Evil West [Review]
Evil West is a cinematic third-person shooter that does a great job of making you feel badass. The game was developed by Flying Wild Hog and published by Focus Entertainment. I fell in love with world-building almost instantly. The world of Evil West is virtually apocalyptic, it’s a grungy, steampunk-esc environment riddled with vampiric monsters. It is all set in the 1800’s Wild West. It’s got a fascinating lore with every monster you encounter. According to the lore you can read, the Change affects everyone differently depending on their DNA. Meaning that there are various kinds of vampires, there are classic vampires alongside more monstrous versions that are more like amalgamations of a human. Some evolved so horrifically that they don’t even have fangs, and feed by ripping their prey apart and licking the blood up. The differing types of vampires are how you identify what family they are a part of, as only certain families look a certain way after changing.
Enough of gushing over the world, the gameplay also needs praise. Evil West is very cinematic and anything and everything you do makes you feel and look cool. There are glowing chains in the environment that show you where to go, and almost all of them are some branch to hookshot to or a gap that you jump over. They’re small and short animations but they integrate you into the world and show more effort in the game than if the character just jumped down a steep drop. The gameplay itself is centered mainly around the melee. The character you play as, Jesse Rentier, has a large mechanical gauntlet that makes hard and heavy punches. You can push back vampires by just punching them or even chuck them into the air with uppercuts. There are plenty of entertaining combos with the uppercuts, like punching them into other enemies or spraying them with bullets while in the air. You can upgrade these attacks and combos through a perk system when you level up.
I didn’t think I would enjoy combat more than gunslinging in a game where you play as a cowboy, but the combos you can do are just so smooth and fun to use. Plus there’s even a button that you can use to stop a heavy-hitting vampire from attacking. While mid-swing you can kick them to halt their attack, it is extremely satisfying to do what enemies in games always do to you. That being said, you do have guns so don’t worry. You get a pistol and shotgun by the time of completing the tutorial. Your pistol is mainly used for combos or to just spray bullets into a horde of enemies. Your shotgun acts as the primary weapon that you can use to shoot sharpshooting enemies from afar or to blow up stacks of dynamite that are conveniently placed around the map.
I haven’t even mentioned the best part, and that’s that the entire campaign is co-op! You can play through the entire game with a friend. The game itself is very linear so the main gameplay is fighting, not getting lost, and wondering what to do. So, the game is very co-op friendly and I highly recommend experiencing the game with another person. I personally loved Evil West and will be giving it an 8/10. The game is currently available on Playstation 4/5, Xbox One and Series, and Steam.