PlayStation 4 review code provided by Wolfeye Studios.
Wolfeye Studios might be the new developer on the block, but the pedigree of its employees speaks volumes. With the likes of both the Dishonored series and the 2017 reboot of Prey on their resumes, the creative leads of Wolfeye wanted to bring that same level of immersion and reactivity to their debut title, Weird West.
And, in almost every way that matters, they’ve succeeded. Weird West is a remarkable and unique game that stands apart from anything I’ve ever played before. While not every design choice works flawlessly, Weird West’s story and reactive gameplay elements show that taking risks can pay off.
Story
Weird West takes a novel approach to its story by compartmentalizing the narrative into five different journeys that each focus on a different protagonist. There’s an overarching plot that connects each of these characters to one another, but I won’t dive too deep into the details to avoid spoilers. Suffice to say, each new character reveals more of the Weird West’s culture and how the seemingly disparate narrative beats all tie together.
It's a compelling storytelling method that builds up slowly with each new side plot before coming to a suitably cataclysmic climax in the final journey. Each of the protagonists faces a seemingly world-ending phenomenon, and the choices I made during these events had wide-ranging effects on the world that I only experienced once I’d jumped into the next body.
These decisions were more impactful than I’d anticipated and had dramatic effects on how the next journey unfolded. One choice that stood out offered me the option to either sentence an entire race to death or restore their souls and their sanity. While it might seem like an obvious choice, the upside is that many of these beings were criminals before their souls were taken, and sparing them might make my life more difficult down the road.
Each journey has a monumental choice like this, but there are also dozens of smaller decisions I had to make during my playthrough that ended up having long-lasting ramifications. Sparing the life of an erstwhile enemy might earn you a lifelong friend while stealing from the wrong vendor could spark a bitter vendetta. I let a bandit escape during one shootout, and he decided to interrupt a major story mission hours later, bungling my attempt to keep things stealthy.
While this might seem more like a gameplay element (and it is that, too), the effect it has on the story can’t be ignored. The version of events I experienced will be extremely different from the next person to play through that mission purely because of all the little, unique moments that informed my personal Weird West. Characters who are dead in my game might live long, healthy lives in someone else’s. An uncompleted side quest might leave a valuable, potential ally stranded forever. Each game is intimate and personal in a way that’s incredibly impressive.
Gameplay
The aforementioned decision making is arguably the most compelling aspect of the gameplay in Weird West, but Wolfeye wasn’t satisfied with just making the game’s narrative malleable to the player’s actions. Combat also boasts a deep, customizable quality, though it does have a few hitches that prevent it from feeling perfectly fine-tuned.
Each weapon is pretty straightforward in design and function, but they do lack a certain identity that robs choosing of a particular weapon of any meaning. There’s also a system for upgrading weapons and armor that incentivizes exploring the world thoroughly to find the required resources, but these are dwarfed by unique, legendary weapons that start to pop up towards the end of the game.
Combat is a mixed bag of gunplay and ability usage that offers players a wide range of tools with which to approach any situation. If there’s some oil on the ground, players can light it ablaze and take out a group of enemies with a single firebomb. No oil? Kick over a nearby oil barrel and set up the situation yourself.
The one thing that holds this back is a certain level of jank in Weird West’s systems that often trips up any carefully laid plans. Kicking over that oil barrel might seem like a cool idea, but the barrel might suddenly fly off to one side and spray oil in the wrong direction. On at least one occasion, I picked up a barrel and tried to place it strategically, only to trip over a nearly invisible piece of the environment and spill the oil all over myself while alerting all nearby enemies to my presence.
The gunplay itself is also fairly straightforward, adopting a modified, twin-stick shooter control scheme that, for the most part, works in its favor. There’s a fluid cover system that gives the surrounding environment purpose, but actually exchanging fire with enemies never feels more interesting than any other third-person shooter.
Character and weapon abilities occupy a strange place in the game that straddles the line between necessity and something easily overlooked. The character abilities can be incredibly useful tools that turn the tide of battle, especially some of those found in the second and third journeys, but I hardly used any of the weapon abilities during my time with the game. A silenced sniper shot was my go-to weapon skill, but the rest of the time I was rationing action points to use for class abilities or the special jump that lets you slow down time.
