Weird West

 PC
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 52 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 52
  3. Negative: 1 out of 52
  1. Oyungezer
    Jun 26, 2022
    70
    Keep your expectations low and you'll deeply enjoy Weird West. Intriguing story, diverse gameplay and good side quests make this game an enjoyable experience.
  2. Easy Allies
    Apr 22, 2022
    70
    At its core, Weird West is a solid game that presents a fun sandbox to play in. There are some aspects of its combat and story that aren't as strong as we'd hoped, but exploring the world and uncovering secrets with its strange and diverse cast of characters is enjoyable. It's time to saddle up and head out west.
  3. Edge Magazine
    Apr 21, 2022
    70
    This means it's possible for a smaller team to craft a game of joyously intersecting rules. [Issue#371, p.100]
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  5. Hardcore Gamer
    Apr 13, 2022
    70
    Weird West offers up a world of intrigue with a terrific blend of classic Western fiction and supernatural elements, with a lot of enjoyable story bits and and a world that can change on a whim, but it’s one whose awkward combat and bugs make for a bit of an uphill battle when it comes to truly enjoying this world. WolfEye should definitely be commended for their ambition and unique ideas, and the end result is still an enjoyable game, just one that could have used some extra spit and polish.
  6. Gamer Escape
    Apr 7, 2022
    70
    It’s buggy, the balance is off, and a good 80% of the locations only really serve as random sidequest destinations. But the storytelling drew me in, the stealth worked rather well, and on the occasions when I felt like I had resources to burn it was just so dang satisfying to slow motion dive out from behind a corner while blasting a barrage of shotgun shells.
  7. The Games Machine
    Apr 6, 2022
    70
    Weird West has a fun and engaging sandbox structure and is narratively solid, but it is also unfortunately marred by technical and gameplay issues.
  8. PCGamesN
    Mar 31, 2022
    70
    Superbly written characters, the dark allure of its world, and an engrossing main story make up for Weird West’s wonky action.
  9. Digital Trends
    Mar 31, 2022
    70
    While it has its quirks, Weird West is a bit of storytelling spectacle that seems to have been hand-crafted for diehard RPG fans.
  10. Riot Pixels
    Apr 28, 2022
    68
    This immensely ambitious game promises much more than it’s able to give. By focusing on player agency, Weird West stifles everything else.
  11. RPG Fan
    Mar 31, 2022
    68
    If not for the grating gameplay and clunky controls, Weird West would be another Devolver classic. I love Devolver’s games, and I was excited for this one. Weird West would be fantastic as a novella, actually–I loved the writing, atmosphere, and unique narrative. Chef’s kiss stuff right here. I’m sure some folks out there will find the gameplay good enough, but even knowing how fascinating the story is, I wouldn’t have put over twenty hours into this game if I knew at the outset what I know now.
  12. Multiplayer.it
    Mar 31, 2022
    68
    Weird West's fascinating universe isn't enough to cover its many flaws. While the sheer chaos of certain situations is fun, the game has clear balancing and structural problems, aggravated by bad AI and other technical problems. A pity, because the potential for an indie pearl was definitely there, and it remains a positive experience even with all its fallacies.
  13. PC Invasion
    Mar 31, 2022
    65
    Weird West does have some interesting and novel ideas. Sadly, bugs, AI issues, and questionable mechanics prove to be problematic.
  14. RPG Site
    May 9, 2022
    60
    By the conclusion of Weird West, I thought that the experience was interesting and original enough to not have felt as though my time had been wasted on an unfun experience, but only just barely. The five character stories do manage to build up to a largely satisfying conclusion, and there is enough persistence from character to character to make at least some of the experience feel meaningful and sometimes even poignant. However, I also often found myself ignoring locations and battles and just main-lining toward the next story beat to the finish line because I simply wanted to see how the threads ended up wrapping together, looking for some sort of payoff. Weird West is a creative game full of neat ideas that just didn't quite come together in the end.
  15. GameOver.gr
    Apr 15, 2022
    60
    Weird West gives the impression of a concept that would work excellently under Arkane’s talented team, but as it stands it’s mainly a diamond in the rough. For every clever idea in creating a living Wild West with fantastical elements there is an equal amount of issues that shows a lack of resources to truly make the game stand out.
  16. NME
    Mar 31, 2022
    60
    Weird West is a wonderful world tacked on to a clumsy bundle of mechanics. Personally, it’s one of my favourite games this year, but a host of small issues mean most of the game’s impressive potential is left untapped.
  17. Impulsegamer
    Apr 20, 2022
    50
    If the bugs are patched, Weird West has the potential to be a truly excellent game, as there is a lot of fun to be had in the West, you just sometimes have to make it yourself.
  18. TheSixthAxis
    Mar 31, 2022
    50
    A dark-fantasy western RPG with a compelling world and an ambitious narrative, Weird West is undermined by awkward combat and micromanagement. Weird West's rotating multi-character perspective will be an acquired taste, but makes sense as a method of world-building. It’s got room to grow, but right now, it’s challenging to build momentum in the early game and to persevere through the mid-game.
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  1. Eurogamer
    Mar 31, 2022
    A bold, atmospheric yet dissatisfying ensemble RPG shooter, full of untapped promise.
  2. Polygon
    Mar 31, 2022
    With Weird West, these magic moments appear far too infrequently. Sheer ambition means eventually something special is bound to be spat out by the game’s extensive simulations — a mishap with an oil lamp, for example — although it’ll be a rough and unwieldy thing, all the more crude when compared with the extensive elegance of a Dishonored. Instead of doing what many, myself included, had hoped — converting the spirit of Arkane and the immersive sim into an inventive top-down form — Weird West has stumbled into a more mundane existence as a pared-down computer RPG that’s nowhere near weird enough.
  3. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Mar 31, 2022
    Where Weird West breaks away from its RPG forebears is in its rejection of turn-based fighting. Instead, it controls like a twin-stick shooter, asking you to aim and react under pressure. That might be a dealbreaker for some genre fans, but the messiness of open combat is balanced by three things: the ability to gather an AI posse about yourself, a hefty kick for knockbacks, and a Max Payne-ish dive that stretches out the seconds, giving you extra time to swing your shotgun in the right direction.

