By Gianluca Girelli and Garry Francis
In the years following the American Civil War, you lead a simple life as a cowboy. Despite the low wage, you scrimp and save and manage to buy a small ranch near Tucson, Arizona, where you live with your wife Sarah and daughter Betty. You dream of a bright future for your daughter and work hard every day to earn the money needed to provide her with a good education.
Then, one day, your peaceful existence is shattered when Pablo Cortez and his gang raid your ranch on their return to Nogales after a robbery in Tucson. They shoot you in the head and leave you for dead. Luckily for you, the wound is superficial, but, when you come to, you discover that your life savings have been stolen, and Sarah and Betty have been kidnapped. You dress your wound and quickly recover, determined to find Sarah and Betty.
A few hours later, you're in hot pursuit of Cortez's gang. In retrospect, this was a stupid thing to do on your own. Halfway through the desert, your horse dies from the heat and exertion. You're now by yourself, on foot, and your horse lies dead at your feet.
This is a life or death situation. Despite the odds, you must press on if you want to see your family alive again, but consider every move carefully, as the Wild West is a deadly and unforgiving place.
This is a traditional text adventure that was written for The BDB Project. The game is hosted at Wild West.
Release 1 was compiled with Inform 6 version 6.42 and the PunyInform library version 5.14. This was released for ParserComp 2025.
Release 2 was compiled with Inform 6 version 6.44 and the PunyInform library version 6.0.2. This was a post-comp release to account for feedback from ParserComp and changes in the PunyInform library. The main changes were to remove a couple of the in-game clues, add more hints, change the method of finding an object in the stagecoach and change the end game. It also included many small enhancements, such as string and code optimisation and some extra responses to actions.