Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Game
Game2007
Call of Juarez
Developer Techland
Call of Juarez is a 2006 Western-themed first-person shooter for Windows and Xbox 360. Developed by Techland, the Windows version was published in Europe by Focus Home Interactive in September 2006, in Australia by Auran Development in October 2006, and in North America by Ubisoft in June 2007. The Xbox 360 version was ported by Techland and published worldwide by Ubisoft in June 2007. In March 2011, it was made… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
291 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 4, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
70
Fresh
136 positive · 58 negative
95% range 63–76%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 136 | 58 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 34 | 6 | 47 |
| Lemmy * | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
1,429 of 1,950 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
71% recommend · 128 yes, 53 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 181 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (3,709 of 4,610 positive).
Players praise the game's story and atmosphere, calling it a hidden gem with a lot of charm. [1][2][3] Many note the game is clunky and dated, with technical issues and janky gameplay. [4][5][6] Some reviewers find the game broken or frustrating due to bugs and poor mechanics. [6][7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [6]
Too broken to recommend. Even after following multiple guides here and on PCGamingWiki, the game still crashes randomly every 5–10 minutes. Duels fail to work most of the time, and a couple of chapters wouldn’t even load without workarounds. If it actually functioned, I think I would’ve found it passable enough to recommend. It’s a flawed and fairly generic FPS with nothing particularly noteworthy, yet I didn’t …
- [1]
The game was more fun than I expected. I really enjoyed the shooting as it felt very natural. The smoke particles and physics was probably the best part of the game, Pain in the arse to run properly these days and could really do with a modernisation patch setup.
- [4]
Call of Juarez is a rough hidden gem. It has a lot of cool ideas and gives you plenty of freedom as a player but all that is covered under a pretty unignorable layer of jank. Bad voice acting, tons of technical issues, loose feeling gunplay. It's a great time to play through, but you definitely have to level your expectations.
- [2]
A solid western FPS with a lot of charm. The dual protagonist setup is interesting and the setting is well realized. Rough around the edges but there's a lot of personality here.
- [3]
Another little hidden gem that shows very well why old-school games still hold their own magic. The story wasn't bad, and I liked the two main characters, and the voice actors worked as well. The game's main charm is in the atmosphere, as you're going through the classical western locations, chapter by chapter, and watch the vivid landscapes, listening to the music, reading the Bible, and shooting your enemies, and …
Summarised from 34 of the 261 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Call of Juarez talk about great story and atmosphere; those who didn't talk about clunky and dated gameplay. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Call of Juarez received "mixed or average reviews" on both systems; the PC version holds an aggregate score of 72 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on twenty-five reviews, and the Xbox 360 version holds a score of 71 out of 100, based on thirty-seven reviews. Eurogamer's Kieron Gillen scored the PC version 8 out 10, praising the alternating level structure, and calling the game "as good a cowboy shooter as I've played". He concluded, "of all the cowboy games in the last few years, Call of Juarez is the one which most feels like it has a soul [...] It's a game which you feel someone actually cared about making". Tom Bramwell also scored the Xbox 360 version 8 out of 10, praising the…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 291 · most liked firstIn Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (2013), the main character narrates the story, exaggerating and revising it as he goes. Fun game!
positive · AI labelView post →Game designers go on and _on_ about Call of Juarez: Gunslinger like it's actually one of the best FPS games ever made and that's because it is
positive · AI labelView post →What do you call types of games where you shoot but don't control the movement. Is there a name for games where you shoot but don't control the movement? An example would be [Call of Juarez](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3020/Call_of_Juarez/) Possibly there is a Steam filter with these kinds of games?
neutral · AI labelView post →A newsletter about new interesting games on MyAbandonware.com It includes: •Call of Juarez: The Cartel - that "forgotten" neo-Western game from Call of Juarez series myabandonware.com/game/call-of... •Retrovirus - 6DOF action game in style of Descent myabandonware.com/game/retrovi... #abandonware
neutral · AI labelView post →The game was more fun than I expected. I really enjoyed the shooting as it felt very natural. The smoke particles and physics was probably the best part of the game, Pain in the arse to run properly these days and could really do with a modernisation patch setup.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm going on record as saying that Call of Juarez is my preferred Western game when compared to the Red Dead series. More interesting and nuanced writing. Better action setpieces. Better characters. And just more of a Western FEEL. Even if the Billy levels made me wince. Worth the playthrough.
