Evil West: It's High Noon....For Vampires.
Rich L.
Video games these days tend to follow certain trends such as loot boxes, micro transactions, battle passes, and in some cases the desire to emulate Hollywood movies with an emphasis on feeling cinematic and grounded. While there isn't always something wrong with these trends, it is always nice to have a game take some inspiration from simpler times. Evil West I believe is one of those games. I casually had my eye on this game, since it was announced at the Video Game Awards last year, and it was one of the only announcements that intrigued me. Developed by Flying Wild Hog, a Polish company that consists of former employees from CD Projekt Red, is Evil West the hootenanny it's cracked up to be, or is it just a desolate ghost town with one single tumbleweed? Let's find out.
From a graphics standpoint, Evil West is “garsh darn pretty”...sorry I meant, a sight to behold. While it probably isn't winning any groundbreaking awards in this category, it certainly gets the job done as its character designs are a mixture of realistic and cartoony imagery, reminiscent to games like Timesplitters, Borderlands, and Destroy All Humans. The colors mix well to provide both a wild west and supernatural feel, with the animated blood and gore. Think Doom: Eternal, you get the idea.
Jesse Rentier
The main character, Jessie Rentier, is probably one of the coolest looking cowboys I've ever seen, with his armament encompassing some modern/sci-fi or perhaps, steampunk aesthetics. It’s also worth noting that the game does support performance and quality settings on some consoles. While Evil West supports 60 FPS in performance mode on the PS5, the Xbox Series S, however, does not support this feature.
Evil West is definitely a video game that focuses on gameplay above all else, and it delivers. The game feels like a fusion of Gears of War, Doom Eternal, and the newer God of War games, but set in the wild west. It sounds like a mess, but it actually works rather well. At first, I thought the game would be a third person shooter, but melee combat is more of the focus here as that's how most of the damage to enemies is dealt during gameplay. Guns serve more of a complement to either deliver critical hits to far away enemies, or to add to the combos of main attacks, such as using the revolver to keep the foe in the air a bit longer, creating longer combos. And while some combo gameplay resemble Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, Evil West is definitely not a button masher. Starting this game, I went in expecting it would be a pushover. I was quickly humbled as I started to receive a few consecutive “Game Over” screens. Evil West really wants you to take advantage of the combat systems, especially when it's first offered to the player. While it can be frustrating, dying multiple times in certain areas, it's just enough where it's not too overwhelming or discouraging as the game restart system usually places Jesse very close to where you were slain. Every time I died it felt like I deserved that death, and thought “ah, I should've pressed R3” or “why didn't I uppercut that vampire?”. While this level of difficulty is engaging for some, others might find it annoying over time. Keep in mind, I was also playing on a normal difficulty setting.
While the challenge is generally fair, there are certain points that felt out of my control. Enemies with long range attacks have a yellow-circled reticle appear over them for a short time, before they launch a far ranged attack. Usually, Jesse will auto lock onto these enemies with his rifle, but when there are multiple enemies in your face, that doesn't happen as there are multiple attacks coming at you. With the red, “hot colored” hues, blending in some areas of the game, these markers (built in warning systems) can get lost in the background causing Jesse to take some intense damage at times. This is probably one of the few instances where the game can be difficult for “clunky reasons”. My only other complaint is that the enemy assortment does tend to wane after a while making combat repetitive and at times, uninteresting.
Edgar
While the story is not at the forefront of the game, it still has a strong presence. The game follows the adventure of Jesse Rentier, who is the son of William, the head of the Rentier institute; an organization that hunts supernatural beings (primarily vampires or the more general name for them in the game is the Sanguine). As an evil uprising of vampires is trying to overrun the wild west, it's up to the Rentier institute to stop it. Along the way, there are a few key characters in the story that guide Jesse with cutscenes and dialogue that aid in the game’s progression. Interestingly enough, it’s not what I expected with this game. The interactions Jesse has with his “sidekick” Edgar are funny and entertaining, as they use foul language that’s wildly entertaining for a game set in the wild west. The storyline is pretty straightforward with modest twists and turns, making Jesse a really cool character with attitude, and probably ranks as one of the most badass cowboy characters I've experienced in a western based game. Evil West is very straightforward, and plays it safe enough to satisfy gamers needs, but it doesn’t blow me out of the water as far as games are concerned. For example, there are some great interactions with Jesse and his father the creators could've explored more, such as their family history, or how Jesse became a vampire hunter. I’ll admit, a nice bonus to the game was the monster lore. There are detailed descriptions for the monsters you can fight, and the knowledge about them can found in pages scattered throughout the game.
Jesse and……..Jesse?
Unfortunately, upon completing the game, all one can really do is just go through it again on a harder difficulty, maybe finish out the upgrades and perks, and perhaps jump into some co-op. There are no unlockable costumes outside of a couple skins you get from pre-ordering or going through the storyline, no new weapons, hidden levels, characters, etc. While the missions aren't super linear to the point of being on rails, exploration really only offers some money for upgrades and perks, with the occasional lore pickup guiding a gamer’s curiosity. Additionally, there are certain chapters that can't be backtracked, so if you follow a certain path where the game offers a few alternate storylines you might have to start over to follow the alternate scene. Lastly, with the co-op, it’s great they added this feature, but it feels tacked on. There is no split screen (I get it, it's a dying trend but even still), it only contributes to one player's progress, and player 2 is just another Jesse. The perfect option for player 2 would've been Jesse's partner, Edgar, but hey, I’m just the reviewer. Sure, there are parts of the story where they've separated, but does it make sense to have a clone of Jesse? Not really.
Overall, Evil West is a much-needed breath of fresh air in a world full of games that try to be overly cinematic. While I'm not a full-bodied wild west fan, I love it when the genre is mixed with additional themes like horror and the supernatural. It brings me back to the fun, forgotten game of Darkwatch, with its cinematic 1st person shooter action and grotesque monsters. With Jesse, he reminds me of some of my favorite fighting game characters; like Erron Black from Mortal Kombat, and Accel from Power Stone 2.
If Evil West had just a bit more meat on the bones in terms of replayability and depth to the story, this game could've gone from good to great, and perhaps, could have been a contender for “Game of the Year”? (Wishful thinking). Nevertheless, it would’ve been great if this game received a DLC expansion, or better yet, actually became a series and not a one-shot entry.
Evil West, is definitely a sleeper hit of 2022, and if you want a fun, action packed game, it's worth checking out, even with its $60 price tag.
