Weird West is Wolfeye Studios' take on the Wild West, and it is filled with rich lore and interesting characters, story moments, and set pieces. Mystery surrounds the world from the moment you step into the body of Jane Bell, the Bounty Hunter, and it sticks with you through all the characters who bear the brand. As you progress in Weird West, you always want to know more about the world, but often run into gameplay mechanics that curb your enthusiasm.
The Good
Weird West excels in its setting, art style, and storytelling. Exploring the world of Weird West is a delight because you never know what you might find or encounter. Any given scenario usually offers numerous solutions. And while Weird West is certainly Wild West, it has an incredible level of tone and atmosphere.
The story's interesting and mysterious premise leaves you wanting to know more. We wanted to keep playing and discover each character's story and how they were all connected. It was also interesting to see how your choices affected the story and NPCs, especially when playing as a new character and interacting with a character you played previously.
The Bad
You will spend a lot of time in combat while playing Weird West. While you have many options of how you go through combat—using guns, abilities, melee weapons, and more—some of these are often removed, or your hand is forced. With so many combat options at our disposal, we often felt disappointed that our options were taken away. It seemed counterproductive.
What's more, melee combat felt all but impossible to do without many bandages. Going for stealth would leave you waiting for excruciating amounts of time. Sometimes, enemies would stack up together, making it impossible to dispatch them silently. Other times, we could kill one enemy instantly, but another was all but immune to damage. Our own health also felt incredibly small relative to what the situation warranted, despite health upgrades.
The Ugly
Weird West excels at its storytelling and artistic approach to a dark-fantasy style Wild West, but this is marred by an atrocious camera and awkward controls. As we played, we would try to do something, only to have strange camera angles and misinputs thwart our actions. Whether we played on a controller or mouse and keyboard, we struggled with many of the game's controls.
Trying to interact with the environment or pick up items felt incredibly clunky. All throughout our playthrough, we struggled to pick up the item we wanted to add to our inventory, or we would search and accidentally threw more lanterns instead of picking them up. Even trying to use our character abilities was difficult due to how they were mapped.
| Pros | Cons |
| Combat offers many solutions (sometimes limited). | The camera is terrible. |
| Has a strong atmosphere and tone. | The controls are awkward. |
| Visually appealing style. | The AI is bad. |
| Storytelling is fantastic and interesting. | The combat is inconsistent. |
Verdict - Wait for a sale/updates
Weird West undeniably has some quality aspects, and you want to love this game, but there are some serious obstacles. Weird West presents its fantasy and horror-filled Wild West with pride, but playing through it to experience its best parts is difficult. Weird West excels at its storytelling, atmosphere, and worldbuilding, but when it comes to being a game, it failed to find its footing.
For more information on Weird West, check out Is there controller support in Weird West? and How long will it take to complete all Weird West campaigns? on Pro Game Guides.
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Should I buy Weird West – Weird West Review
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