positive · AI labelView post →Is the game of my childhood. I didn’t spend many hours playing it on Steam - 16 years ago I only owned it on a physical disc - but the feeling it gave me is impossible to describe. The community was massive. Servers were so full that sometimes it was genuinely hard to get in. Despite its relatively low budget, the multiplayer had a special kind of magic that pulled people together and kept them playing. I love this game with all my heart, and I love Techland for the soul, atmosphere, and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →do you remember Ubisoft a decade ago? Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Rayman Legends released a decade ago Far Cry 3, Driver: San Francisco, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, Red Steel 2, and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood are even older they have killed all creativity in their workforce
neutral · AI labelView post →Game definitely is quite dated imo! Before I get to the things I disliked about the game, I will say that it is definitely interesting. The story is captivating, especially the further you get into it. The main characters are compelling in their own ways, and the overall gameplay is engaging (though not the greatest). The game's story started out a bit slow for me, but it picked up the longer I kept going forward and, by the end, had me excited to see where the next games go with it. I enjoyed…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A solid western FPS with a lot of charm. The dual protagonist setup is interesting and the setting is well realized. Rough around the edges but there's a lot of personality here.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Anyone who has amazon prime should check out the "prime gaming" page tor free GOG keys. There are loads of games from like Scorn to Baldurs Gate; Call of Juarez to Dredge. All totally free to keep on GOG from the keys Amazon give you. They are a shitty company but this benefit is not well publicised enough and probably won't last forever so worth taking advantage. There are Epic cd keys on there too but I don't use it personally. Edit: Last bit of testimony - it has cured me of my…
neutral · AI labelView post →Probably Call of Juarez: The Cartel. I wanted to play the entire franchise back to back, but it wasn't being sold on Steam, so I had to hunt down a copy on some key reseller. Boy, do I see why it's not on sale anymore. runs like absolute shit, incredibly buggy, cheesy as hell and with some pretty questionable game design choices. Still, it was somewhat entertaining in a "so bad it's good" sense, and it ties into the previous games in a fairly interesting way, so I don't regret playing it. It…
negative · AI labelView post →Warning!! This game contains dialogues about behaviors which are disgusting, but yet historically accurate, including racism against Mexicans and Native Americans, and sexual assault of women. This is a first-person shooter from 2006 with a decently immersive western story. It is the first game in a series of 4, and you can get 2 of the others ones on Steam (#2 & #4). The story happens in the mid 1880's, partly in far west Texas and partly across the border in Mexico. It has a lot of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Howdy #PitchYaGame Cardboard Cowboy is a gunslinging game set in cardboard west! An FPS shooting gallery with RPG and looter elements, think of Call of Juarez delivered in a Paper Mario world. (volume on)🌵 Wishlist Cardboard Cowboy: store.steampowered.com/app/3856780/...
neutral · AI labelView post →I think Call of Juarez (and Bound in Blood) get pretty close, too. Gunslinger was a more generic subtitle despite the game itself having going hard on the style everywhere else.
positive · AI labelView post →just played and finished the original Call of Juarez in one sitting and it truly is a video game of all time
neutral · AI labelView post →Best game ever . When i as a little and i play it for the first time . This game is the reason why i start playing games and play till today . 100% is worthy of playing and go deep in the storyline .
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →How could you forget the Witcher series? Witcher 3 is an _amazing_ RPG and it's from Poland. Edit: Techland is also a fully Polish publisher and developer, with games like Call of Juarez, Dead Island, and Dying Light 1 and 2. Especially the latter, a very well made FPS/parkour/melee zombie hunter, it still gets major updates and new content to this day. S.T.A.L.K.E.R series! Great FPS games made in Ukraine (and partly in Poland since the war started). STALKER 2 was released last December,…
neutral · AI labelView post →Call of Juarez Gunslinger (X1) $2.99 via Xbox (Game Pass Price). ow.ly/kSg650V9UGn
neutral · AI labelView post →I always knew the call of juarez games would be fun but this took me by surprise. I had only played Gunslinger and didn't keep high hopes for this game since its so old thinking the gameplay would'nt be fun and yes it was very clunky and annoying at times but it ended up being so fun because of it. The story was great and these old style format and the way characters are written made it actually pretty fun. Highly recommend playing this
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I came not to send peace, but a sword.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm a sucker for doofy FPS games and Call of Juarez: The Cartel was not a good game, but it's hardly as bad as it's reputation leads one to believe. It's a big, stupid B-Movie, like a PM Entertainment flick from the 90s, complete with OtP shootouts and random boobies. I'm okay with it.
