Deadwater Saloon

About

Deadwater Saloon is a single player role playing game with a business theme. It was developed by Tanglefoot Games and was released on September 13, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Dive into the wild west as a saloon owner in a volatile frontier town. Customize your character and face the consequences of your choices as you forge friendships and enemies of townsfolk, travellers, outlaws and lawmen. Build the most famous saloon in the territory, or be overrun and destroyed.

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65%

Audience ScoreBased on 172 reviews

gameplay9 positive mentions

stability10 negative mentions

Unique blend of management simulation and RPG elements set in a Wild West saloon, offering character development and player-driven story outcomes.
Engaging early-game challenge with a rich, atmospheric soundtrack and immersive Western setting.
Active and responsive developer providing frequent updates and community support.

Game becomes too easy and repetitive after early stages, leading to lack of meaningful challenge and limited replayability.
Limited saloon customization and building options; endgame content is scarce and lacks depth.
Technical issues such as bugs, performance problems, clunky UI, and insufficient polish detract from the experience.

gameplay
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
73%
7%
The gameplay of Deadwater Saloon offers an initially engaging and atmospheric experience centered on managing a saloon, building relationships, and navigating wild-west challenges, with novel mechanics like stress and friendship systems. However, many players find the mid-to-late game repetitive and lacking meaningful progression, as the gameplay loop becomes monotonous and the mechanics overly simplified or transparent, leading to eventual boredom. While promising, the game currently feels limited in content variety and depth, with a reliance on menu-driven management that diminishes player engagement over time.
- “These interactions help create memorable moments where success or failure feels narratively earned rather than mechanically scripted.”
- “Interesting "friendship" mechanics: success or failures can be the difference between the lowest prices on goods in town, and a sinking saloon.”
- “Engaging initial gameplay: the game kicks off with a promising premise – design and manage your own saloon, navigate relationships, expand your influence, and handle adversaries in a wild-west setting.”
- “By the mid-to-late game, the gameplay loop becomes hollow; there is nothing left to do but watch your money accumulate, which becomes boring very quickly.”
- “The gameplay loop of managing the saloon, dealing with enemies, and increasing your inventory feels monotonous and lacks the variety needed to keep players engaged over the long term.”
- “While the initial allure of building a saloon empire and dealing with the complexities of the old west drew me into this game, the lack of meaningful progression and a repetitive gameplay loop ultimately led to my disinterest and boredom.”
story
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
66%
9%
The game's story offers engaging elements like romance, alliances, and betrayal, creating strong emergent storytelling and a compelling wild west experience. However, many players find the narrative content limited and repetitive, with few events, storylines, or endgame challenges, leading to a sense of stagnation after the initial stages. While the story shows potential with its mix of RPG and management simulation, it would benefit greatly from expanded, more immersive story arcs and diverse missions to maintain long-term engagement.
- “The game allows for romance, alliances, betrayal, and even outright criminal behavior, giving it a strong emergent storytelling quality.”
- “For fans of simulation games who enjoy experimentation, storytelling through systems, and the freedom to carve out a personal path in a hostile world, it provides a compelling and often memorable journey through the dust, danger, and opportunity of the wild west.”
- “The story and plethora of events are a treat.”
- “Limited events and storylines: the sporadic events and challenges that the game does offer are few and far between.”
- “The development team's challenge lies in addressing the issues of aimlessness and repetitiveness by introducing a more diverse array of content, storylines, and challenges.”
- “Also wish there was some sort of endgame… feel the bigger story arcs got wrapped up mid game, beyond which I just quietly bought up the entire town, got all my skills to 100, got all the town affinity to 100, got everybody addicted to my services etc.”
music
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
23%
18%
The game's music is widely praised for its atmospheric and immersive qualities, often highlighted as a standout feature that significantly enhances the overall setting and mood. Reviewers consistently describe the soundtrack as beautiful, perfectly themed, and integral to the game's charm, despite other gameplay shortcomings.
- “The sound and music are amazing, and the art and writing are strong for an independent game developer.”
- “Environmental sounds were good, setting the scene well, but the soundtrack is remarkable.”
- “The game has great atmosphere and music.”
- “The game shows promise, especially with its atmospheric music and core mechanics, but it desperately needs the infusion of additional events, storylines, and challenges to maintain player engagement beyond the initial stages.”
- “While Deadwater Saloon exhibits potential with its atmospheric music and core mechanics, it currently falls short of delivering a satisfying gaming experience.”
- “It's a shame as the background music in particular is really atmospheric for my little crowded saloon.”
graphics
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
47%
20%
The graphics offer a charming Old West aesthetic that some players appreciate for its uniqueness, though overall visual quality is described as mediocre with grainy textures, occasional bugs, and minimal differences between settings. While visuals are generally pleasant and run smoothly at 1080p, they lack polish and advanced lighting, with limited customization options.
- “Old west is an aesthetic I'd love to see more publishers explore, mostly because I love the history, and partly because I'm tired of prehistoric dinosaurs and post-apocalyptic dystopian zombies.”
