Evil West

After crazy Shadow Warrior 3 and toned down Trek to Yomi the Warsaw-based Flying Wild Hog studio offers a new IP that combines Wild West, horror and steampunk. It’s an explosive concoction with a surprisingly complex combat system, but if slaying monsters is not enough for you and you expect a wider range of experiences, Evil West is not a game for you.

Evil West fulfills its purpose with dignity and offers us a world full of hideous creatures, the kind that any fan of games like God of War or Devil May Cry will love. Although Flying Wild Hog has left room for improvement in the future of the game, it already has the formula for success: a good narrative and well-structured gameplay. Despite its simplicity, the producer's good taste is reflected in the artistic direction, design and gameplay structure that offers a pure and challenging combat system, as well as cinematics that make us follow another story about saving the world, in 2022.

Evil West is a nice experience. Very violent and not very subtle, do not look for a tactical experience. It is a game that has for only goal to let your brain rest.

By blending B-movie-fantasy and frantic combat, Evil West remains a mostly enjoyable action romp, despite its shallow writing and dull level design. You might wait for a little price drop though.

Evil West doesn't even try to reinvent the wheel, but is pretty enjoyable although some technical flaws that we hope will be fixed in the coming weeks.

Evil West offers a nice hunt, even if not all is perfect. This somewhat classic FPS provides a lot of much fun killing vampires.

Evil West is a straight shooter. It doesn’t pretend to be something more than it is — a game about cowboys slaying vampires without mercy. Despite being a tad unvaried, the combat is viscerally gratifying and confidently uncomplicated. And for that alone, the game is largely able to overcome the hiccups with the limited multiplayer, graphics crashes, and awkwardly edited story. Though the campaign is fairly short given the asking price, it has a permadeath mode and new game plus for replayability. Evil West may be rough around the corners, but it’s worth a shot of whiskey down at the nearest saloon.

With Evil West, Flying Wild Hog sinks its big fangs into the colossi (current and former) of Beat'em up 3D and creates an explosive amalgam. Admittedly, the created creature does not shine with the freshness of its flesh, but it will be able to satisfy the primary needs of those wishing to strike before asking questions. Pleasant to play without excelling in any area, the creation of Focus is an uninhibited return to the origins of 3D action games, without excessive RPG elements or open universes diluting its content. This God of Far West with AA sauce avoids breaking his teeth on promises he would have been unable to keep. A pretty good surprise.

Evil West is not a cornerstone of the action genre, but it is a product supported by a solid and fun combat system. Facing hordes of monstrous creatures with a vast and customizable arsenal through numerous upgrades is rewarding enough to overshadow the not excellent technical realization, as well as a narrative that is not without flaws. Not to be negligible is also the inclusion in the package of an online cooperative mode which could be the perfect excuse to relive Jesse Reinter's epic alongside a friend, perhaps to unlock every single secret and make the slaughters even more fun. monsters.

Regardless of how you choose to play it, Evil West feels like the best version of the AAA "B-tier game" that we don't see as often as we used to. It's not technically polished and I wouldn't call it innovative, but it's mechanically solid and comes equipped with a lot of fun ideas that mostly pan out. Sometimes you just need a game to punch out some bad guys; it can feel familiar and straightforward, just as long as the punching feels good. Evil West fills that specific, but very relatable need quite well.

Evil West is a refreshing blast from the past that nails the most important parts of its old-school, vampire-hunting action. The combat is smooth and its weapon options are ludicrously entertaining, but low enemy variety and overly similar level layouts can grow somewhat monotonous after a while. This is far from being the most complex or innovative action game I’ve played, but every so often you just want to have some fun smashing in monster skulls.

Evil West’s old-school sensibilities aren’t what drags it down, although its linear levels might not appeal to everyone. Its combat feels glorious when it clicks, but it struggles to find its stride, resulting in a fun but rather unremarkable adventure. Fights range from exhilarating to boring and outright frustrating, its story is entirely forgettable and lacks memorable characters, while a lack of polish in terms of smaller details like NPC models and cutscenes makes it hard for it to properly stand out. But if you’re looking for an excuse to brutally execute vampires with an arsenal that looks, sounds, and feels great to use, there’s enough fun to warrant picking up Evil West, as long as you keep its flaws in mind.

Brutal action shooter with a complex combat system and some flaws in balancing, storytelling and technology.

Evil West delivers on its big dumb action game premise, for better and worse.

A steampunk Wild West, cool characters and a terrific vampire carnage are Evil West's strong features. Unfortunately, the technical aspects are archaic, without any intended homage to classic games.

Evil West is a game worthy of 2022 visually but remains in the 90's when it comes to gameplay. It ruins a gripping story, an exciting concept, beautiful graphics and voiceovers with repetitive arena style fights and extremely linear gameplay. Wait for a sale if you want to nail some vampires to the wall.

The best throwback games borrow aesthetics, iconography, and mechanics from the past, and blend them with modern sensibilities. Evil West does the first part beautifully, but can’t quite pull things together for audiences today.

In a lot of ways, Evil West feels like a relic of the past. It's the kind of game you could envision playing back in, say, 2010 or perhaps even earlier. This simplicity could've been somewhat refreshing when so many modern games are overly bloated by comparison, but it comes across like a game short on aspiration. Combat is robust, relishes in gore, and constantly delights with its weighty and satisfying action. It stumbles into tedium towards the end, though, both as a result of enemy oversaturation and because it's forced to carry the load, but it's the one aspect that makes Evil West worth playing. The rest of the game is formulaic and mind-numbingly dull, actively diminishing its high points as you saunter from one combat arena to another. I didn't always enjoy my time with Evil West, but I hope a sequel is in the pipeline, if only to see if Flying Wild Hog can expand and improve on its promise.

However you feel about Evil West, the $50/$60 asking price is too steep for what’s on offer: the nature of its level design, limited enemy variety, and forgettable story will get in the way of your enjoyment, even if you’re only there for the combat. As engaging as it is, that action just doesn’t make up for Evil West’s shortcomings elsewhere.