Weird West
Developer: WolfEye Studios
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC (Reviewed)
Release Date: 31 Mar 2022
Price: $39,99 USD – Available Here
Overview
Every once in a while, a game comes along that does the unthinkable. Sometimes it tries to fuse two genres into one or just play alchemy with different aesthetics. It is a bold risk-taking that doesn’t work every time. Weird West tries to do a lot of those at once; mix different gameplay mechanics, genres, and art styles – all into one. It’s also made by the co-creators of Dishonored and Prey. Those two games have proven quite well in bringing something new to the table. I’m always drawn to something peculiar and different, so let’s see how this experiment turns out in the end.
Story
What Weird West is trying to do is to mix both wild west and fantasy into one. It is a world where lawmen and gunslingers share the territory with the occult and mystical. Weird West will guide you through five intertwined stories of outlandish characters that, at first, have very little in common with each other. In your first story, you take on the role of a bounty hunter where you will get acquainted with most of the gameplay mechanics. How to shoot, how to sneak, how to hide bodies, and take the advantage of your environment in order to make it out alive. Pretty often you will be outnumbered and just shooting at enemies in situations of 5 vs 1 will not get you far. The key is to take advantage of explosive barrels, use covers, and never stay in one place for too long. AI is anything but simple so they will almost always try to circle around you, flank you and throw dynamite in your direction in order to lure you out of your cover. The more you play with other stories, the more you will stray away from the usual. The other playable characters include Pigman, a horrible monstrosity with its own tactics to take down enemies, and Protector, an Indian-styled archer who is best suited for stealth gameplay and disposing of enemies from afar. Then things get slightly weirder with a Werewolf and Oneirist, a witch-like character with a story that binds all of the five characters into one common goal. That is the point of no return where Weird West shifts into something that you weren’t exactly prepared for.
Gameplay
Despite a large emphasis on the story and interconnected characters, a lot of the content in Weird West is left for the unpredictable. Each playthrough is unique and the game reacts to your actions and past choices. Even the seemingly minor things like if you took down the whole outlaw camp with stealth or shooting through everyone might make a difference later down the road. Wipe out the town’s population, and it will become abandoned, leaving the place open for new, hostile inhabitants to move in. Let’s be clear, the main quest is always the same, but everything else is up to RNG. Random locations might spawn while you’re traveling from one objective to another, a surprise bandit attack might catch you off guard, and being spotted doing good or bad deeds on your journey affect your reputation throughout the whole game.
Visuals
One interesting thing about Weird West is that visuals are not just for show. Time of day and weather all have an effect on gameplay beyond cosmetics. At night, closed shops invite clever burglary, the rain gets things wet and vulnerable to lightning damage, and tornadoes spawn during windy weather. On top of that, the visuals are constructed in a way that they feel tied to the overall atmosphere of the game. An orange/yellowish tint is present throughout the game in the environment and on the various object invoking the feeling of the wild west. And yet, the occasional backdrop of purple to dark on those same objects stands out in a way that it almost feels like the game is sending you a subtle message that it might contain more than your average isometric wild west shooter.
Audio
The soundtrack in this game goes on par with the overall atmosphere. You’ll be accompanied by eerie and somewhat disturbing notes while you explore everything that Weird West has to offer. The sound effects are also surprisingly refined and above average. During your many shootouts with violent gangs, pretty soon you’ll be able to tell what is in their arsenal just by the sounds alone. Various revolvers, rifles, and shotguns all have such distinct sounds that it becomes pretty clear how much extra effort went into the sound design of this game.
Overall
In the end, I’m happy to report that Weird West didn’t turn out to be one of those underwhelming attempts. The overall implementation of RNG stuff in the game will make sure that every playthrough will be entirely fresh. It is a game that surprises you with something new as soon as you think you got it all figured out. It took a gamble, so you should too. Give the game a chance and you might be surprised at how good it actually is.
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