In autumn 2021, Weird West will be released, an action role-playing game that relies on a simulated game world. But instead of pure fantasy, it is about magic in the Wild West.
It’s always the same. You’re a trigger-happy bounty hunter who finally settles down on a farm with her husband and child, only to get caught up in the same whirlpool of violence again. This is also the case in Weird West, where the husband is kidnapped right at the beginning and the son is turned off by a gang of robbers. Why this division? There wasn’t enough meat on the boy to feed the hungry siren.
Yes, the action role-playing game is dark. But genre fans are used to that. Diablo once set this dark tone and most games have stuck to it ever since. Weird West, however, is far from simply being a Diablo in the Wild West.
Even though that’s exactly what we suspected before we were invited by the developers at Wolfeye Studios to an event where they introduced us to their game in more detail.
If you also want a first impression, here is the trailer:
Table of Contents
What is Weird West about?
There’s quite a renowned team behind Weird West, even though the studio has actually only been around since 2018. But here you will find a lot of former employees of the Bethesda studio Arkane, some of whom have already worked on Dark Messiah of Might & Magic.
Even if the gloomy mood, the iso-view and the fight against monsters are reminiscent of Diablo, there is no common passion for action RPGs behind Weird West. According to the developers, they want to simulate immersive worlds. This is also the case in Weird West.
So a lot of things come together here. An iso-view like in Diablo, all kinds of creative magic abilities as you would expect from former Arkane people and a game world that goes more in the direction of Skyrim.
In Weird West you can freely travel through a world that consists of an overworld and closed areas. We always have free choice over our actions and the world remembers everything. For example, we can buy a trader’s goods or rob him. The latter can have far-reaching consequences. For example, the merchant could return later with a gang of thugs to take revenge for our crime.
What makes Weird West special?
But there is more to simulating a world than consequences in the eyes of the developers. Players should have the feeling that they can solve problems in their own unique way. There is no clear path and the environment is a sandbox.
We can rush into any monster mine with smoking guns, but we are also allowed to proceed stealthily. We can also use any number of objects. For example, throwing a bottle in the air and popping it off (this doesn’t help much in combat, but makes us look pretty damn cool). Or we can burst an oil lamp. Or we secretly plant dynamite and blow up a storeroom full of poison barrels.
Our ability to make choices, both in the unvoiced dialogue and when solving problems, is the gameplay core of Weird West. True, there is also loot such as new weapons, waistcoats or talismans. But the hunt for them is not what is supposed to motivate you.
Ideally, you just want to live in this world. And that’s a good thing, because the gloomy western setting of Weird West is a little highlight in itself. Cowboys, magic, revolvers, the undead and monsters. Far too few games pick up on this mixture, although they fit together wonderfully.
We experience the story of Weird West from the perspective of five heroes. At the beginning, we don’t choose a class, but gradually play through their story. The current state of the world remains the same.
– The Bounty Hunter: Relies mainly on her large selection of guns in battle.
– The Pig Man: Prefers to fight in close combat and has many assault attacks.
– The Protector: The Native American relies on silent attacks with the bow.
– The Werewolf: A gunslinger but can also turn into a wild wolf.
– The Witch: Sorcery is the focus here, she can create clones or teleport.
What do we like so far? What don’t we like?
We haven’t been able to play Weird West ourselves yet. So all our game impressions are based on a short demo played live by a developer. A section from the beginning of the game as a bounty hunter. That’s enough for a first impression, but for more we’ll have to wait for a playable version.
What do we like?
– The setting: The strange western already feels wonderfully unspent. The scenario isn’t completely new, but it’s rarely used in games.
– The interaction possibilities: At least in the demo, Weird West gave the impression that we had a lot of freedom. The world is interactive. This makes it seem plausible and allows for many different play styles
– The Action: The gunfights are already quite something. The character was in motion the whole time while revolvers were popping. There was even a Max Payne type pike, with time slowing down. Cool!
What don’t we like?
-The class constraint: We are not yet so convinced of the constraint of having to play every class. We would have found it more exciting to really work our way into a class and perfect it.
-No dubbed dialogue: There are no voice actors in Weird West (except for the narrator). Dialogues are therefore completely unvoiced
What remains unclear?
How good is the story? The developers have talked a lot about the simulation of their world, but we have seen very little of the quests and stories. It remains to be seen whether dialogues and stories can maintain a good level of quality.
How immersive is the world really? Only when we play ourselves do we know how well the world really responds to us. It may well be that, in the end, fewer actions have a consequence than one might now think.
