First revealed during The Game Awards 2020 by way of a snappy trailer set to a cyberpunk stylized cover of Jonny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” Flying Wild Hog’s Evil West looks to be a major standout for the latter half of 2022. Appearing to be a unique mix of God of War and Doom, the game has been on many players’ radars for over a year. However, interested parties will, unfortunately, have to wait a bit longer, as Flying Wild Hog recently announced that Evil West will be delayed to November 22.That’s not an especially long delay; the game was originally slated to debut in late September. Yet, the two-month setback means that Evil West will be lumped in with a slew of other anticipated titles releasing during the oft-crowded holiday season. Now set to hit storefronts around the same time as big-name titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and The Callisto Protocol, this collaboration between Flying Wild Hog and Focus Interactive could struggle a bit to be noticed in a particularly packed period.Of course, both studio and publisher seem to have the best intentions in mind for not only their audience, but for their employees, as well. In a tweet posted by Focus Entertainment on August 16, Flying Wild Hog explains that it will need additional time to implement the feedback it received from those who played a demo of Evil West at PAX East, as well as to fine-tune five separate ports of the cross-gen game. Plus, in an era during which even massively-anticipated games are being delayed to avoid developer crunch, it’s encouraging to see employee-friendly philosophies embraced by studios and publishers of all sizes.
Plus, Focus Interactive—previously known as Focus Home Interactive before a recent re-brand—has cultivated a reputation for quality over quantity the last few years. Having a hand in everything from Deck13’s ambitious sci-fi soulslike The Surge to Asobo Studio’s narrative-focused A Plague Tale: Innocence and its upcoming sequel, very little of the publisher’s output fails to meet expectations.
The same could be said of developer Flying Wild Hog. Though comparatively less renowned, the studio has a history of highlights dating back to 2011’s cult hit FPS Hard Reset. More recently, Flying Wild Hog earned praise for the stylish samurai-action game Trek To Yomi. In essence, Evil West looks to be in good hands and seems set for success despite the small delay.
Evil West will be available on November 22 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
