Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to meet with Focus Entertainment and Flying Wild Hog to preview their upcoming game Evil West. At the time, the game felt like a western shooter with a mixture of God of War, Dark Souls, and Van Helsing. The demo through us into a level where the protagonists had captured a vampire and were using it for information. The game featured a world that was familiar while still making its own impression. The western charm mixed with exploration and monster killing had us hooked. Fast Forward half a year and we have finally got to playthrough Evil West. So how was it? Let’s dive into the good and bad aspects of Flying Wild Hog’s game.
Evil West was released on November 22nd, 2022. Sadly, this game has been overshadowed by the release of God of War Ragnarok, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and Gungrave G.O.R.E amongst other things. So, why should you care about this game over these other titles? Honestly, that’s a hard question to answer and the easiest answer is, it depends on your interests. If you are a fan of Red Dead Redemption and the Supernatural, then this game is right up your alley.
Story
Evil West is the story of Jesse Rentier, the son of the director of the Rentier Institute; all of his life, Jesse has been trained to hunt monsters, especially vampires and Sanguisuges. Early into the game, Jesse and his partner Edger are able to catch renowned vampire Chester Morgan. Chester was the vampire we got a preview of at PAX West. With his help, he is able to direct Jesse and Edgar to the vampiric temple. This allows Jesse to cut off the head of a renowned vampire philosopher, Peter D’Abano.
Jesse and Edgar’s actions would prove to be useless and even catastrophic in the long run, with the Institute being attacked by D’Abano’s daughter and their monsters. Following the attack, Jesse learns that there was more to the attack than revenge and goes on a mission to uncover the vampires’ plot and save his father. The attack on the institute was just phase one of an even grander plan. With a dark plot at hand, it is up to Jesse to evolve, save his father, and save America.
The game’s overall story can be a wild ride. Every time you feel like you have one answer, the game throws another curveball at you. The writers did a great job making the characters relatable. Throughout the story, you will have sympathy for the character’s situations and even understand the “villains'” perspective.
Gameplay
Evil West’s gameplay can be a love-hate experience. At the game’s heart, it looks to provide a fun experience, but at times, it can be rather infuriating. The game provides players with four difficulties to play on: Story, Normal, Hard, or Evil. While playing through on normal, the game can feel at times too intense; this is partially due to the game’s control layout but also the fact that during some encounters, a ton of enemies or stronger monsters can be thrown at you.
The game does offer a wide variety of monsters but no monster is unique to any particular level. Yes, the game does slowly introduce them, but once they have been introduced, you can expect to see them anywhere anytime. As the story progresses, the monster’s abilities become more difficult to deal with and their combined abilities can be a lot to overcome.
In a way, the game feels like it was meant to be played cooperatively. Players have the option to start the game cooperatively immediately but there is no matchmaking system; so you will have to find a partner or a friend to play. When in co-op, players can revive one another. Sadly, only the host’s progress is saved when playing cooperatively. When playing co-op, the game just creates another Jesse, making it feel like the second player is just a target dummy.
The combat in Evil West can be fun but at times feels unfair. Boss fights on normal or higher feel like you are being thrown into a Soulsbourne game compared to Bulletstorm, Darksiders, or Zelda.
RPG Elements & Collectibles
At times, Evil West tends to focus too much on its collectibles than its RPG elements. Depending on how many collectibles and how much gold the player collects determines how much easier the game will be. In each mission, the player can collect chests, gold, or lore. The lore ultimately just expands on the story. Meanwhile the chests and gold are the important collectibles. If you miss them, you can be screwed.
Evil West does allow players to replay missions to go back and collect any collectibles they might have missed, but it doesn’t allow them to do so in the level. Once you have passed a section, you are stuck going forward. If the player does not collect enough of the gold, they will have difficulty upgrading their weapons. Thankfully, the game does give the player some gold for leveling up, but comparatively, that’s just a small fraction of what the player needs. Additionally, the player must find the chests in certain levels to unlock select upgrades for different weapons.
Once the player levels, they are given a skill point to assign to either perk tree. Both perk trees focus on the power of the gauntlet, however, one focuses on the physical aspect while the other focuses on the utilization. The game gives players 39 different perks to choose between locked behind the player’s skill level. Throughout the game, the player can reset their perks and weapon upgrades as they unlock new perks and find new weapons.
Controls
The game’s biggest downside is its controls; yes you can learn them and get the hang of them, but at times, there’s is a bit too much going on with the controls.
Rather than using an item wheel, the game forces weapon changes to be used on the directional pad; meanwhile, the L1 button is only used for an energy shield to block attacks and occasionally stun enemies. Oddly enough, the game also uses the right stick, to have the player kick the enemy to knock them out of select attacks. These two buttons very easily could have been combined leaving room for other options.
The game does not allow players to remap the controls outside of swapping the buttons; the button swap feature only swaps the controls to the other side of the controller. Yes, you will eventually learn them, but there is a bit of a learning curve. Players with a fear of spiders can turn on the arachnophobia setting to reduce the number of spiders.
Graphics
Evil West‘s graphics are a sight to behold most of the time. The game does have issues when moving from room to room in the main base where you can see through the walls at times. The main story levels have environments that are well put together. In those instances, the game’s only issue is when the player is falling off of an object and landing; during those times, the camera will lock on to Jesse in a weird way.
In combat, the game can have too many visual effects, some of which will overlap potentially causing issues for those with sensitivity to light or color blindness. Even without having any visual impairments, the game’s effects can be overwhelming. The player must decide on which enemy to attack based on their abilities and effects or suffer the consequences.
The game’s camo skins feel rather uninspired and when the player completes the whole set it feels rather empty. If you mix and match the camos each part can stand out, otherwise, it’s not worth collecting.
Audio/SFX
The game’s soundtrack is enjoyable throughout and sets the mood in almost all of the levels except one; the biggest culprit is the swamp level where the game’s music feels like it’s more out of Scooby Doo rather than a western.
The voice acting feels natural and no character’s voice seems over the top with their lines. You will get to feel a wide range of emotions. The only downside with the game’s audio is that voice lines from cinematics and characters nearby can overlap.
Replayability
Unless you are a perfectionist or really love the campaign, Evil West is a one-and-done unless you want to play with a friend. The game’s collectibles do help you unlock cooler weapon abilities; in a way, you will have to replay levels to get enough gold to unlock weapon abilities. Some abilities are almost mandatory in order to complete the game.
Verdict
Evil West can be a fun story about saving America and slaying monsters. The characters are relatable but show the good and bad sides of humanity. For the time the story takes place, you get a feel of the setting and get to live in the wild wild west even if for a little. The game does have beautiful environments and graphics but the visual effects can be overwhelming.
For the most part, the game’s soundtrack can be enjoyable to listen to but the voice line bugs can be distracting. The game’s controls do have a few issues that if fixed could make them enjoyable to use; maybe if there is a sequel, the control issues can be fixed. Additionally, the game not saving progress for guest players feels like a kick in the teeth toward co-op partners; if it had free-to-play couch co-op, then it would be a different story.
If you are looking for a fun western action-adventure game, Evil West is definitely one to add to your list. We would recommend waiting until the game goes on sale if you have any hesitancy. If you are uncertain, try watching a video playthrough of a level or two.
A copy of Evil West was provided by Focus Entertainment. Evil West is now available for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
