Wicked Wild Wild West

Wolfeye Studios, a team made up of folks who brought us Prey and Dishonored; sure picked the right name for their team’s new game: Weird West. In this reimagining of the Wild West, bounty hunters and lawman alike share the world with demons, vampires and other things that go bump in the night. And right from the outset the adventure gets weird, having our heroine Jane Bell, appear to have a nightmare about being branded on the neck by a cult. Only to awaken and find she is in a real-life nightmare as she’s told by the sheriff her son has been killed and her husband taken by a local gang. The sheriff suggest Jane go and dig up her old bounty hunting gear but Jane clearly has no idea what she’s talking about. After acquiring her gear It’s not long before Jane runs into a girl who refers to Jane as ‘the passenger” and says how good “this body” looks on her. When pressed as to what she is talking about she is coy and answers in riddles. What will become obvious is that Jane has no memory prior to being branded but everyone else has lots of memory of her life before she gave up bounty hunting for the quiet life. But believe me, that is only the tip of this particular weird iceberg, desert? Hopefully you get the saying I am using here, it gets really weird.

Weird West blends so many gaming tropes together with great success; I think it’s a hard game to quantify. Its probably best described as a twin stick shooter, with an overall open approach for problem solving. As with many games the team at Wolfeye previously worked on, in Weird West there is always multiple ways to approach a situation. And with the use of the awesome quick save feature players are basically encouraged to try whatever scenario they want to find success. Environments are peppered with useful tools like barrels of chemicals that can be tossed into a fire with “explosive” results. If stealth is more your thing well they’ve got you covered; throw an empty bottle to cause a distraction, then put the guard in the sleeper till he passes out; no muss, no fuss. If, however players are like this humble reviewer and love firing six-shooters then be prepared to wiggle those sticks. From the iso-metric view aiming is done with the right analog stick and is as easy as literally lining up your target. Combat couldn’t be any easier to pick up, but it is difficult to master.

MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $39.99

Exploration is key in Weird West, not only is it needed for finding weapons and other gear more often than not players will find alternate routes into buildings, or if they have rope can uncover a closed well and drop down to find some treasure or danger. Of the treasure types to be found are ‘golden ace of spades’ playing cards. These beauties allow players to choose or upgrade a passive for Jane. These vary from things like the ‘Haggler’ which reduces shop prices and service fees 5%, or ‘Quick Stealth’ which increases crouched movement speed by 10%. As I said the game is made for people to choose their own approach, no one is tied to play their Jane a certain way and go for whatever class type they so desire. Of course, in order to find the best loot players will need to explore the world. And as the move around the world map and unlock new territories players might find secondary locations. These places are unknown and random encounters that can be an abandoned town where players will always find great loot but need to get past its defenders or could just be a wandering merchant who has items to sale. Each location cost time to reach, just as in the real world; Weird West has a dynamic day night cycle. Which means most missions will come with a time limit of X number of days or hours, so its important to pay attention to how much time has progressed in the game while adventuring.

When players do have some down time, I suggest checking out any of the towns they come across. Not only can players buy items and upgrade their guns but towns are where they can pick up bounties in order to earn some gold. This is a system where Weird West again shows it’s a living, beathing world; you see if you pick up a bounty but for some reason don’t finish it in the allotted time. That outlaw that you were chasing can pop back up randomly and start a vendetta with Jane; the Vendetta system borrows elements from the Nemesis system that the wonderful Shadow of Mordor games employs. While there is indeed a main quest in Weird West, there are an overabundance of side stories that can be created with the players help. Not only that, but due to the freedom in this world players can kill anyone…even story centric characters. I tried this a few times and the results are, interesting to say the least.

In the Weird West no one survives for long they say, or I might’ve read it in a book but either way you in this life of sin you need, friends. And as players take Jane on her quest, she will be able to recruit posse members at saloons around the world. And even if your posse members fall in battle don’t worry, Jane can always find more help in those drinking holes. As players progress thru the world, they will run into a host of various side characters. Some of which will have quests they need completed while some will just need bandages or a specific item. If players are inclined to be of assistance, they will get a friend who can show up in combat situations to help turn the tide in their favor. These friends are known as ‘Friends for Life’ and the system works much like the ‘Mysterious Stranger’ perk from the Fallout series; where at any time a stranger would appear with a guitar flourish and bust out his pistol and do some damage. In this case Jane’s BFF will show up and add players in their battle and then move on. It’s all rather over the top and I am absolutely here for it.

