Combat

Combat is a core gameplay element in Colt Canyon. There are several elements to combat in Colt Canyon and a lot of ways to deal damage but also to get hurt, making fights in Colt Canyon potentially complex. Easy to learn but hard to master describes combat in Colt Canyon, and Colt Canyon in general, very well.

Ranged Combat
The player can carry up to two weapons that they can swap between instantly. Usually these weapons are guns or other ranged weapons that require some form of ammo to be used.

When using mouse + keyboard to control the player character the crosshair has to be placed where the bullets are supposed to go.

When using a gamepad the player's movement direction combined with aim assist dictates where the crosshair is placed without showing the crosshair to the player. If the right input stick is used the player has the option to manually position their crosshair.

It is possible to run out of ammo while using ranged weapons. Weapons will need to be reloaded a lot.

Shields protect against ranged attacks, but only if they are hit directly.

Melee Combat
The player always has the option to use melee attacks, even with ranged weapons equipped the player can use the melee attack button to trigger a melee attack. But there are also melee weapons that enhance the player's melee capabilities.

Using melee attacks against enemies after they have spotted the player is usually not very effective unless the player is using melee weapons. Enemies will block unarmed melee attacks and therefore reduce the inflicted damage significantly. One exception are small animals like snakes or scorpions, which are best killed by melee attacks, even after spotting the player.

Shields protect against melee attacks, but only if they are hit directly.

Stealth Combat
Surprising enemies with attacks will cause critical damage.

Dodging
A core element of combat in Colt Canyon is the dodge roll that can be used to evade most enemy attacks.

Dash Attacks
Some animal enemies use dashes to attack the player and their companions. The animal will stop and then dash towards the target, often very fast. Getting hit by such a dash can inflict a lot of damage. Unlike general melee attacks dash attacks can hit multiple targets and have a lot more range because the enemy will usually keep going until something is hit or a big distance was covered.

It is possible to dodge to evade dash attacks.

Shields do not protect from dash attacks.

Other Combat
A very effective way to fight strong enemies or large groups of hostiles is by using explosives.

It is possible to use the environment to deal damage to enemies. For example by using explosive barrels, bear traps or other contraptions that might be dangerous to anyone who gets too close.