How the West Was Weird (Weird West Impressions)

I was sneaking through some tall grass. Out of nowhere, a tornado appeared and lifted me high into the air and damaged me. I survived, only to be brutally gunned down by a gang of kidnappers. On my next try getting through the area, the tornado didn't happen.

Weird West is a game wants you to experiment. Loading screen tips will straight up tell you that anyone can be killed, including characters who are critical to the story. Like all Westerns, the character you play gave up her life of gunslinging, but now she's pulled back in. The story has you following the path of your kidnapped husband, but your character also wakes up with amnesia and a magical/occult brand. Hopefully you'll save hubby before the Siren eats him.

Sirens are river-dwelling monsters that eat the flesh of humans. There are also wraiths that summon zombies, creatures that spew poison swarm, and gangs of human outlaws. I encountered a witch who gave me a box and told me not to open it.

On normal difficulty, this game is hard. Expect a lot of quick-saves and experimentation. When the shooting starts in earnest, things can go south real quick. Stealth seems like an option before a fight breaks out; completing an entire encounter through stealth is theoretically possible, but will take an inordinate amount of time. You gain both passive perks and active abilities based on weapon type. Examples exclude a powerful, silent sniper shot with a rifle, or an ability that allows you to hit every enemy you can see with one pull of the trigger with your revolver.

The game constantly tells you that actions have consequences. While sneaking through an enemy fort, I found an NPC who was bleeding out on a bed. I had the option to heal him or leave him. Healing him turned him into a Friend for Life. He later showed up during a gun battle to help me. On the flip side, murdering someone's family member can cause them to declare a vendetta against you; you'll encounter bounty hunters they send after you.

I've played for about 4 hours so far. I'm digging it.

I'm really digging it. I am all in on immersive sims/crpgs so this is basically directly targeting me. I need to get over my usual hang ups of wanting to get through optimally because the most interesting stuff is when the wheels fall off and everything is covered in acid or fire.

I'm still on the first char, Jane the bounty hunter, and I am curious how different the core gameplay is for the other classes.

Even though the graphics clearly have a bit of a budget the UI and style is gorgeous. I am in love with the portaits and even the sun burst you get starting the game.

I hope it does well because as a long time Arkane fan I fear this has "cult classic that didnt sell huge numbers" all over it.

This probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who has ever read any of my comments about imm-sims on this here Website About Video Games, but I love it. I’m about 12 hours in and just started the second journey and it’s probably my game of the year so far. I can definitely see the limitations that come with being a small studio with a small budget (in particular, the random wilderness encounters get old and repetitive pretty quick), but the depth of the simulation elements and the wacky nonsense I’ve been able to pull off to solve problems far outweighs those shortcomings. Unfortunately, if the reviews and Steam numbers are anything to go by, it 100% feels like it’s falling into the age-old imm-sim trap of launching in need of several patches and getting a lukewarm mainstream reception and selling poorly (seeing it hit almost exactly the same Metascore as Prey made me chuckle sadly). But hopefully it being made by a smaller team and on a smaller scale plus the Game Pass bump will net enough income for the devs to keep making these kinds of games. Lord knows Arkane sure isn’t anymore.

I’m 3 or so hours in and I’m digging it. The one thing I don’t really like so far is the big inventory clutter. When I realized how little I was getting for the majority of junk, I stopped picking it up unless its value was $24 or higher. I have what is probably far too many shovels, but after watching Bakalar struggle with not having one during the QL, I’m paranoid about running into a situation like that.

Mostly I’m interested in seeing what the other characters offer. There are some decidedly non-human silhouettes on the character screen, and I’m highly intrigued by those. Hopefully they’re different enough to not make things feel samey in subsequent playthroughs.