The huge achiever of game like theGrand Theft Autoseries andMinecraftshows exactly how much instrumentalist can revel titles where freedom plays an important part in the gameplay outgrowth , something that will doubtless be a key merchandising point of thenewSaints Rowgame . cattle thief , from developer Jutsu Games , accept a look at an earlier loop of free roaming in gaming through a historical lens .

Rustleris an open worldsandbox plot that is heavily inspired by the earlyGrand Theft Autotitles . Set in the medieval point , the player takes on the role of The Guy , a peasant looking to move up in the world and make it into the higher echelons of companionship by whatever mean necessary . Along the elbow room , they ’ll make all sorts of topsy-turvyness , meet the Spanish Inquisition , and sling a moo-cow or two .

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Brian Heder with a brick of cocaine in GTA 6

As expected , Rustler does superintend to feel an dread lot like thefirst twoGTAgames . Whether it ’s the dull dialogue of part , the canonical function markers , or the ability to repaint your drive at the logistically mysterious Pimp A Horse respray shops , it genuinely feels like it could have been a continuation of the oldGTAmodel . There are some slight tweak to make it more playable for a modern audience , such as being able to block melee onrush and a bit more of a indulgent approach to aspire , but fan of those nineties entries will feel at home .

It ’s therefore a simplistic   title when it comes to gameplay , and Jutsu Games has train to keep role player rent with an irreverent style of humor . Overall it ’s a mixed bag , but in some instancesRustler ’s humor does act well . The blend of modern road provision in a medieval context creates some good ocular gag like pedestrian crossings and parking spots for horses , while more phantasmagorical moments like beatboxing bard are good for a laugh .

However , Rustlerdoes struggle with other elements of its comedy . It ’s extremely reliant on referential humour , with countless unimpressiveMonty Pythonreferencesalongside nods to Terry Pratchett andThe Officeas just two other examples , mean that it feel stuffy to theScary Movieseries than toAirplane!Meanwhile , its toilet bodily fluid could rankle depending on the threshold of the item-by-item player ; Those who redden atConker ’s Bad Fur Daymight have a spoilt time .

DOOM The Dark Ages doom slayer with a book with weapons

This is n’t the only arena   whereRustlercomes up a little curt . Its main plot is n’t on the dot compelling , although it trot along nicely with some playfulness moments along the way as The Guy tries to progress from his humble root , but the majority of its side quest are pretty canonical . There are also some other things to do such as pick up musical notes and shoe for science upgrades , but much like similar element in oldGTAgames these are n’t compelling to complete .

WhereRustlertruly has issues is with a broad variety of technical trouble . bug are common , and as varied asPimp A Horseglitching out enough to cause a mission restart through to sudden black screens . There are other geomorphologic problem too , like exceedingly suspect AI pathfinding , at one point being so poor as to in effect make one side mission incompletable .

Beyond these bigger problems there are also some smaller sloppy moments   that could likely have been resolve with a piddling more time in development .   Mounts sometimes not respawning if charge from a checkpoint is a bugbear , specially given that there seems to be a lack of civilian horse on the roads in equivalence to those used by guards , while the camera shifting between isometric and top - down to help give the player a clear perspective is n’t as fluid as it could be .

GTA 6 artwork of Jason and Lucia with guns on a pier.

As suchRustleris not quite the retro callback to early sandpit biz that actor may have hop-skip for . It ’s an enjoyable fun diversionary attack for a little sharp explosion of low supercilium bodily fluid , but in the prospicient terminus it ’s improbable to keep player lock . unite with a wide variety of technical issues , Rustlerfeels like something of a lack opportunity .

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Rustleris out now for PC , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series S / X , and Nintendo Switch . Screen Rant was offer with a PS5 download computer code for the purposes of this revaluation .

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