neutral · AI labelView post →𓄼 " The Devil's got yer beat! ~ " Completed Call of Juarez on 100% recently and I fall in love with this game again. Dante's vibes are driving me crazy. So… Here's cowboy 5D in Juarez outfit! ᅠ #Dante #DevilMayCry #dmc #dmcv #art #digitalart
neutral · AI labelView post →Another little hidden gem that shows very well why old-school games still hold their own magic. The story wasn't bad, and I liked the two main characters, and the voice actors worked as well. The game's main charm is in the atmosphere, as you're going through the classical western locations, chapter by chapter, and watch the vivid landscapes, listening to the music, reading the Bible, and shooting your enemies, and trying to survive your adventure. I also loved the variety of quests and the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I came not to send peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The gameplay is irrelevant. But the story… The story, it lingers, perfect in ways I can’t explain.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Happy Friday y'all We made it and I got to catch up on my beauty sleep 🤡 Got a busy day planned that includes shopping for necessities, a horror movie of some sort, and a stream where I finish Call of Juarez and pick a new game. Exciting stuff 😁 Don't work too hard today and stay cool 😎😎
neutral · AI labelView post →Call of Juarez is a rough hidden gem. It has a lot of cool ideas and gives you plenty of freedom as a player but all that is covered under a pretty unignorable layer of jank. Bad voice acting, tons of technical issues, loose feeling gunplay. It's a great time to play through, but you definitely have to level your expectations.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game would be actually great and the story was awesome however duel mechanic on which story and game relies on heavily is very bugged and it is infuriating and enraging to the point that I've didn't bother finish the final scene (I'm not mentioning contents of the scene for spoiler reasons). I know it is and old game, and if I played it in my childhood most likely it would have been a great game however because of duel mechanic I cannot recomment this game. Story is awesome, classical…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is just such a wonderful game! Not only for the nostalgia for those of us who played it originally, but also just as a great story, with very fun and varied gameplay! Highly recommend it. For new players, a couple quick notes: there's some easy resolution and band fixes you can apply, and be also warned that you may need to run the game from the CoJ.exe directly for an infamous cave section. Super easy and there's info on steam if you search for them! Again highly recommend and great…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"I bring not peace but a sword" In barren wasteland that is western based games a small polish studio set out to make an ambitious adventure. One where you play as both the hunter Reberend Ray, a priest with a violent past on a quest of vengeance and revenge for his brother's death. And the hunted Billy Candle, an ostracized coward who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The game alternates in between characters after ever chapter or so, with a first person monologue to set…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Jess Stone @tarasands.com Video Game: Call of Juarez: The Cartel Year: 2011 Along with Tara Sands, the voice cast for this Call of Juarez sequel included Casey Sander, Janora McDuffie, Alex Mendoza, Jesse Corti, Sumalee Montano, and John Cygan. #CallofJuarez #CallofJuarezTheCartel
neutral · AI labelView post →💔It was a good game for its time, even in 2026 this game is still not bad💔
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First legendary Western game, I reccomend it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I dual wield a revolver and a bible so I can preach to the sinners as I send them to meet Jesus. No, I'm not kidding. This might be the best gaming experience I have had in years. In a world of open-world, 100 hour games bloated by fetch quests, this is the linear game with character and action we all need to go back to when games were made cheap, sold cheap, and were a hell of a lot of fun. Again, I read scripture as I cap sinners. Need I convince you more?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too broken to recommend. Even after following multiple guides here and on PCGamingWiki, the game still crashes randomly every 5–10 minutes. Duels fail to work most of the time, and a couple of chapters wouldn’t even load without workarounds. If it actually functioned, I think I would’ve found it passable enough to recommend. It’s a flawed and fairly generic FPS with nothing particularly noteworthy, yet I didn’t outright dislike it, especially the second half. That might simply be because I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game 9: Call of Juarez: The Cartel Probably a controversial title with it being modern and not old west, the game also feels like it relies on shock value and such for interest That said, the story was decent but could be better, the ending was interesting but a flawed game
neutral · AI labelView post →Call of Juarez is a weird ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game. It encapsulates the overall feel and cheesiness of old spaghetti westerns and plays like Half-Life and Red Dead's gross, inbred jank baby.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →it's a classic game with many mechanics to understand gunslingers duels and platforming, it's radder fun to play but can be sometime difficult due to timed graphics and game based engine. But overall its a pretty good game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Why has no one told me how good of a game Call of Juarez Gunslinger is?! Shit is peak wild west tales.
