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[Drizzlehell]

An important distinction - I am NOT talking about Evil West, a third person shooter about a cowboy dude fighting weird monsters in a fictionalized version of wild west, that came out in November.

No, I'm talking about Weird West, and isometric immersive sim/role-playing game about a cowboy dudette fighting weird monsters in a fictionalized version of wild west, which came out in March.

This one:

I've scrolled through most recent Steam reviews and despite the game having an overall positive rating, many of these opinions seem to be criticizing certain aspects of the gameplay quite heavily, and the game itself seemed to be getting little to no buzz throughout the year. But I think that it absolutely deserves far more attention and appreciation. Especially if you're a fan of both immersive sims such as Dishonored, Deus Ex, or Prey, as well as early computer RPGs such as Fallout. This game seems to be taking a lot of cues and design ideas from those games, and it shouldn't be a surprise, considering that the mastermind behind it is Raphaël Colantonio who previously worked at Arkane Studios as lead designer on many of their flagship titles.

Honestly, I've been having a blast with this thing so far. I'm a big fan of immersive sims and it's probably my favorite genre of video games ever, and Weird West ticks off all the right boxes for me. It has a unique style that hooked me in immediately, simple but effective premise, and a fun, reactive world for you to immerse yourself in. During my first session, it didn't even take me an hour to stumble upon a number of emergent situations that felt completely unscripted, and it's just awesome.

The only minor complaint that I have about it so far are the combat and a bit finicky camera controls during said combat. In general, shooting dudes and monsters feels fairly satisfying but if you're not careful then things can get out of hand fairly quickly and it just feels cheap when you suddenly die and you don't even have time to process what just happened. Sneaking around can also be a bit random. Like, for example, if I hide the body in the bushes (which are supposed to be a hiding spot) and crouch next to it to wait for another guy to pass, it's kinda logical to assume that he would walk by without noticing anything but in the actual game sometimes they will notice things, other times they won't, and it's a bit frustrating.

These are just minor gripes, though. Definitely not something that would completely ruin an otherwise excellent game.

GO PLAY IT

 

[Punished Miku]

I have it downloaded but still haven't even tried it. Always thought it looked cool.

 

[drotahorror]

Really fun game that hardly anyone talks about. There's even a fps mod that might be pretty interesting to try.

 

[Pejo]

Your first mistake was expecting GAF to actually play and/or discuss games.

On topic, this looks pretty cool. I hadn't heard of it until now. It almost gives me OG Legacy of Kain vibes, in a weird way.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I was looking forward to it but got discouraged after reading a couple of bad reviews and then completely forgot about it.

Thanks for the reminder. I'll now look into it again and might just play it.

Question: To which game would you compare its combat? How does it play and feel like? (I don't want to read any more stuff about it online)

 

[Mr Hyde]

I wish more games had a Western setting, or combined western with magic or advanced technology. Or just weird stuff, like the one OP referring to. It has such a huge potential to be something unique or at least a cool experience unlike much on the market.

 

[Chukhopops]

It’s definitely underrated, I think the main flaw is that it doesn’t explain its mechanics particularly well so you have to spend a bit of time learning it.

It’s full of good ideas, the multiple characters and stories, the world changing over time with cities becoming abandoned, the friend/vendetta system, etc. And the way the story wraps up and the ending is determined is genius.

 

[GymWolf]

Played and enjoyed the game at launch.

Not a perfect game but a fun one.

It was too fucking easy tho.

 

[anthony2690]

I felt like I saw a lot of excitement on GAF for this game, but I never really felt what I saw and never got round to trying it out.

 

[ungalo]

I love Colantonio's work but didn't bother to play it because it's simply not what i like about the games he made in the past. I know the game has some immersive sim qualities but the isometric view is way too minimalistic for me.

It's pretty sad he left the AAA industry because Dinga and Harvey Smith don't seem to be as talented as game directors.

 

[Revolutionary]

I had a great time with it, probably would have been my GOTY if it wasn't for the bugginess at launch that caused me to stop playing. Probably fixed my now, maybe I'll go back and see if I can finish it up.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Played it launch via gamepass, yeah it's good; also it's not just the "dudette", there's multiple character you get to play as.

 

[Hendrick's]

I had issues with the combat. Dome recall what exactly, but it put me off.

 

[Dick Jones]

This feels like another Outer Wilds and Outer Worlds situation. Two games with similar names releasd in the same year yet when someone talks about one, another will think of the other game.

I thought you were talking about Evil West before clicking and thought that got a fair bit of attention.

I've thrown it on the wishlist. Thanks OP

 

[chixdiggit]

Fun game. The shooting mechanic is eh.... just wish it was more about strategy and less aiming. But overall good game.