Awards & Rankings

84
#84 Most Discussed PC Game of 2022

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 82 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 82
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 82
  3. Negative: 14 out of 82
  1. jseph1234
    Apr 6, 2022
    5
    To that guy Explicit1 who saying that no one should put how they feel about a game here on Metacritic, I say you should stop trying to tellTo that guy Explicit1 who saying that no one should put how they feel about a game here on Metacritic, I say you should stop trying to tell people what to write and mind his own damn business!!

    As far as the game is concern its around a 5 / 10. I love the Dishonored Series and I wish that Ralph would go back to making AAA Immersive Sims like those and I realize this is a small-budget, Indie game so that allowance have to be made....    … Full Review »
  2. tyr8338
    Apr 6, 2022
    5
    First impression is pretty descent but game turns stale rather quick, skills are uninspired, gunplay isnt all that satysfying and level designFirst impression is pretty descent but game turns stale rather quick, skills are uninspired, gunplay isnt all that satysfying and level design is sub par plus there is a lot of reused zones and idead over and over.
    I doubt I will be able to finish this game, it gets too boring after 2nd character with not much variation.    … Full Review »
  3. CucumberJoe
    Apr 6, 2022
    4
    It's a VERY weak entry in the canon of immersive sims. The characters are boring and uninspired, the story suffers from a serious lack ofIt's a VERY weak entry in the canon of immersive sims. The characters are boring and uninspired, the story suffers from a serious lack of pacing and jumps around between the uninteresting characters too frequently to form any kind of attachment to them, the factions and story beats are somewhat unbelievable and it really wears its 2022 politics on its sleeve. As a result, it becomes a chore to play through the game. You'll constantly meet powerful female characters who task you with going to rescue a man who has been kidnapped due to his own sheer incompetence. If the men aren't playing the role of damsel in distress, they're made to be unethical perverts with sex slaves and cartoonishly evil motivations. The gunplay is exceptionally poor, with certain enemies becoming bulletsponges and most powers being fairly useless. If you compare it with a game like Dishonored or Dishonored 2, the shortcomings really become pronounced. The level design is passable, but there are very few alternative pathways that don't consist of climbing some rocks to get the high ground on your enemies. Also, one of the more glaring issues, the levels repeat frequently. There are several mines in the game but they all share the exact same map. There are a bunch of little settlements around the map, but they all share the exact same tileset and do nothing to distinguish them from one another. The only powers that are worth using are designed explicitly for combat. Otherwise, there are really no creative traversal powers or opportunities to use them creatively to bypass obstacles. It plays far more like a twinstick shooter than it does an immersive sim, and judging it by the same metric I would Deus Ex, Dishonored or Prey, I can't help but be left disappointed. I'd give it a 4 for being slightly below average in terms of enjoyment, and that's because I've chosen to be charitable and rate it like I would a twinstick shooter rather than I would an immersive sim. If I were going to rate how it stacks up with its peers, I'd give it a 2 or a 3. It verges on being fun in the early game before you become aware at how many environments repeat ad nauseum, shooting itself in the foot before it can succeed at being a fun experience. Compounded with the issues regarding characterization and story, it gets quite a poor rating from me.

    I know this was a labour of love for the devs, and I do very much love Raph Colantonio and I think he's an excellent designer, but this is a really bad example of what he's capable of. All of his previous games felt more enjoyable to play than this one does. My biggest recommendations would be to focus on better, more relatable characters that are less grounded in fiction and trope, and to not focus on procedural generation to pad the amount of content in your game. A few handcrafted levels with variation and real substance are always going to be better than one repetitive map that has procedural elements within.    … Full Review »
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