Rustler: GTA in the Middle Ages - Preview of the humorous homage

Rustler

Rustler is what comes out of it when you cheekily copy the gameplay from GTA and make a big mistake in the era. Instead of modern city bustle, brisk carts and deadly creaking, Rustler has medieval bustle, horses and swords. Accordingly, the game was given the unofficial title Grand Theft Horse. The title has been in Early Access on Steam for some time. On August 31, the finished version should now appear on PS4 and PS5. On this occasion, the developers of Jutsu Games gave us an insight into the current version during a digital event and explained some special features of the Playstation implementation.

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Rustler | PREVIEW | GTA in the Middle Ages loadVideoPlayer ('84175', '& sAdSetCsategory = article_featured', 12, '16: 9 ', false, 1377192, false, 277727, 260, false, 0,' ',' ', false); Rustler from 29.99 €

Guy and Buddy

Rustler plays in a historically inaccurate version of the Middle Ages, which doesn't seem to take itself too seriously. The developers don't even try to hide how much they use GTA. The protagonist is a would-be petty criminal, Bard Rustler: GTA in the Middle Ages - Preview of the humorous homage (6) Source: Jutsu Games play rap music and even the sounds could partly come directly from one of the rock star games. The biggest difference to the original is probably the perspective. Rustler has neither the typical top-down perspective of classic GTAs, nor a modern third-person perspective. Instead, we follow what is happening from a mostly isometric view.

We slip into the role of Guy who, together with his buddy Buddy, causes chaos and madness in the world of Rustler (buy now 29.99 €). He is caught up in a plot in which he is supposed to win the great knight tournament. Half of the kingdom and the hand of the princess will be awarded as a prize. What can go wrong there? Of course, everything you can imagine. During his adventure, Guy will meet all kinds of crazy characters.

Colorful horses

The story of the game is told through quests. But apart from that, there should be a lot of other activities to do. The spectrum ranges from the transport of goods and the ordering of fields to a career as a cage fighter. In addition, you always have to deal with the Rustler: GTA in the Middle Ages - preview of the humorous homage (8) Source: Jutsu Games Guards, depending on how much chaos you cause in the game world. If you just get on a horse like that, you will of course be persecuted for horse theft. Funnily enough, the mounted guards are even equipped with blue-red siren light.

Similar to GTA, there is a persecution level that indicates how energetically and numerous the law enforcement officers act. In order not to be arrested, it is necessary to flee. Those who manage to hang out their pursuers in streets or in the field can be happy. All others resort to the help of helpful services. For example, we head for a pimp a horse to quickly repaint our rattle in a different color. We are already back on the road as innocent citizens.

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Guy also has a crossbow, but in general fights take place at close range with swords, shields, clubs and other objects that can be used as weapons instead of. It can also be fought from the back of a horse. The opponents also make use of this. If you are on foot, you should beware of mounted guards, who can easily overrun a guy. In the event of death, the game continues at the nearest hospital or church.

In order to replace the radios from GTA, bards can be hired in Rustler. They get on the horse behind Guy and provide the background music during the trip. The range of songs should be varied. With lots of rock and hip tracks that have been specially brought into a medieval form. All of this contributes to the weird humor for which the developers say they were inspired by greats like Monty Python. Many clichés from Game of Thrones, The Witcher and many other pop culture media should also be taken up.

Dualsense

An important concern of the developers during the presentation was also the special features of the controls highlight the dualsense controller in the PS5 version. For this purpose, the makers have come up with a lot to make use of the special features of the controller. The strength of the vibration depends, among other things, on the riding speed. During the fight, the haptic feedback can be used to sense the direction from which the protagonist is being hit. The adaptive triggers create a lot of resistance when a crossbow is fired and loaded and when Guy runs out of breath in a fight.

The open medieval world looks harmonious, even if it looks a bit lacking in color. Most of the time we see either gray roads or green landscapes. But the humor is right. Where else can you throw holy hand grenades or shoot cows into the sky and have a blast? The background music with modern sounds trimmed to the Middle Ages is one of the most brilliant ideas of the game. The final version still has to prove how long that excites and whether the action keeps going.