Weird West is a new indie game set in, unsurprisingly, the Old West. It follows the exploits of Jane Bell who is out for revenge following the death of her family. It may come from a new developer, WolfEye Studios, but the team consists of some of the best creators in the video game industry.
The founders of WolfEye Studios, Colantonio and Julien Roby worked at Arkane Studios. Devolver Digital also has their hand in the pie and they know a thing or two about picking up interesting games and studios to follow. Weird West has a lot of street cred but is it enough to make an excellent game? The answer to that is complicated so let's run down what it does and doesn't get right.
6 Best: The Comic Book Art Style
One of the most distinct features players should notice about Weird West right away is the art style. It is like a comic book in more ways than one. The environments and characters are cel-shaded which is good enough already.
However, the character portraits in the menus and certain story scenes are brilliant. The dark, heavy lines help make Weird West stand out among the many indie games and Westerns out there. The darker outlines help bring this gritty tale of revenge to light.
5 Worst: The Story
The unfortunate side to the narrative is that beyond the classic revenge plot, there isn’t a lot for players to resonate with. The main character of Jane Bell cannot talk. Also, literally, no one besides the narrator can speak in Weird West. A game without voice acting is a choice. Games focusing on narrators to tell their stories instead, like Bastion, can be good.
However, the narrator in Weird West doesn't bring a lot to this somewhat generic tale. There is another odd aspect of the story that can make it hard to connect with. The text is wildly small, even if it is blown up in the menu. If players choose to play this on a console, they may find themselves getting up a lot to read. This shouldn’t be a problem on PC though.
4 Best: The Gameplay Loop
One of the hardest things creators may go through during game development is trying to figure out a name for their project. It is even tougher when they choose and name close to another that not only sounds like their project but looks like it too. Weird West, to make it clear, is a lot like Hard West. They’re both indie Westerns with similar art styles.
Based on Hard West, which has a larger cache as it has been around since 2015, gamers interested in this game may think Weird West is also a strategy RPG. It’s a top-down shooter instead which is rad. There aren’t a lot of games like Weird West anymore and the cover-based shooting and exploring can create a satisfying gameplay loop. Players acquire a mass amount of powers and perks to play around with too, not to mention a vast arsenal of guns.
3 Worst: The Camera Angles
The one thing that can make the gameplay loop less exciting in Weird West is the camera angles. This comes back to a knock against the consoles once again. Players can zoom in for a more up closer and personal angle, but even at the most zoomed-in, it can still be hard to get a good look at the action.
If this game was on Switch, it would be a perfect RPG on the go. Again, like the text, PC players will not be suffering any troubles. It’s certainly not impossible to play on a TV from a distance, but the further away players are from the action, the more at a disadvantage they’ll be while in combat. It might be better to cross those fingers for a Switch port or a patch that gives players better perspectives.
2 Best: The Open, Discoverable World
Weird West funnily enough has some aspects in common with Oregon Trail beside the Western motif. There is a world map that will be populated with areas discovered, like towns, along with mission markers. Players must pay attention to quests because they usually have a set amount of time dedicated to them. A bounty may pass in two weeks, for example.
Traveling on foot may eat up a lot of time. Also, random encounters may happen along the way to quests ranging from bandits to mysterious shopkeepers. Weird West is like the gift that keeps on giving because players won’t know what will turn up next. It’s not the most robust randomized generator in a game like this, but it keeps things interesting.
1 Worst: Repeated Environments
The world map is grand and filled with tons of things to discover like in an open-world game. Players just can’t explore it linearly. There is also a mini-map, on the subject of exploring, that can help players find their way in a level or dungeon. Enemy eyesight, for example, can be detected on the mini-map.
Knowing directions will help with stealth. The thing that is troubling about the mini-map is that it can’t be blown up, or viewed in the menu. This was an odd choice on the developer’s part. Why give players a mini-map, but no way to look at it properly. Overall, the most troubling aspects about Weird West come down to size issues including this mini-map problem and the camera angles.
Weird West was released on March 31, 2022, and is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.