Evil West

Back in 2022, a Polish team of developers by the name of Flying Wild Hog released three major games. They’re the most ambitious projects the team has made to date, and the last people would ever hear from. Since then Flying Wild Hog hasn’t made or revealed work on any new games. I myself wonder if releasing three big games within the span of one year took a toll on them. Okay so slight correction, they released four games with the final title being multiplayer focused. Said title, Space Punks, was shut down due to low player activity. Video games are already really hard to make, and running multiple servers for a multiplayer game specifically is even tougher. To see all that hard work and effort die with the single pull of a plug is saddening. Flying Wild Hog has not been particularly lucky when it comes to their games. Looking back at their entire catalog a majority of their games have average to mediocre reception. They rebooted Shadow Warrior for the modern audience, but never exactly figured out what they wanted to do across three entries. The first entry wanted to be a gritty action shooter, but was set in colorful environments that then contrasted what it wanted to be. Second wanted to be a looter shooter a la Borderlands, and the third felt confused on whether it wanted to be like Doom 4 or Doom Eternal. 

Now I could be wrong. The only game in this series I’ve played is Shadow Warrior 3, and while I wouldn’t say it’s a bad game it’s a title I think about less as time moves on. More could’ve been done with the game, and that’s how a lot of people feel with Flying Wild Hog. The intentions and ideas surrounding these games are good. Flying Wild Hog is certainly a passionate studio to have continued this long despite their average catalogue of games. It’s just these games end too soon before anything really clicks, or fails to stick the landing. When I wrote my Trek to Yomi review back in 2022 there was a reason why I called it the worst game I ever liked then. Trek to Yomi is a wonderful homage to samurai films and old school film making. It’s a work of art buried beneath terrible gameplay. It works and doesn’t. I’m willing to defend Trek to Yomi, but if someone were to tell me they genuinely thought it was an unremarkable game I’d understand. The developers have so much potential, but keep falling short each time. That’s why I wonder if these average to mediocre releases are starting to take a toll on them. They haven’t said anything since 2022, because they’re probably afraid if the next game they make doesn’t either sell or perform well.

I’ve mentioned three of the four games they released back in 2022. Trek to Yomi, Space Punks, and Shadow Warrior 3. What about the fourth game? That fourth game was Evil West, an action heavy experience set in the wacky weird west. Where not cowboys and outlaws wander the sands but also werewolves, vampires, the undead, and somehow creatures even worse than those. The weird west is such a fascinating setting in my opinion. Old western tales have been done several times before. Why not throw some horror in the mix, and explore how the people of this period would adapt based on situations beyond their human comprehension. It worked with Sinners. The weird west is just really cool and I played a few games set in it already. Weird West and Blood West respectively. Evil West was a game I was always fascinated by since it initially released, but skeptical whether I should check it out. Evil West, much like the rest of Flying Wild Hog’s catalogue, was a mixed bag when it came out. Look up reviews and majority of critics will tell you it fails to do anything interesting. That it’s a fairly safe game with the most cheesy and predictable narrative.

Evil West did terribly back in 2022, and it didn’t help that it came out two months after the release of God of War: Ragnarok. A game with a similar approach to action, and deemed one of the best games of 2022. Terrible idea to release a game similar to it around the same time, the same price tag, and less content. However, overtime folks warmed up to it. Whereas Trek to Yomi and Shadow Warrior 3 have mixed reception to this day, Evil West has garnished a cult following. People rave how Evil West is the best outdated game you’ll see. Evil West is not afraid to be dumb old fun. Conscious enough to know what it’s doing is stupid, and plays on those ideas by giving you an epic ride to be enthralled by. So what happened? What did Evil West do to become probably the best game Flying Wild Hog has made, and why wasn’t until three years later that people started to like it? Recently the game was on sale, and I thought it would be a good time to check it out. Evil West is interesting, and we’ll be discussing why it might deserve your attention.

Story

Oh, mother, tell your children. Not to do......

Taking place in the good old days of the wild west (or in this case the weird west), America has a massive vampire problem. They’ve gone around terrorizing civilians, attacking them unnoticed, and feasting on their blood and flesh. They continue to grow each counting day, mutate, and gain new powers. If they aren’t stopped sooner or their high command isn't laid to rest then mankind may slowly die out. To combat the ever growing vampire problem, the government made a wise decision to open up a branch of hunters. The fiercest fights America has to offer. Nobody knows of their existence outside select individuals. They’re a secret society, and their job is to pound every single vampire into bloody piles of nothingness. One such group is the Rennier Institute, founded and led by William Rennier himself. Not only consisting of the best hunters in the land, but also the most brilliant minds he could collect. Conducting experiments and creating electric gadgets to aid hunters in the field. Shocking firearms, EMP throwables, and of course an electric gauntlet he gifted his son. As William grew older he couldn’t hunt anymore, and he had a huge enterprise to lead. His son, Jesse, was sent out on important missions other hunters couldn’t ever accomplish. However, time for leadership is running out. 

