Weird West, we tried Colantonio's new title, and it's much more than it seems
Weird West
Weird West is certainly not a title capable of leaving you speechless at first glance: it is developed in Unity, and it shows. Not to mention that his cartoonish style does not seem able to stand out that much from another myriad of independent productions already available on the market. Behind what initially seemed to be yet another twin stick shooter devoid of verve, however, there are two factors that give the first Wolfeye Studio game a whole new weight.The first are the development names, given that at the reins of the project there are both that Raphaël Colantonio to whom we owe in large part the birth of Arkane, and several developers coming from those very shores; the second instead is the genre of belonging, since Weird West - having overcome the deceptive view from above - is actually an immersive sim, whose complexity certainly cannot be summarized by some screenshot or short trailer.
Only an in-depth demonstration helps to understand the characteristics of a similar job, and it is therefore fortunate that Colantonio and company have presented us "in person" (as much as possible during a digital event) their child, commenting on a good half hour of gameplay and answering various questions.
Here's what we discovered in the Weird West preview.
A revenge, many mysteries
The Wolfeye game, as mentioned, seems to start from a classic base shooter with a top view, but after a few seconds it makes its real nature clear, emphasizing the narrative element and showing the player much of its potential right from the prologue. In fact, there is no character creation nor a single protagonist, but five different playable characters who in the campaign will experience specific stories connected to each other, complete with a world influenced by the actions of the protagonist used previously and dynamic events that modify every single run.The demo played showed only one: a former bounty hunter named Jane Bell whose son is killed and her partner kidnapped when the campaign has just started. The story then starts as a simple personal revenge, which within a few minutes begins to develop in atypical ways to reveal some curious elements of the game world. Dark forces and strange monsters are in fact active in the shadows, and most of the events seem to revolve around these amenities. Considering the mysteries of the narrative background, half an hour is certainly not enough to get an idea of the general quality of the plot, but it is rather nice to see that there is a lot of potential for its future developments.
The fulcrum of the experience, however, is once again the gameplay, since Weird West is precisely an immersive sim, and immediately you can see an impressive environmental interactivity for a title with such a visual. Seriously, the interactions are at the level of a high-ranking RPG, with objects that can be thrown and equipped with specific physics and weight, verticality of the maps usable to bypass walls and various obstacles (moving a crate and climbing it to reach an open window is often the best way to explore previously closed areas), and even an elemental and cause / effect system linked to combat.
A thousand ways to make a sieve
To clarify: during the campaign your character will have a rather extensive inventory, where each tool is equipped with specific features. In the first few minutes, for example, you will have to use a shovel to unearth your old gun - or bury your child's body, if you want - and you will be able to find, among other things, the inevitable lock picks useful for opening problematic locks. Already from the first clashes, however, you will realize the possibility of using explosives in a rather creative way, of setting fire to the surrounding vegetation using the heat sources (you can also cook a hen that passed by there, if you want), or even the usefulness of crates of bullets and fireworks to distract enemies and do area damage during shootings.If this is combined with specific combat skills (which require artifacts scattered around the maps to be learned) and the presence of the mystical / sci-fi element mentioned above, do not be surprised if spells or instruments very little comparable to the classic old west. The same developers, on the other hand, have confirmed to us that in the game there will be electric weapons, which make the elemental system that we mentioned earlier more complex: we did not see them in action in the demo, but there were toxic barrels capable of to enhance the effects of the explosions in the first "dangerous" zone observed, and the possibility of using puddles and barrels of water to obtain other reactions (perhaps even freezing and vaporization in addition to electricity) is confirmed.
To everything we have just described, we also add a stealth system (essential at the beginning so as not to be overwhelmed by numerous enemies), and a commendable care of the dialogues, since the world reacts to your choices and the player is free to wreaking havoc with his actions (theoretically you can shoot anyone and wreak havoc without the game breaking, but we haven't had a practical demonstration of that).
Doubts? For the moment relegated to artificial intelligence, which did not seem very brilliant to us, and to the fact that the other characters are completely unknown. Everyone should support any style of play, given that the intent of the title is to leave as much freedom as possible to the players, but we do not know if they will have unique skills or special features capable of at least partially modifying the gameplay. What we have seen, however, is nothing short of tantalizing.
An independent and rather small team usually avoids big challenges, and tries to carry out simple and refined titles. Colantonio and his family (25 people in total, let us specify) have instead consciously chosen to create an extremely elaborate videogame with a structure similar to that of immersive sims despite the view from above. It is difficult to say if with so few resources they can succeed in the enterprise, yet Weird West seemed to us a project already solid and full of potential, which could seriously surprise despite the not striking technical sector. The development names bode well, we just have to wait for its release.
