know—fine. Then 2011’s threequel, The Cartel, was pretty dreadful, and a commercial flop. So hopes weren’t set high for the fourth and final game, 2013’s Gunslinger. Yet, it’s an absolute stunner, a witty FPS with gorgeous art, that makes incredible use of an unreliable narrator.

You play as Silas Greaves, a self-titled legendary bounty hunter in the Old West, whose stories just happen to have him cross paths with (and inevitably best) some of the most famous names of the era. Think Pat Garrett, Johnny Ringo, Billy the Kid. You play out Greaves’ tall tales as he tells them, which means every time he talks himself into a corner, or one of his impatient tablemates calls him up on a lie, you see reality shifting around you to match his latest version or exaggeration.

It’s such a brilliant idea, and better, is deftly executed in an already solid shooter. There’s nothing else like it.