 

[Roberts]

I think we talked about it on one of the Gamepass threads way back when it dropped. Took me a while to complete it, but I really liked it despite a few issues and it will probably end up at the tail end of my top20 (which is good!)

 

[jaysius]

Great game, as GymWolf said very easy, almost too easy mid-way through which is a balance issue.

It was a great fun game though, really enjoyed it.

 

[SmokedMeat]

It’s on my “to play” list. I like immersive sims.

 

[gothmog]

I played it. I thought it was okay. Barely remember anything about it.

 

[rofif]

it's not the same as evil west? surprised

 

[Big Baller]

Check out Colt Canyon now with Gold.

 

[GymWolf]

Great game, as GymWolf said very easy, almost too easy mid-way through which is a balance issue.

It was a great fun game though, really enjoyed it.

The mechanic of recovering all your shit from the past character was too broken.

 

[HL3.exe]

Replayed it with the first person mod. Janky as hell, which was already a janky game. Liked it a lot (warts and all)

I mean, Immersive Sims (they're very difficult to make systems/simulation driven action-adventure games) are rare anyway, so I'll take what I can get.

 

[sainraja]

I just realized that I bought this on GOG.com and planned on checking it out once I got a monitor for my PC but I had totally forgot. This is a good reminder! I will definitely give it a go since it looked interesting enough to me to buy.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

it's not the same as evil west? surprised

gears of war is not the same as god of war?

 

[Magic Carpet]

It was on Gamepass, I downloaded it and played till I got to the reading dialog and then quit.
I had just finished Pillars of Eternity and could not stomach anymore reading of dialog.

 

[jaysius]

The mechanic of recovering all your shit from the past character was too broken.

Yea, in many ways, it showed how poorly thought out it was that the game I think(I forget) lost some items in between characters that it didn't explain, but also made you super rich for a starting character.

Great game but with flaws.

 

[GymWolf]

Yea, in many ways, it showed how poorly thought out it was that the game I think(I forget) lost some items in between characters that it didn't explain, but also made you super rich for a starting character.

Great game but with flaws.

It must be a bitch to limit and balance a genre that lives or die for his freedom of approach.

 

[jaysius]

It must be a bitch to limit and balance a genre that lives or die for his freedom of approach.

Indeed, hopefully this game gets a sequel and they get a chance to figure that out.

The game would be really incredible if they can get that right and iron out bad bugs before release.

 

[GymWolf]

Indeed, hopefully this game gets a sequel and they get a chance to figure that out.

The game would be really incredible if they can get that right and iron out bad bugs before release.

I don't particularly like western so i hope for another immersive sims entirely.

They can leave the isometric camera because i generally love it, but it doesn't feel like an immersive sims without first person view to me.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

tip for devs- if you’re going to release a game like this on console after the next gen systems have already come out, with janky combat and aiming, at least make sure its 60 fps. Otherwise people are not going to want to play your game. Being AA is no excuse.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Looks better than Evil West imo, but I haven't played either.

 

[xrnzaaas]

The game is very enjoyable, I wasn't a fan of the idea of switching main characters once every few hours, but ultimately I liked it. My main complaint are the clearly visible budget limitations - the graphics are just ugly and having the isometric view makes it harder to find small loot, plus the game has repeating locations patterns and doesn't offer any voice acting except for the narrator. If you can deal with that and if you like games with a lot of freedom of how to approach things you're gonna have a blast.

 

[M1987]

Played it launch via gamepass, yeah it's good; also it's not just the "dudette", there's multiple character you get to play as.

It's on gamepass?

Edit:I was thinking of Evil West

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

It's on gamepass?

Edit:I was thinking of Evil West

..How did you manage to read the thread title, get past the OP and scroll all the way down my post still thinking this is a different game?

 

[Drizzlehell]

Replayed it with the first person mod. Janky as hell, which was already a janky game. Liked it a lot (warts and all)

I mean, Immersive Sims (they're very difficult to make systems/simulation driven action-adventure games) are rare anyway, so I'll take what I can get.

Oh wow, that actually looks way better than I imagined when you wrote "first person mod" at first.

Now I'm kinda pissed that I bought this for PS5 because I would absolutely rather be playing the game in first person, lol.

Question: To which game would you compare its combat? How does it play and feel like? (I don't want to read any more stuff about it online)

The controls during combat are a bit like twin-stick shooter with an aiming line darting across the screen when you aim with the right stick or mouse, and there's a bit of an auto-aim going on when I play it on gamepad. However, to avoid giving you wrong impression, it's not a bullet hell shooter either. Simply picture a third person action RPG combat with projectile weapons, except with an isometric camera that you can rotate around freely and change the zoom levels.