We follow Jesse, a man whose main joy is killing vampires and putting an end to their existence. He works alongside Edgar Gravenor, a retired hunter and old friend of his father and him. Both of them track down a high ranking vampire named D’Abano, who wishes to declare war on man before they develop better weaponry to wipe out all of the vampire kind. The high council of the vampire race denies his pleas, so he attempts to take matters into his own hands. Before he can do just that Jesse runs in. Clashing in a fierce battle where Jesse comes out the victor. Jesse returns to his father’s institute to celebrate his feat, but William scolds him instead. Telling Jesse he needs to grow up, give up what makes him happy, and one day take the mantle of being the leader of Rennier Institute. The two argue until eventually one of them storms off. Later William presents a new gauntlet amongst his scientists and hunters, but during the presentation the place is attacked. Felicity, the daughter of D’Abano, wants revenge and decides to kill everyone. Jesse, Edgar, and James Harrow the Secretary of War manage to escape with a wounded William. 

They arrive in the town of Calico, taking shelter in a secret underground laboratory beneath the local parlor. There they meet Emilia and Virgil, and together begin to discuss what to do next. Something needs to be done. William may be slowly dying, all the hunters aside from Jesse and Edgar are gone, and Felicity is gathering an army of vampires and other beasts to do god knows what with them. Jesse, equipped with the new experimental gauntlet his father gave him, works toward upgrading it, track down Felicity, and kill the she-b**ch

Gameplay

What I have done. To spend your lives.....

The style of combat in Evil West falls close to home with the newer God of War games. Say what you will about them, but I really like the combat of the new God of War titles. It’s well designed, plays well, feels well, and knows how to pace itself so nothing is too easy or overly difficult all of a sudden. I’ve been thirsting for more of this kind of combat after getting the platinum trophy for both games, and Evil West fills that hunger pretty well. I wouldn’t say the game is exactly like the new God of War games as there are key differences. Evil West doesn’t place you into a big yet condensed sandbox to explore. Instead it follows a chapter to chapter structure. Linear paths that drive you to the next combat broken up with occasional puzzles and simple traversal sections. It is enough to prevent the combat from becoming too repetitive, or so you aren’t thrown into the fire just after having overcome a chaotic encounter. Despite this Evil West is a combat focused game for a majority of its nine to ten hour runtime, and the combat is fantastic.

Your main methods of attacking are punching, kicking, and uppercutting enemies into the air. If you perform an uppercut you can slam enemies into the ground or other enemies. Kicking helps knock enemies away for crowd control or disrupt them from performing hard hitting attacks. You can heal if you run too low on health, but it’s a charge that needs to be refilled either from fighting on. Encouraging you to fight aggressively and skillfully, but you can also restore health in two other ways. Either shooting enemies when they reveal a glowing weak point before doing a heavy damage attack, or beating them down enough to enter essentially a glory kill state. Lots of encouragement to fight diligently. As you progress further into the game you unlock a vast array of weapons to use in the field. Your gauntlets get an electrical buff by mission three, and it’s where the combat really expands. With proper perk unlocks the gauntlets can help grapple an enemy close towards you if they’re light enough. Pull yourself towards them no matter their size, and form a barrier protect or perfect block. Larger enemies take a bit to kill, but if you manage to keep up the pressure and either perfect block or use the electric grapple you can have a few seconds of bashing.

Other unlocks include the multitude of guns you pick up. A pistol, shotgun rifle, crossbow, dynamite, flamethrower, and minigun. All of these can be upgraded using cash, and later on you find blueprints allowing you to transform standard guns into electric guns. Enemies come in a wide range of flavors with some asking you to go prioritize them over others. Maybe it’s a werewolf that shoots webbing, a shield dude who can release shockwaves and charges, one of those flying honeycomb bastards who provides shields, or the larger vampires who are tanky. It’s all about crowd control and dealing with problems as they appear. Maybe you want to take out weaker enemies first, or take on the stronger ones so they don’t become a major problem. It’s a game that gives you multiple ways of tackling combat, and demands you to use every tool in your arsenal. Something not a lot of action games like this ask of you as you unlock new skills. With all these crazy gadgets and gizmos let’s just hope it’s enough to bring down these blood sucking demons.

Yippe ki yay motherf*cker.

Thoughts

In sin and misery. In the house of the rising sun.