positive · AI labelView post →Some of the old games are… not designed to run on modern hardware. Call of Juarez, for example, runs very poorly (frame drops and crashes)
negative · AI labelView post →Honestly I don't play any specific games more than others. I usually play them, beat them, move on. Call of Juarez is a really fun and *simple* pick up and play game (I hate complicated games). Actually quite an ugly game, despite running at a locked 90/800p. I'm on my third playthrough now. Adrift was a really visually and audibly beautiful game, but also kinda boring and frustrating (I still don't understand how to navigate even though I beat it yesterday). The price makes up for it. I'll…
positive · AI labelView post →I'm going to be completely honest about this game. It is a janky 2006 piece of shit, with a smear of charm across all chapters. Even with the questionablely long save zones, & the awful platforming mechanics this game manages to still have my interest, but especially my heart. If you love western games this is a must have, just beware and understand that this game is of another time, it won't hold your hand. On top of all things is an enticing story with dual protaganists with complex…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You can dual-wield a revolver in one hand and a fucking Bible in the other so you can shoot goons as you scream Bible verses at them. These Polish motherfuckers cooked with this one! The only problem is you don't only play as this religious, psychotic madman; you also have to play as an annoying, whiny twink through some of the most boring stealth and platforming sections ever put into a game. And as you do the platforming, each time he climbs he makes the most repulsive moans that are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →good story, decent gameplay given its age, but ♥♥♥♥ the platforming in this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The gunplay is so simple yet so satisfying. Amazing game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My other fav cowboy: Ray McCall, also he let me meet with Call of Juarez game. PS: no idea if one pic still exist, but someone edited it to make Ray look like Caleb
neutral · AI labelView post →Fun old-school western shooter with dusty towns, shootouts, and a lot of charm. The story kept me hooked, and the atmosphere really sells the whole adventure.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quite good game still, even now. Good story and Ray's levels are good for the most part. Some of Billy's stuff like the platforming and whip aren't as good, but not a dealer breaker for me.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I usually enjoy cowboy video games more than cowboy films, but damn... this one was a slog to get through... The religious zealot MC is already annoying enough when he starts rambling on about the lord or whatever, I understand that's the point of his character, but having grown up with people like that and seeing it in this game just gave me a migraine and flashbacks. I'm supposed to feel bad for this racist lord-worshipping crusty old boomer because he was stupid near the climax of the story?…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the start of gaming's foremost cowboy epic. You play as two characters, a sneeky-boi and a beefy-boi, and act accordingly
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Call Of Juarez I was in a cowboy mood at the time so I got this game and it's sequels for $5 on steam. This was fun but a bit jank. It's carried by the story, which is carried by the second protagonist, a murderous preacher. His VA performance was a highlight. It was a good enough time overall
positive · AI labelView post →Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is one of the rare cases of a game going "but revenge... is bad" actually hitting imo because it directly contrasts Silas's tall tale bullshitting where he's colorfully gunning down bandits by the dozens against how horrible an act of violence is in the "real" world
neutral · AI labelView post →Call of Juarez Gunslinger is genuinely a great game in how it deconstructs the typical revenge stories. Silas spends 40 years wallowing in hatred and resentment all to kill men who would have met violent ends without him being the one to kill them.
neutral · AI labelView post →I wasn’t able to play it at release because I didn’t have a good PC (and I was still in high school at the time, so no money). Many years later I have a powerful rig and decided to try it, but the game crashes because it isn’t optimized for modern systems. No solution I found online really helped me to fix my issue.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a terrible game, but it's not great either, it's an early 7th gen FPS trhu and thru. The graphics are very outdated, the gameplay is alright, the guns are pretty unaccurate and you could not aim down sights, most of my gunfights boiled down to playing "peek-a-boo" with the enemies, and struggling to hit a shot, the variety of weapons is also nothing to ride home about, you have your classic revolvers, shotguns and rifles, Billy gets a bow which imo was the best weapon in the game.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you want another Wild West game may I suggest Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. It’s basically the exact opposite of RDR2 when it comes to game design.
neutral · AI labelView post →i be calling my juarez
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I had finished Call of Juarez now I'm playing it's Sequel or Prequel I should say since it takes place before the 1st game. You can choose to play as either Ray or Thomas. Ray being a abit slower tanklike gunfighter can lob dynamite, Thomas being faster agile has throwing knives stealthlike traits.
neutral · AI labelView post →Getting started with today's stream of Call of Juarez. We're gonna finish this thing today, mark my words 😅 Then we get to spin the wheel for a new game. Hopefully it's a spooky one for the season 🫡 www.twitch.tv/kittsgame youtube.com/@kittsgame
neutral · AI labelView post →
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