- “Graphics are very good.”
- “The graphics are pleasant.”
- “The graphics are simply ugly, the textures are grainy, and the lights are nonexistent.”
- “There are no options for graphics or controls.”
- “While there was some attention to detail, the graphics are mediocre, with negligible differences between high and low settings, worse than Tavern Master - its closest competitive game by style.”
atmosphere
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
22%
7%
The game excels in creating a gritty, immersive Western atmosphere, largely thanks to its authentic background music and ambient sounds that bring the saloon setting to life. While the atmosphere and music are widely praised for enhancing player immersion, some aspects like animations and interface responsiveness feel rough, and the game could benefit from more events and storylines to sustain engagement. Overall, the atmosphere effectively conveys the feeling of managing a struggling saloon in the 1800s, making it one of the game's strongest aspects.
- “Rather than focusing purely on numbers and efficiency, the game leans heavily into atmosphere and personal choice, framing the saloon not just as a business but as a living extension of your character’s identity and ethics.”
- “The authentic and immersive tunes successfully transport players into the rugged landscapes of the old west, enhancing the overall ambience and providing a nice touch to the game's atmosphere.”
- “It definitely puts a lot of work into the atmosphere of living in a struggling town out in the American west in the 1800s.”
- “The presentation effectively conveys the gritty western atmosphere, but animations, interface clarity, and overall responsiveness can feel rough, particularly during busy management phases.”
stability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game exhibits frequent glitches, bugs, and occasional crashes that impact stability, with some visual issues and gameplay interruptions. However, the developer is highly responsive and actively working to address these problems, improving the experience over time.
- “Game appears more buggy than the demo available prior to release; however, the developer is actively addressing issues as they arise.”
- “So far, this game is pretty buggy; I'm not sure how it's not early access.”
- “The game freezes every time an object is placed.”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
Optimization is a major concern, with frequent freezing and poor GPU performance, especially in late-game stages, even on mid-range hardware like the RTX 3050. While some improvements have been made since the demo, the game still struggles with efficient resource management and overall performance.
- “Having played the demo before release, the game has come a long way from fixing the bugs and improving the optimization of the game.”
- “I attribute it to this being developed by a small team, which I assume from the type of game and the fact that it's seemingly not well optimized.”
- “Only two issues with the game: one is the optimization, this game runs your GPU like Richard Simmons on crack!”
- “The performance is also awful, so much so that it started freezing constantly on an RTX 3050 at about 50% of the playthrough.”
- “Poor late game performance.”
- “Performance issues become especially noticeable in the late game.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
16%
67%
Replayability is mixed, with some players appreciating the game's randomness and difficulty settings for multiple playthroughs, while others find the limited content, lack of expansion options, and repetitive character interactions diminish long-term interest. Overall, many feel the game lacks sufficient replay value to sustain ongoing engagement.
- “This is a remarkably fun game, with enough randomness and difficulty settings to provide lots of replayability.”
- “I had fun, but I don't see the point in playing anymore nor restarting; there is no replayability at all.”
- “There's no replay value; the character interaction system is initially interesting but very quickly becomes boring.”
- “Unfortunately, I do not feel as though there is replayability for me.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game becomes repetitive and tedious, especially in the late stages, with players often resorting to passive multitasking due to the lack of variety. While the early gameplay is engaging, the heavy grind and simple tasks detract from the overall experience.
- “Repetitive gameplay loop: what starts off as an engaging premise quickly turns into a tedious cycle of tasks.”
- “From this point on it's just a matter of achievement grinding.”
- “The game is so grindy that I just ran it in the background watching YouTube videos, tabbing in to change my research, befriend new townspeople, and buy out the new stores and their stock.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor is often derived from unexpected and quirky situations, such as new residents randomly disliking the player, which players find amusing. It adds a lighthearted touch to an otherwise challenging game, blending grit with comedic moments. However, some feel that once the initial difficulty passes, the game loses its balance and challenge.
- “RNG on residents - I do get people can hate you just because, but this is just funny af - new residents move in, they hate you (like -50 and lower) - why?”
- “Gritty and challenging, yet humorous too - in the early game, DS is quite hard, but once you work out how to make a profit, there’s no challenge left, making me feel it’s not greatly balanced.”

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6h Median play time

8h Average play time

6-12h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 3 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Deadwater Saloon is a role playing game with business theme.

Deadwater Saloon is available on PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 8 hours playing Deadwater Saloon.

Deadwater Saloon was released on September 13, 2022.

Deadwater Saloon was developed by Tanglefoot Games.

Deadwater Saloon has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked Deadwater Saloon for its gameplay but disliked it for its stability.

Deadwater Saloon is a single player game.

Similar games include Tavern Master, Travellers Rest, Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game, Academia: School Simulator, Tavern Tycoon and others.

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