Evil West is fun. It’s really fun! I was worried Evil West would end up something I wouldn’t like, and while there are flaws the overall product is well made and kept me entertained. A criticism I often see with Evil West is how repetitive it gets by the end. That the nine or so hour runtime is a bit too much, or that it runs out of new stuff to introduce. I never felt that with the game. It keeps giving you new tools to mess around with, or throws you enemies that make you test said tools.A good example is when you’re given the shotgun. Deals heavy damage up close and against weak cannonfooder foes will instantly kill them instantly. Then they throw you the shielded guy who can’t be damaged until you break the shield. Regular attacks are good, but firing the shotgun will break the shield faster if not instantly. I loved whenever the game introduced a new kind of foe, because I wanted to see how they worked. The best way of taking them down, and feeling glad when I finally cracked their attack pattern. The game rewards you health whenever you perform a glory kill or canceling a glowing attack, so it encourages you to play violently. Play well while also varying how you do it. All your tools feel good to use, there’s nice feedback, and every hard hitting punch is satisfying. I also love how many abilities they give to close distance easily. You got a lunge attack, your grapple, and your ultimate can zip you over instantaneously.

I forgot to mention earlier there’s an ultimate meter similar to rage in God of War. Built up by having enough batteries, and batteries are gained by either fighting more or finding them in the field. Another encouragement to play well enough, and batteries are also used to perform the handy ground punch. Distance enemies from you when you’re being overwhelmed. It just feels like everything was well accounted for with the combat in terms of design. I do have three major criticisms with combat, and while I wouldn’t say they detracted from my enjoyment I can see them as detractors for other players. Aspects that make it easy to understand why people either dropped Evil West midway or not buy it. I played this game on my PS5 and based on trophy data only eleven percent of players managed to beat the game on the easiest difficulty. That is a really low number in my opinion. The first criticism is that difficulty ramped up for me during the midpoint of this game. Evil West is not afraid to throw hordes of enemies at you, have them wail at you all at once, or combinations of the stronger foes of the game. You will get your ass kicked if you do not take things seriously. I’d argue Evil West is a more demanding than the newer God of War titles. A lot of needed quick reaction time especially canceling lethal attacks. 

I beat the game in normal mode because I thought it had a good challenge level. Not too hard or easy. That right level of difficulty, but that midway point took time to adjust to. Also doesn’t help that the camera is crap sometimes when numerous enemies surround you, but that’s fixed with a quick turn. This brings me onto my second point, which can be seen as either a criticism or a pro depending on who you are. Evil West has no lock on system. The game has good aim assist and your hits are attracted towards the enemy you point toward which is nice. There’s no lock, which has become a staple to numerous action games nowadays. Personally I like this. In some way it forces you to be sensually aware, pay attention to numerous enemies at once, and make use of the arrows circling around your belt signaling when an off screen enemy is attacking. On another hand it’s bad because let’s say one enemy likes to zip around a lot. Having to constantly turn the camera is annoying. My final complaint is that enemy types are certainly annoying. Those flying beehives can go f*ck themselves. They shield other enemies in bees and when you try to tackle them they inflict you with bees. To disrupt the shields you can either kick them or knock out the honeycomb dude. To knock the honeycomb dude out you gotta shoot his three small circling hives, and then shoot a glowing point before he reforms the smaller hives. All the while the surrounding enemies are harassing you from the side. It sucks.

Other than that there’s not much else I can besides: Great combat loop. Character progression is good and compared to most games with unlocks these ones are great. Giving you abilities you’d make proper use of, or making tools even better. The art direction of Evil West is much better than I expected. Every review I’ve seen of this game talks about how it’s a perfect Xbox 360 era-esque title. That it encapsulates the feel of these games, but I was worried because the majority of the games of this era are gritty and grey. Evil West is not gritty and grey. It’s bright, colorful, has tremendous backgrounds at times, and I love how it uses the colorful red and orange. The first level in particular is set with a burning sun in the background, and while the bright colors can be blaring at times it fits the mood well. Being a badass slinging multiple guns and beating all these ferocious beasts down. You journey into the mountains, swamps, canyons, mines, etc. There’s enough environmental variation so that nothing feels the same. The levels are very linear though. You can explore them to find more cash for upgrades, but these optional secrets for you to discover aren’t very hard to find nor miss. The linear level design is restrictive, but I like how it keeps the pacing and gives you enough of a breaktime between combat encounters.

The final thing I want to address is the story. It’s kind of a nothing burger. There’s a lot of times the story felt really predictable. Slight spoiler, but early on Edgar and Jesse have a discussion on how William might’ve been infected with vampire blood. Leading to them wanting to develop a cure, and I knew exactly where this was leading. I was right and then had a really cool boss fight. None of the characters are great enough for you to like or grow attached to them. It’s a giant not so well written nothing burger, but damn it's a delicious nothing burger. That story may be bad, but it’s made up for by being entertaining. It’s dumb at times, but it’s aware of how dumb it is. Delivering moments that are either epic or funny. Just like the rest of the game it wants you to have fun. That’s really the best description I can give of Evil West. It’s damn good fun, and what’s there to argue about fun? At full price I wouldn’t say it’s worth it, but wait for a sale like I did and you’ll be having a blasting. In the end I am going to have to give Evil West an 8.5/10 for being pretty good. 

8.5/10, Pretty Good