I guess the closest example of something similar that I can think of in terms of combat is The Ascent, except this game doesn't throw as many enemies at you at once.

 

[Trazyn the Infinite]

The issue with Weird West was how repetitive it was. There were a few really great concepts, but when you basically look everywhere in the first character, then the second, you get bored by the third. And want the game to just fucking end by the fourth.

The game doesn't really feel like an "immersive sim" either and more like "ImmSim Lite".

 

[CatLady]

I thought I must be the only person that played this game. I loved it and have been singing its praises, but this is the first time I've ever seen anyone else mention it. I'm glad you played and enjoyed it Drizzlehell and I see there are others in this thread that did as well. It's really an underrated and ignored game.

 

[dorkimoe]

played it and loved it on gamepass

 

[april6e]

It got mediocre reviews from most of the reviewers I care about and I have too much on my backlog to play games that aren't amazing. You already admitted yourself that the gameplay is only okay and is sketchy at times which mirrors that the reviews said. Maybe I'll give it a chance in a year or two if it ages well.

 

[yohan12]

I havent played the game, but the trailer for it is pretty uninteresting. Personally I'll try it at some point, but I can see why most people skipped it.

 

[MALpractice311]

Today I learned Weird West and Evil West are two different things. Some of these developers really need to check this stuff before release. Reminds me of a couple years ago and the Outer Worlds and Outer Wilds releasing relatively close to each other. I, likewise, had no idea they were two different games.

Anyhoo, it looks fine. If I didn't have a backlog of games I'd rather play, plus a bunch of older games that I want to replay on my PS5 (looking at you, locked 60fps Sekiro), I might check it out. Sadly, we're both blessed and cursed by the amount of quality games released every year.

 

[AlteredForms]

Saw it on the Steam homepage when it was discounted. Reminded me of the Wasteland games but in a western theme.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Your first mistake was expecting GAF to actually play and/or discuss games.

Compared to some other forums, this place is a gamer heaven, lol.

At least here I can make a thread about niche game like this and expect it to get a decent amount of responses, so that's nice.

 

[Drizzlehell]

You already admitted yourself that the gameplay is only okay and is sketchy at times which mirrors that the reviews said.

Yeah, well, so is Dishonored's gameplay, but that doesn't stop it from being an excellent game in spite of its flaws.

I'm just trying to provide a fair overview and mention some of its flaws instead of hurling blind praise at it and risk misleading people, but the overall experience that this game left me with was very positive. These flaws weren't serious enough that it would ruin the experience tbh. I still think it's worth ignoring the general consensus and giving it a shot.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Today I learned Weird West and Evil West are two different things. Some of these developers really need to check this stuff before release. Reminds me of a couple years ago and the Outer Worlds and Outer Wilds releasing relatively close to each other. I, likewise, had no idea they were two different games.

Anyhoo, it looks fine. If I didn't have a backlog of games I'd rather play, plus a bunch of older games that I want to replay on my PS5 (looking at you, locked 60fps Sekiro), I might check it out. Sadly, we're both blessed and cursed by the amount of quality games released every year.

Man, remeber when Volcano and Dante's Peak came out at the same time?

Or Deep Impact and Armageddon?

 

[SJRB]

It's a niche of a niche of a niche.

This game was never going to sell gangbusters.

 

[Pejo]

Compared to some other forums, this place is a gamer heaven, lol.

At least here I can make a thread about niche game like this and expect it to get a decent amount of responses, so that's nice.

Definitely. If you can mix it up with a few likeminded individuals or a small community, it's great. It's mostly just my own crankiness from loading the gaming side each day and 9/10ths of the front page is all sales/fanboyism/corporate shit. I miss the big |OT|s of years past. This thread did pretty well considering the niche, which is nice to see.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Definitely. If you can mix it up with a few likeminded individuals or a small community, it's great. It's mostly just my own crankiness from loading the gaming side each day and 9/10ths of the front page is all sales/fanboyism/corporate shit. I miss the big |OT|s of years past. This thread did pretty well considering the niche, which is nice to see.

Yeah, the console tribalism and constant reposting of some random, inconsequential, click bait tweets or articles that talk about either Microsoft or Sony dropping a soft shit on the other company's doorstep is a bit tiresome. But generally I just try to avoid these threads and focus on topics where people actually talk about the games.

Plus it's cool that people around here are more laid back and don't get offended by literally everything, lol.

 

[Jennings]

This thread prom1pted me to download the game in xbox and give it a shot this morning. I only had a few minutes to play before I had to run, but my first impressions can so far be summed up as:

I like the twin-stick control scheme.
But I dislike having to buy ammo refills.