Weird West – PC Review

The long wait is finally over: developer WolfEye Studios is ready to release dark fantasy immersive sim Weird West into the wilds. The game’s launch encountered a few delays since its initial plan to hit the market in January 2022, and the community wondered if it will happen again. But Weird West is ready to make its mark.

Put on your cowboy hat, check the ammo and prepare for things to get properly weird as we dive in the world full of lawmen, gunslingers and fantasy creatures that won’t mind taking a bite out of you. 

Previously we’ve taken a look at the game and shared our early impressions. Are you ready to make your legend known? 

Weird West offers a journey featuring a group of atypical heroes, each with their unique story, perspective and decisions. All of the protagonists exist in the same world at roughly the same time. Your task is to figure out who you are, what you are and what does everyone want from you.

The developers did a marvelous job when it comes to the plot of the game and added a variety of interactions between the playable characters. You can invite them to join your squad and to help you out during your journey. Always pay attention to the health of your squad mates as well as the position of enemies – they can take out your companions faster than you say “high noon”.

The way the plot will twist, which NPCs will assist you and which ones will die is entirely up to you and your decisions. Your every action has a consequence. The game is built in such a way that everything you do is remembered by the world.

For example, say, you have killed everyone in a random city while playing. Returning to it some time later will reveal that it stayed deathly silent and empty, NPCs won’t just miraculously respawn.

In Weird West, you can commit a variety of crimes: break into someone’s house to rummage through their cupboards or even pickpocket a sleeping owner. But if you get noticed, you will have to answer for your deeds. Upon catching you, sheriffs will put you in jail, like the representatives of law they are. To leave your incarceration, you will have to pay either with hard-earned cash or even harder-earned reputation.

Trying to leave a city after committing a crime and getting caught will have you hit with a bounty. There is a high chance you will be hounded by bounty hunters after that. You can easily get ambushed while traversing the West.

But! During your adventures you can meet comrades that will help you out when you fall on hard times. Feel free to help the inhabitants of Weird West, and they will have your back in turn when you need them.

The battles in Weird West feel more natural, intentional and expressive compared to the earlier versions of the game. You can employ your ability for “smart aim” and destroy a variety of interactables scattered across the game: barrels, doors, tables, bottles, etc.). You can also slow the flow of time so that you can aim, shoot or move in a more comfortable way.

If you find yourself lacking in bullets or being completely out, the developers have provided alternate means to waging combat compared to your usual firefights: we are talking stealth, drop-attacks, knockouts and much more that will aid those who prefer the sneaky side. Or you can go out blastin’, it’s up to you. The game allows players to combine many systems, adjust the tactics and mechanics of the game to suit your needs and comfort.

Each of the five protagonists has their own skills that make combat exciting and fun. Let’s take a look at Jane Bell, the bounty hunter that was available in the preview version of the game and also one of the first heroes of the game.

This lady packs a mean roundhouse kick, can use shrapnel mines, charm her enemies to fight on her side for a limited time and possesses a fast reaction ability that allows her to slow time and move faster than usual.

Jane Bell is seemingly an ordinary woman that has a wonderful husband, a lovely son and a good farm. But is it really as simple and cozy as it all seems? Jane’s farm gets attacked by people of a certain Shelby Cross that kill her son and abduct her husband.

In the process we learn that Jane used to be a bounty hunter. In the backyard of her farm, she buried her old weapons and memories that are going to see some use again. In order to find the killers of her son and to save her husband, she had to remember everything she tried to forget, dredge up some old acquaintances and more.

The bounty hunter’s journey is filled with dangers and obstacles: monster attacks, ghosts, rival bounty hunters, etc. Jane is doing everything in her power to find her husband, but in order to get on the trail she needs information she doesn’t possess.

After spending a lot of time, effort and bullets, Jane finally finds out the place where her missing husband is being held – and, just when you think the story is over, you will learn the next chapter of her tale as you take another protagonist for a spin.

Helping out the inhabitants of a city that got into trouble somewhere on the road, will acquire you some allies that will help you out in difficult times and keep you alive. Additional bounties encountered in the cities will also help you along the way by offering better equipment.

In order to be able to upgrade your weapon skills, you need something called Nimp Relics – an item found throughout the game. It is basically a bone from a species of some ancient creature that emits a faint purple glow.

Each ability has its own number of required relics for the level up, usually it is either one or two so you won’t have to hunt down dozens of them. Note that you spend action points when you use an empowered ability – they are gradually restored over time, but you should pay attention to them lest you are found unaware.

The game features 5 main types: revolvers, shotguns, rifles, bows and knives. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Revolvers allow you to electrify your bullets to deal extra damage, combine all the remaining bullets in the magazine for one particularly deadly shot or use High Noon ability – automatically firing a single shot against every target within sight. When you find yourself surrounded by a number of enemies, combining High Noon and Lightning Rounds does wonders to deal some heavy AoE damage.

Shotguns allow players to fire explosive shells, to have a guaranteed crit damage & bleed effect on an enemy and to use Rapid Reload – firing shells without having to reload for 5 seconds.

Rifles are the weapon of choice for those who just want to go all-in, blasting shots all the way. Bullet Hail increases the firing speed of your character while Right Between the Eyes guarantees a crit, ignores armor and adds bleeding effect.

Bows have four abilities such as the Swift Shots that increase your fire rate and Heartfinder Arrow that ignores enemy’s armor and adds a bleeding effect. Of course, what kind of bowman would you be if you couldn’t shoot a fire arrow from a conveniently placed bush, setting the entire location aflame?

For those who prefer melee combat, Weird West allows players to equip a knife and get up close and personal to enemies. Despite being seemingly in a less opportune spot compared to its ranged counterparts, mixing and matching knife abilities such as extra damage to bleeding enemies, increased melee attack speed and more can make your character into a stabbing machine.

The developers have taken to heart the criticisms towards the preview version of the game and fixed almost all of the bugs I have encountered previously: the settings no longer reset to default when you enter the game, the sound is not as loud as before when you are loading.

However, there are still a few things that I found questionable:

NPCs can start radnomly shooting at something without a reason. I have run into this more than once – with the bullets not aimed at your character, and the NPCs not being marked as enemies or being surrounded by them, what are they even shooting at?

The camera is still not very convenient when it comes to combat: you can either spin the camera or shoot, which is very unreliable when you are surrounded by a number of enemies. Getting stuck in a wall is also a possibility.

Summary
Weird West is an interesting isometric RPG that features unique setting, distinctive systems and a group of atypical heroes, each with their unique story, perspective and decisions.
Good
  • Pleasant gameplay loop
  • Unusual setting
  • Variety of heroes
  • Reactivity to player decisions
Bad
  • Camera
  • NPC behavior
  • Sound-related bugs
8
Great

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