How the west was evil

Sometimes you just want to kill as many monsters as possible. Evil West is more than willing to oblige in that goal. The latest from Flying Wild Hog is about as unapologetic an action game that I have seen in a long time. It never attempts to shoehorn players with RPG mechanics or extensive exploration. This is a straight action game with monster arenas and straightforward combat. This works for the most part, but does hold back the overall experience at other times. Still there is something satisfying about a game that just does what it does and has fun with it. Evil West bathes in its setting and aesthetic and is enjoyable from start to finish as long as you are not expecting anything more than it presents on the surface.

Players assume the role of Jesse Rentier and let’s be honest, Jesse is the best western name you can get. He is the son of William Rentier, who runs the Rentier Institute, which specializes in weapons that take down their supernatural foes. Yes it is a trite and true idea, but it works. I like Jesse and most of the characters in the game, even if they are written as thin as paper. If you are familiar with Flying Wild Hog’s writing style you will quickly get the idea here. Things are serious, but not quite so serious. These feel like comic book characters with over-the-top personalities. I loved it.

MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99

Evil West is a straightforward game. There are 16 missions that take a little over 10 hours to finish. There isn’t any exploration and backtracking outside of collecting currency in the world. Each encounter is clearly earmarked and the rest of the game is simply walking from one battle to the next. Platforming is button presses and puzzles are nearly non-existent. This is a game about beating down hordes of vampires and werewolves and can be refreshing at times.

This would work better if the game had a little variety. Let’s start with combat. It kicks off explaining melee, which plays a big focus. Jesse is equipped with a Tesla-style gauntlet that can be charged with electricity. It has a plethora of moves including a Scorpion-inspired pull and can explode enemies after certain combos. It is immensely satisfying. I do wish it had more combos though. Once I unlocked a few of them on the skill tree it kind of levels off. I found a few solid combos and those got me through most of the game.

Jesse also collects firearms over the course of the game. The six shooter is mapped to the right trigger by default. It fires one shot or you can fan the hammer by holding it down. The rifle can be aimed with the left trigger and has respawning bullets that can be upgraded over time. Eventually you also get a shotgun that works on a cooldown and can explode enemies instantly. They all feel great, but none of them truly expand the depth of the combat. It all feels fast and visceral, much like Flying Wild Hog’s other titles.

There is a skill tree that gives Jesse new abilities and upgrades to existing weapons. The level system feels slow at times though. It would be nice to get more things more often. Players also grab gold throughout levels that can be used to purchase, well, different upgrades. It is a weird system that feels like it could have all been rolled into one massive set of upgrades with one currency, but hey at least there is something to find. There are also notes and bestiaries that expand the world. Truly it is a neat environment, but I never found myself wanting to know more.

My biggest gripe with Evil West is that it rarely deviates outside of its formula. There are a couple times it spices up the game play, there is a mine cart level for crying out loud, but it mostly consists of combat arenas. The enemy variety is also disappointing. There are some truly awesome creatures in this game, but their diversity is limited in scope. I was fighting the same things over and over and when the combat remains mostly unchanged, it can start to get monotonous quickly.

The highlight of the world though are the levels. This game pops on a good screen. The sun baked areas and fire effects are simply outstanding. This game lights up a TV even without supporting HDR. There are two modes to play the game. A 4K version at 30fps and a 1080p version at 60. Obviously for a game like this I opted for the higher frame rate, but the resolution definitely suffers. Some of the areas look just blurry enough to notice. Not sure why they didn’t opt for 1440p, as I assume both Series X and PS5 could have handled this game at that resolution easily.

Evil West is a strong game that simply lacks enough diversity to make it a classic. It is visceral with fun characters that never takes itself too seriously. I had a blast playing it, but definitely could have done with a little more variety. Still it is an unapologetic romp that is a blast to play. There are not a lot of games willing to focus on strictly game play and I respect that. Combine that with the setting that is also highly underused and this is a game definitely worth checking out.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.