WEIRD WEST

When Weird West was announced, the truth is that I didn't pay much attention to the details surrounding it. The cel-shaded style left me with an impression of "Call of Juarez: Gunslinger" in the third person, a characterization that is ultimately completely misleading.

The Weird West coming from newcomer WolfEye studios (a group headed by former Arkane executives), a roughly isometric fantasy RPG with strong immersive sim elements set in a paranormal Wild West full of sirens, demons, monsters and cannibals that puts us sequentially in the skin of various characters (bounty hunter, werewolf, etc.).

Playing

The reference to the term Immersive Sim in conjunction with Arkane is of course not a coincidence. WolfEye head Raphaël Colantonio , was also the mastermind behind Dishonored and Prey. Even though Weird West is a third-person isometric (unlike the other two which were purely first-person) it is obvious from the first minutes that in terms of level design it follows a similar philosophy to Dishonored (sequential closed levels usually with specific entrances and exits, within which the player has a lot of freedom). The freedom of movement is not illusory. Both the player and the NPCs/enemies obey the same physical rules and interact in depth with the environment. Getting wet means susceptibility to electricity, contact with flammable materials can cause a wall of fire (a single spark is enough), turning off a lamp brings beneficial darkness if we wish to move invisibly, but if perceived will attract enemies to turn it on again, and so on.

But unlike Dishonored, which is limited to light RPG elements, Weird West dives straight into the deep end. Leveling up through experience points, a bunch of loot and a large inventory, upgradable equipment, actions that often have an impact on how the story flows or how the game's world evolves, and generally most of the systems we're used to seeing in western-style RPGs make an appearance here.

The game can be played as both an action cover shooter and a stealth game, although it's a bummer that some of the levels are designed with either approach in mind. The "ninja" players will be rewarded with the various stealth options provided, something the impatient will probably skip over, while the more trigger-happy among us will find valuable help in the AI companions that become available early on.

The whole alloy manages to work well. The story flows nicely, the levels are well-designed and the gameplay experience is particularly enjoyable even for veterans of the genre who have seen this formula in action countless times before, constantly nagging the player to keep going.

All good?;

Unlike many examples of isometric RPGs that start their career on PC before moving to consoles, Weird West is marketed as a cross-platform title right from the start. And that has an impact on the controls. The studio's study to specifically make battles compatible with twin-stick style controllers (such as titles like Alienation) removes a lot of the immediacy seen in titles designed from the start for mouse-keyboard. The situation is mitigated in purely stealth approaches and with the ability to enable slow motion, but the problem remains, as stealth is not always an option and at least for me personally it discouraged me against playing purely aggressively, relying on my reflexes.

This takes a few points away from the final score, which especially in the first few hours of playing until I got some familiarity, took me back some 25 years, when I was playing Crusader: No Remorse. The camera limitations (you can't fully control the playing angle) also don't help, but this aspect is also something that gets used in the end.

Another element that would boost the already intense western atmosphere, further immersing players in the story would be voice-overs, which unfortunately are extremely limited, a result of the low-budget nature of the title.

Technical characteristics

With limited size levels and cartoonish art direction graphics without much need for high fidelity, the title is rather light on hardware by engine standards (Unreal Engine 4). Game load times and UI navigation times on SATA SSDs are also deemed reasonable. Apart from an initial instability that existed on the test system (Ryzen 5900X/Radeon 6800XT/Windows 10) which was fixed after patches, the overall result is considered as satisfactory.

Epilogue

Weird West is so far the surprise of the year. In football terms we could compare it to the veteran Wesley Schneijder. Just as he combined the talent he had with diligence and absolute focus, managing twelve years ago to compete for the title of the world's top footballer with players incomparably more gifted than him, Weird West, despite its shortcomings, largely exploits whatever potential its humble specifications offer and sells itself as one of this year's top games of the genre, at least so far. Fans of RPGs with immersive sims and those of the Wild West should definitely check it out.