Review - Weird West... I'm Your Huckleberry

 

Image courtesy of WolfEye Studios

This was an odd one that I glommed onto. And I don't just say that because of the title.

    There are a lot of things in Weird West that make it such an appropriate title. Some of them work. And some of them don't. Either way, it's guaranteed to stick in your craw for a fortnight or two once you've played it.

    Weird West is led by five different protagonists that are all controlled at separate times from the actual player. There's a bounty hunter, a pigman (yes, you read that right), a Native, a werewolf, and a cultist. Each one of them has their own goings-on that would likely never intersect in their daily lives, but for reasons unknown to them... they do over the course of the weeks transpiring in game-time. 

    Put simply, a calamity has made its way to the west, and it's not just the run-and-tell-the-sheriff kind. This is more along the lines of a devastation that could wreak havoc across the entire "West" and kill or uproot every inhabitant therein. Now what starts our protagonist(s) on a journey has to do specifically with a skin brand that shows up, searing hot, as our fortunes begin to change from bad to worse. The only way to discover more about this new scar and what's going on in the West is to follow the clues given to us by a colorful band of characters that includes an all-knowing little girl, a heathen witch, and a man obsessed with the idea of pain. Confused yet? Don't worry, your five protagonists will all feel the same as they stumble and bumble their way from tumbleweeds to dilapidated saloons in search of the answers to the grand questions they all struggle with.

The Good

I think the artwork is one of the main things that I really enjoyed about this title. WolfEye uses a cell-shading technique from an isometric perspective that undoubtedly keeps plenty of money in their indie pockets while also giving us a grand picture to look at. This is one of those things that works. Not everything has to be a grand epic in Unreal Engine. Some things work in simplicity, and I think that the stylistic choice matches the overall themes of the game.

    Narrative was also a plus. It got a little convoluted towards the end, and I could tell that the writers must have been feeling that way too because our last protagonist has a total of maybe two hours of gameplay compared to the 6-8 we get with each of the priors. Either way, the story had to be wrapped up eventually, and considering the amount of lore that was poured into Weird West I think WolfEye did a fair job of it. I also loved how you are able to gather previous protagonists alongside your current one in the "posse" system. This helped a lot with keeping that lore going, as previous characters would have information to add about their own experiences. For example, if I wanted my run as Across Rivers (the Native warrior) to also include some help from previous folks, I could just travel to the bounty hunter's house and the pigman's current whereabouts to pick them up and set them back on the trail at my side.

The Bad

Now on to those things that didn't work.

    The gameplay here is a bit rough. WolfEye tries to use a twin stick method, but it involves a lot of holding buttons or triggers down to do your attacks. This is semi-understandable with a gun or bow, aim and shoot system, but with melee weapons it's sheer absurdity. This comes off as more than clunky, and that clunkiness can also be seen in other aspects of the gameplay when trying to simply run through an area without getting your feet stuck on small obstacles that can hardly be seen.

    Sound is another area that's a bit lacking. I'm fine with games not using voice actors, especially since I know that can cost a pretty penny. That being said, it shouldn't extend completely into all audio. Any music in the game was forgettable, I couldn't even hum a single tune in the same day as playing it, and a game like this should have more strength than that in its overall tone. I think that a soundtrack with a little more ominous of a mood would have gone a long way in ensuring that the game became more than just a semi-enjoyable romp through several sets of unfinished eyes.

Ain't that a Daisy?

I wanted to like this game, but it did ultimately let me down. While it started off so great, each subsequent character after the bounty hunter felt a little less fleshed out. A little more rushed. The bounties lost their luster, the narrative lost itself, and the lack of an overall tone kept the game lost in translation.

5/10

Middling at Best