One of the most exciting systems Weird West offers is the ability to recruit a posse and have two allies at your side when engaging enemies. There’s a crucial choice to make when bringing other people along for the ride, as losing them in combat means the permanent end of their story. Fortunately, there’s a perk that dramatically boosts the health and damage output of any posse member, which is an essential upgrade for keeping companions alive, especially once you can recruit the protagonists from previous journeys.
The one, major downside to the posse system, though, (and my biggest issue with the game as a whole) is the quality of their AI. Bringing a team into battle is supposed to make that battle easier by drawing attention away from your character while also potentially tripling your damage output. But my allies in Weird West were just as likely to shoot my enemies as they were to stand still and spout random lines of dialogue in the middle of a firefight.
To make matters worse, I had multiple encounters with a bug that simply removed an ally from my posse during combat. The character would still be around, they just no longer had my back in a fight. This happened with one of my favorite protagonist characters, and the bug not only prevented me from adding him back into my posse, but it actually removed the ability to ever recruit him again, including in subsequent journeys.
There’s also a heavy emphasis placed on exploration in Weird West, and Wolfeye has made one of the most engaging maps I’ve seen in a game in quite some time. I wasn’t a huge fan of how slow I moved around the world at first, but over time that concept grew on me as part of the game’s experience. The random events that crop up between destinations offer rare rewards or high-stakes battles and discovering new locations while traveling would often lead to fabulous treasure.
Audio and Visual
The music in Weird West sets a suitable spooky tone, often evoking a foreboding atmosphere that’s designed to match the enemies you’re fighting. It’s especially noticeable when dealing with occult monsters like wraiths or ridgebacks. When away from these creatures, though, it strikes up a suite of jaunty, western tunes that add another layer to the unique world Wolfeye has built.
The audio design is in rare form, bringing a whole host of different sound effects and vocal tints that expand on the game’s artistic direction. Guns sound incredible, especially during slow-motion effects, and each ability comes with its own, distinct audio cue that really captures the imagination. While there’s very little voice acting, dialogue is still represented via strange, mumbled utterances that evoke both conversation and an unnerving sense of the unknown.
My favorite sounds, though, come from the various magical creatures that call the Weird West home. Wraiths have an astounding dichotomy of noise in them, combining both the gentle rustles of delicate fabric with the harsh whispers of an ethereal realm. Ridgebacks also boast an incredible soundscape that centers on the steady buzzing of an insect colony while surrounded by the soft, wet pulsations of nearby hives.
Visually, Weird West is a bit more uneven, with a striking environmental design that makes the most of the different creatures and cultures that call the West home. Monster designs are also impressive, with unique artistic takes on a few classic monsters standing alongside bold new inventions like the sympathetically grotesque Pigmen.
The one area the visual design falls a little flat is in the human character models, as they all have a flat, mannequin aesthetic that makes it hard to connect with them. It’s a shame, too, as the character art that accompanies the text boxes is striking, and I wish those designs came through a little more in the actual models.
What Could Be Better
There’s a lot about Weird West I enjoyed, but a few of its systems were clunky enough that my time was better spent avoiding them than engaging with them. Most weapon abilities, while neat, never felt truly necessary when compared to the character-specific abilities, and tying all abilities to one resource pool meant that I had to ration my action points to use the abilities I needed.
The frequent and pervasive issues with companion AI also need improvement, especially when it comes to enemy recognition and recruitment. Having an ally stand around in the middle of the battlefield doing nothing while a group of bandits chases me around was disheartening, to say the least, but permanently losing access to a powerful companion I already had an emotional connection with was downright devastating.
Verdict
Weird West is an incredibly strong debut from a new studio that plays to their strengths as developers. It’s a bold take on the immersive, reactive RPG that adds a lot of unique elements to what is still an evolving subgenre. Not every system works perfectly, and there are a few kinks left to work out post-launch, but Weird West is still a great game that offers a tantalizing story, heaps of treasure, and captivating mysteries around every corner.
Weird West is available now for Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store.