Weird West isn’t just about the fantastical bad guys, oh no, our heroine has some weird powers of her own thanks to that mysterious brand she receives. For one she can slow down time with the press of a button and do her best Max Payne impression but in the Wild Wild West… this game, not the subpar if entertaining Will Smith movie. That is to say diving and shooting in slo-mo which; yes, it is as cool to perform as it sounds. Especially from the isometric perspective that Weird West provides; even though when players eliminate the final enemy in an area, they will be treated to a zoom in of that last enemy catching the fatal bullet in sweet slow motion. I might be a sucker for this technique but I personally tried to trigger it as often as possible…everything looks better in slow motion; Dave Chappelle taught us that.

The team at Wolfeye Studios have really thought of everything with Weird West, and coming off of those stellar Bethesda titles it’s really no surprise. The crafting/inventory system on display here is not only rewarding but not deeper or more cumbersome than it has to be. Throughout the adventure Jane will find or mine copper, silver or gold nuggets. Players will have two options on what they can do with these; if there is a need to upgrade your weapons then you can melt the ingots down. But if players want to stack some cash, then they can turn those nuggets into ingots and sell them at banks in towns. But if you don’t want to waste the time it would take to head back to town to resupply, players are able to scrap any guns that are underpowered and they will generate bullets for the gun type and sometimes a crafting component if you’re lucky. Sometimes all it took to win in a situation was just a few bullets and being able to scrap weapons to make them was a Godsend.

Almost everything that is littering the landscape has a use in this game, whether it be to cause a distraction or provide some health; nothing is arbitrary and it can come in clutch. For instance, health can be gained from many sources, you can prick cacti and drink the water within, drink from a water barrel or bucket, if you find food or raw meat it can be cooked and eaten at a camp fire. In fact, the only thing I dislike about this system is that if you cook food at a campfire players are unable to take said food with them. It must be eaten there, so unlike say Red Dead Redemption 2 where players can cook up meat and store it in their satchel; the same cant be done in Weird West. But it was never bothersome to the point where I disliked the game it was just kind of a ‘head scratcher’ is all.

Alright, we are reaching the end so let’s talk about some things I didn’t like about Weird West; for one I had multiple audio issues during my time with the game. It would normally trigger when multiple things happened on screen that was a loud noise. So, if I shot dynamite out of the air using the slow-motion ability due to the hum of the overall effect and then the added explosion of the incendiary device my guess is it overloaded something and all you get is a high-pitched buzz but in slo-mo. There was no other way to stop it other than restarting the game, which by and large isn’t a big deal due to Weird West’s aforementioned quick save system. Another frequent problem I had was with he controls, as I used the left stick to navigate the world with Jane she would intermittently start walking and wouldn’t run until I switched directions. But then it would happen again, and this isn’t a matter of a stamina system as the game doesn’t have one; but for some reason her animation would just randomly change at will even though she was in the middle of running. Neither of these things are game breaking and will probably be resolved with patches in the future but it was what I experienced so I wanted to be transparent in that regard.

You may have noticed that I haven’t really mentioned graphics much and there is a reason for that. While the graphics have a comic book feel, with everything having a dark lined edge, the real issue is that world is two toned; dark brown and light brown. Sure, there are green plants, but it is so dull that it might as well be as beige as the ground is. There are various biomes which alleviate the monotony of seeing so much brown but it’s the west and everything was really this color back then. It doesn’t really become an issue until you realize that its extremely difficult to spot enemies at times, due to their clothing helping them to blend in with the dully colored environments. If you are someone who is playing the stealth role, just take extra care to ensure you know where your targets are before progressing because being caught unawares in this game can be catastrophic even with slo-mo powers.

Minor issues aside, I loved my time with Weird West on PS5 so much so that I plan to double dip and play it again on Xbox since it’s on Game Pass when it releases. The story, characters and even the very world that Wolfeye Studios have created for their freshman outing is so very unique and dare I say ‘weird’ that you can’t help but become wrapped up in them. I haven’t enjoyed a mash up of supernatural and westerns since Darkwatch and if you played that game, you know that’s high praise.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.