Weird West (2022)

I've finished with the first character (the bounty hunter) and now I'm controlling a Pig-Man. Love his design.

Actually, I love the world of this game, but I don't know if I'm gonna keep playing. The gameplay is really messy and there's no game session I'm not finding at least three bugs. Some of those have ruined some plays and forced me to restart.

Still thinking what to do about it.

About halfway and I'm really enjoying this game, but my biggest complaint boils down to the fact that it's indie. Hear me out.

Prey and the Dishonored games are some of my favourite games of all-time. Impressive immersive sims, no doubt about that. Weird West is yet another immersive sim by the same core staff who created Prey and Dishonoured, but this time they had left Arkane and started their own independent studio, WolfEye.

Most of the complaints I have with the game can be attributed to budget constraints: lack of voiced characters, character models look terrible up close, map layouts repeating often, birds-eye perspective rather than first-person, and just the overall jankiness of the game.

All this to say that if this game had a similar budget like when they were in Arkane, I would probably love it as much as Prey & Dishonoured. They were ambitious, but I think they just didn't have enough funds to fully realize those ambitions. Nevertheless, I have high expectations for this studio and whatever game they make next.

First title of the year finished (albeit started last year!)

I enjoyed the varying characters, but would have preferred more emphasis on needing to use their special abilities - rather than continuous gun fights. Whether that would be via puzzles or mini-bosses you needed to defeat using particular characters. Having said that, it was interesting to see them remember abilities when they became NPC's.

Additionally, I was not prepared for the temporary difficulty spike in the last 30 mins of gameplay.

All in all, I'm glad I stuck with it and saw the story play out. Would definitely recommend to anyone wanting to try something other than the top games.

After bouncing off Deathloop because the dialogue had too much Whedonism in it, I had an itch. I didn't know what the itch was but I think Weird West really scratched it. A niche within a niche, Weird West is a weird combination, twin stick shooter and immersive sim. When I first hopped in, I didn't think it would work, but now that I've finished my last journey and closed the book on it, I am craving more.

Pros- fun powers, interesting setting, very reactive world, and plenty of variety. Also a kick button. I love kicking things.

Cons- AI is a bit... Bad. Especially noticable when you have a posse. Sometimes the controls are a bit confusing due to the limits of a controller and I just end up standing still and dying. Idk if it would work better on PC or not. More of that early on than later when I got used to it.

If you have Gamepass do not pass on this if you like games like Dishonored, Metal Gear Solid V, or Deus Ex. The first chapter is free on Steam as well