As wild and exciting as emergent stories like this are, and as sobering as it is to personally witness the changed state of the world as you play (like the nearby graveyard being populated with each individual dead NPC), the narrative doesn’t always know how to take these events into account, and may instead just hang the consequences on you in the form of deducted reputation points, bounties or vendettas. This killed almost everyone, including the first character I began the game with. This all ended with poison, oil, and fire being whipped about only to combust and explode elsewhere. A bison was lifted into the twirling firestorm, along with one of my poor main characters and the pit organisers. It tossed a barrel of oil across the pit, crashing into a lit brazier and erupting. Then, the weather suddenly changed, and a tornado ripped through the arena.
After the smoke had cleared, we were about to progress the story. In what was the final act for my character’s pursuit of a Wiindigo (a monstrous spirit that turns the hearts of the greedy), we found ourselves having to compete in a fighting pit. In a later story where I had possessed a Native American character, I had banded together with the two leading characters I had assumed prior. With so many delightfully volatile systems at play during combat and exploration, expect that they will die if you’re not loading them up with precious bandages or manually healing them yourself.Īn extensive array of dynamic systems work beneath the surface of Wild West to give it a sense of immersion and reaction. Beware that these characters don’t have an enthusiastic sense of self-preservation and any important characters along for the ride are susceptible to permadeath. In towns and throughout a character’s story, there will be opportunities to hire mercenaries, allow side characters to tag along, or enlist previously possessed main characters (if still alive). Up to two companions can join your posse at any time, but do not expect any wonders from the AI. A world conceptually jigsawed together in such a way that the first character’s story plays out as a trope-laden revenge Western a la Unforgiven, but is soon superseded by a rotating cast of pigmen, witches and werewolves. As the title suggests, Weird West is a fictional, dark fantasy take on a Wild West mythology we’re all familiar with. You play a soul that sequentially possesses five loosely connected characters in service of a mysterious and apocalyptic overarching plot. Then there’s the combat that pulls from so many different games that is at best exciting chaos, at worst clunky and repetitive. This is a romantic view of the classic Wild West that offers a dynamic and reactive world that frequently goes off script in interesting and often unintentional ways. An isometric, real-time action-adventure game that visually looks about 15 years late to the party, with an RPG approach to dialogue, storytelling and worldbuilding. A game that takes players through five wildly different stories packed with choice and dilemmas, yet never undercuts the delivery of serious themes with its own pulpy setting and denizens.
Weird West is my most challenging review yet.
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