Hands-On With Weird West – A Frontier Worth Exploring

Unusual West is the future isometric twin-stick shooter from Wolfeye Studios, a reasonably new developer headed by former Prey and Dishonored co-creators. It doesn’t acquire very long to feel their immersive sim handprints. In fact, the moment you’re via the fundamentals of Strange West’s twin-stick shooter motion, the very same battle circumstance knowledge in games like Dishonored can make an appearance, and it is a delight. 

Do you go in guns blazing with your shotgun and spray and pray until everyone’s useless? If so, hopefully, you’ve looted some lifeless coyotes for meat or stocked up on bandages in town. Or do you get a stealthier route? Hopefully, you have noticed the poison barrel on the cliff that you can kick onto the enemies below, which damages them and makes it possible for you to shock them with some bullets. 

Regardless of what you choose to do, overcome plays out the identical way mechanically. You use either your WASD keys or your still left joystick to transfer around the area and your mouse or correct adhere to goal a sightline on-display in basic twin-adhere shooter fashion. Different guns have distinct ranges and damage outputs, and fortunately, switching between them is quick even in the warmth of an intense battle. I primarily like that Unusual West isn’t super generous with ammunition, also, for the reason that it pressured me to cycle as a result of all the weapons at my disposal quite usually.

In my few of hours with Bizarre West, it was these combat eventualities that intrigued me most. I started to look at them as modest puzzles that doubled as possibilities to gun down some nearby gang users, and in undertaking so, Bizarre West’s much more immersive sim-nature shined. 

Bizarre West’s puzzle-like twin-adhere shooter combat wasn’t the only matter that piqued my fascination. It attributes a gorgeous (flippantly) cel-shaded art fashion that feels particularly unique thanks to Bizarre West’s three isometric watch factors – far-out digicam angle, a mid-angle, and a shut zoom. Its synth-ish tunes reminded me of John Carpenter’s Halloween, which provides a contact of horror to Bizarre West’s vibe. 

The only aspect of Bizarre West I found marginally missing was the narrative. Admittedly, I only performed a incredibly tiny part of the sport, so points could modify when the full tale is open to me. Nevertheless, ideal now, the bounty-hunter-coming-out-of-retirement storyline was the blandest component of my time with Strange West. That’s not to say the precise dialogue in-match was tough – I quite appreciated that, and I favored the aspect quests introduced to me as nicely. I just would like the overarching narrative was as charming early on as the relaxation of the recreation.

With its distinctive take on the Wild West, which feels like an alternate era where werewolves and the undead ended up as a lot a element of everyday everyday living as coyotes and cattle, Strange West is executing a lot to need my awareness, even with a couple of drawbacks. I’ll have my eye on the video game when it releases subsequent yr for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox A person, and Computer on January 11. 

Will you be checking out Bizarre West? Allow us know in the comments underneath!