Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Set before the original Call of Juarez, Bound in Blood follows Confederate brothers Ray and Thomas McCall as they desert the Civil War to defend their Georgia home. Their search for the Gold of Juarez carries them across the Old West, with most missions letting you choose between Ray’s forceful close-range style and Thomas’s precision and mobility.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a Western first-person shooter set in 1864, before the events of the original Call of Juarez. Brothers Ray and Thomas McCall begin as Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. When their home in Georgia comes under attack, they abandon their military orders and return to protect their family. The conflict pushes them away from the plantation and into a much wider search for the legendary Gold of Juarez. Their pursuit brings them into contact with rival outlaws and other dangerous figures, while money, ambition and family loyalty pull the brothers in competing directions. The story supplies the background for Ray’s later life as the preacher encountered in the first game.

The campaign is built around the brothers as a pair, but their individual combat styles make character choice a practical decision. After the opening chapters, most missions allow the player to select Ray or Thomas; the other brother remains alongside the chosen character, controlled by the game. A few sections require a particular brother, and some levels divide their routes so that the choice also changes the path through an area. The brothers can help one another across obstacles or cover a move through danger, so their relationship is present in the action as well as the dialogue. Choosing Ray favors aggressive close-range encounters, while Thomas rewards a more measured approach built around distance and movement.

Ray is the more forceful gunfighter. He can dual-wield revolvers, use dynamite to blast through obstacles or attack groups, and kick open doors that block the route. Some sequences let him operate a mounted Gatling gun, including from a moving cart. His concentration attack slows the action and lets the player sweep a targeting mark across several nearby opponents; when the sequence ends, Ray fires at the marked targets. This makes him suited to pushing through a crowded position or quickly answering multiple threats. The same level can feel more direct with Ray because his equipment and durable, close-range fighting style put the emphasis on advancing under fire and clearing a path for the brothers.

Thomas has a lighter, more mobile approach. He is the stronger choice for long-range rifle shooting, and his weapon set includes a bow and throwing knives for quieter attacks. He can climb ledges and use a lasso on suitable fixtures to reach higher ground or swing across a gap. Aiming the lasso at a usable point anchors it; the player then swings it to build movement and reach another ledge. Thomas’s concentration sequence is distinct from Ray’s: it uses rapid hammer pulls to acquire targets, so the speed of the follow-up shots affects how many enemies he can hit. His tools let the player scout from elevated positions, pick a route and thin out enemies before the brothers move into closer combat.

Both brothers share the campaign’s central shooting and cover systems. Moving against a wall, rock, tree or crate places the character into cover, from which the player can lean around an edge to aim. The player follows mission objectives through enemy-held spaces, collecting ammunition and weapons as they become available. The brothers sometimes need to coordinate directly: one may provide covering fire while the other climbs, crosses an exposed section or handles an obstacle. The cover system makes the shape of the battlefield important, since a safe route from one surface to the next can matter as much as choosing which enemy to shoot first. Missions move between firefights, movement challenges and larger staged encounters.

A limited period arsenal suits the setting: both brothers can use pistols, rifles and shotguns, with different varieties becoming available as the campaign progresses. Firearms can be upgraded during the story, giving players reason to try different models while retaining the role distinction between Ray’s dual pistols and Thomas’s long-range weapons. Gun duels provide a separate one-on-one test. The camera lowers behind the character while an opponent circles; the player tracks that movement and keeps a hand close to the pistol, then draws when the moment comes and aims before the rival fires. These encounters punctuate larger battles with a focused contest of timing, tracking and accuracy.

The brothers’ route crosses varied Western settings and modes of travel. Missions take them through battlefields, settlements and natural landscapes, with stretches on foot and sequences on horseback, in wagons or in canoes. Those transitions support distinct set pieces, from mounted pursuit to river travel and large confrontations that use heavy weapons or environmental hazards. The campaign advances through a fixed sequence of story missions, while optional side missions add separate combat objectives. This mix gives the game a broader action structure than the original’s alternating stealth and shooter chapters: Bound in Blood keeps both leads in an action-focused campaign, then differentiates them through their weapons, movement abilities, concentration attacks and the routes they can take.