WolfEye Studios know what it takes to breathe life into a strange, vivid universe. The team, which is composed of former Arkane veterans, previously constructed the clockwork dystopia of Dishonored's Dunwall, and the austere, abandoned space station in 2017's Prey. But now, as an independent developer, they've ditched the first-person perspective and triple-A budget for a brand new setting and vibe — the blackened folklore of the American frontier, presented isometrically, in an immediately seductive ink-splotched comic style. It's called Weird West, and even in a new genre and under a different studio banner, it's clear that those Arkane-hewn instincts still course through WolfEye's veins.
Weird West is a top-down action RPG with a strong emphasis on personal autonomy. You’ll take control of five different characters — each with their own vignettes — in an overarching campaign that WolfEye described to me as "80 percent authored, 20 percent procedural". Effectively that means the core touchstone levels will always be in place, with a few interstitial procedural challenges popping up during the journey. This is a shooter above anything else; your cowboy wanders through dusty towns and ghostly saloons brandishing a bevy of 19th century firearms — quick-drawing on any thugs, outlaws, or zombies who may be in the way. But like in Dishonored and Prey, WolfEye is allergic to beige, static corridors. This game packs its maps with all sorts of alternative paths and exploration rewards. Do you want to blast your way through a heavily guarded outpost? Or would you rather save the ammo, and sneak around back to uncover a well-hidden shortcut to the inner sanctum lying at the bottom of a well?
[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="slug=weird-west-first-screenshots&captions=true"]This is all possible because Weird West relies on a tight, simulation-like system of interactivity. There is very little set dressing here — all of the doodads lying around a map can be effortlessly weaved into the player's strategy. During my preview, I watched as an outnumbered character chucked out a box of cartridges from their inventory before taking aim at it with a pistol. The box ignited, sending stray bullets all over the battlefield, immediately evening the odds. It's clear that Weird West intends to reward that kind of thinking. Armed with a bow? Put an arrow on a roiling brazier to ignite it for extra damage. A straggling bounty hunter in your way? Snuff out the lights and put them in a chokehold. This is a game of status effects and tooltips; as you mosey through the wilderness, you'll watch as the whole world lights up with ingredients, weaponry, or outright junk that you can add to your knapsack. Hey, you never know when it might come in handy!
[poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=This%20is%20a%20game%20full%20of%20damage%20integers%2C%20but%20it%26%2339%3Bs%20also%20a%20game%20where%20you%20can%20slow%20down%20time%20after%20jumping%20off%20a%20cliff%20to%20line%20up%20a%20shot."]There's a whole lot of loot to be found in these frontier catacombs — players will be cooking meals, swigging back tonics, and equipping color-coded armor throughout their quests. There's also a bevy of character-specific abilities to unlock, as well as neutral, cross-campaign perks, which further accentuates the exact sort of cowboy you'd like to be. But Weird West makes an effort to resist the rigidness of RPG combat. Yes, this is a game full of damage integers, but it's also a game where you can slow down time after jumping off a cliff to line up a shot.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/11/weird-west-developer-walkthrough"]All of this is wrapped up in an indelible setting. Weird West leans into a dark, mystic slice of Americana — think Garth Ennis' Preacher comics, or Red Dead Redemption II at its spookiest. Yes, there is a John Wayne veneer over the proceedings, but there also appears to be eldritch cultists and ravenous specters afoot. I mean, one of the playable characters is a man with a pig's head. It's as if all of the mysteries and tall tales of the untamed prairies suddenly came to life.
The longer I watched Weird West in action, the more it brought to mind the wonderfully eccentric Divinity: Original Sin franchise. These are two very different games — Weird West plays in real time, for one — but both wish to emphasize the player's profound impact on the surrounding environment. WolfEye told me that when it's raining in their game, you can watch as empty barrels slowly fill up with water. A minor detail, probably, but still emblematic of the experience the studio wants to create. This west needs saving, and we're going to use everything in our arsenal to see it through.
from IGN Articles https://ift.tt/3zMWqym
No comments:
Post a Comment