I really wanted to like Weird West, but after taking my time with it and exploring the stories and gameplay possibilities for over 20 hours I unfortunately can't say I do.
Most of the game's problems stem from its limitations. It's got some interesting ideas going for it, but in actuality most of them lack the depth an immersive-sim of this scale needs.
When approaching combat situations, for example, you are given little choice on how to approach them:
- For stealth, because there aren't truly unique contextual interactions with the scenarios or abilities that change the way you play in furtiveness, the gameplay loop when approaching battles this way stays the same throughout most of the game.
- When going guns blazing, it's possible to play through some fun moments, but the skills, again, don't provide a lot of clever interactions with the game's systems, being much closer to standard top down hack-and-slash abilities, which is a problem when the game so clearly tries to be an experience more akin to something like Dishonored. On top of that, there is a big lack of guns variety, and the ones I found at the start of the game were basically the same ones I had at the end, just with a higher damage output. Also, for me, even though mostly decent, the gun gameplay felt floaty and wasn't satisfactory enough.
All that, combined with the blatant repetition of scenarios and assets and lack of real consequence and choice (both through gameplay and story, besides some exceptions on the latter), result in a game that quickly runs out of ideas to show to the player, which is a major flaw in an immersive-sim, which should reward creativity and scatter clever ideas through the world, instead of the shallowness shown here.
The story never really stood out for me, and neither did the sidequests. The writing itself, though, is mostly pretty good, being concise and not-overstaying when delivering the necessary information, and there were some pretty funny characters (namely the tree and Joe from the Pigman journey), which is a nice fit for the whole "Weird" setting of the game.
Speaking of the setting, there is the atmosphere and aesthetics. I think this part of Weird West is really great, with a cohesive art style that I enjoyed through and through (really like 3d cartoonish weird visuals) and subtle but ever-present music and SFX, especially the latter, which pulls you into the game's world at all times.
So yeah, there are some good things about the game, and I think there is a big chance one could enjoy playing through it much more than I did. For me personally, however, the flaws Weird West has are ones that greatly lessen the whole game, and I just couldn't, besides being into the atmosphere and style it presents, like it, as much as I wish I did.
Most of the game's problems stem from its limitations. It's got some interesting ideas going for it, but in actuality most of them lack the depth an immersive-sim of this scale needs.
When approaching combat situations, for example, you are given little choice on how to approach them:
- For stealth, because there aren't truly unique contextual interactions with the scenarios or abilities that change the way you play in furtiveness, the gameplay loop when approaching battles this way stays the same throughout most of the game.
- When going guns blazing, it's possible to play through some fun moments, but the skills, again, don't provide a lot of clever interactions with the game's systems, being much closer to standard top down hack-and-slash abilities, which is a problem when the game so clearly tries to be an experience more akin to something like Dishonored. On top of that, there is a big lack of guns variety, and the ones I found at the start of the game were basically the same ones I had at the end, just with a higher damage output. Also, for me, even though mostly decent, the gun gameplay felt floaty and wasn't satisfactory enough.
All that, combined with the blatant repetition of scenarios and assets and lack of real consequence and choice (both through gameplay and story, besides some exceptions on the latter), result in a game that quickly runs out of ideas to show to the player, which is a major flaw in an immersive-sim, which should reward creativity and scatter clever ideas through the world, instead of the shallowness shown here.
The story never really stood out for me, and neither did the sidequests. The writing itself, though, is mostly pretty good, being concise and not-overstaying when delivering the necessary information, and there were some pretty funny characters (namely the tree and Joe from the Pigman journey), which is a nice fit for the whole "Weird" setting of the game.
Speaking of the setting, there is the atmosphere and aesthetics. I think this part of Weird West is really great, with a cohesive art style that I enjoyed through and through (really like 3d cartoonish weird visuals) and subtle but ever-present music and SFX, especially the latter, which pulls you into the game's world at all times.
So yeah, there are some good things about the game, and I think there is a big chance one could enjoy playing through it much more than I did. For me personally, however, the flaws Weird West has are ones that greatly lessen the whole game, and I just couldn't, besides being into the atmosphere and style it presents, like it, as much as I wish I did.