Review: Weird West

destructoid.com:

Weird West eases players into the weird. It starts out with familiar western tales, of bounty hunters and lawless desperados. Shootouts will have bullets whizzing overhead and slow-motion dives, with revolvers and rifles sending rounds blazing across the screen.

Then there’s ghouls, ghosts, and ravenous hordes. Hints of something greater begin to emerge, as characters talk to your avatar with an alarming familiarity. Witches meet you at the crossroads, offering moral quandaries and games in exchange for power. Weird West is an immersive sim, and it aims to immerse players deep into its wonderfully weird world.

Weird West (PC [reviewed], PS4, Xbox, via Game Pass) Developer: Wolfeye Studios Publisher: Devolver Digital Released: March 31, 2022 MSRP: $39.99

Weird West is an immersive sim from Wolfeye Studios, and the debut project from a studio founded by former Arkane developers. Rather than a 3D first-person approach, Weird West looks further back. Its isometric viewpoint and overworld travel map reminded me right away of the first two Fallout games.

The setting of Weird West is going to be the main draw because it is, simply, the weird west. Cowboys and bounty hunters clash with sirens and pigmen. Long-forgotten specters roam the land, haunting homesteads. A Spanish mission is occupied by werewolves.

Overlapping oddities with familiar western paraphernalia is a major appeal, and thankfully, it’s not just skin deep. The bizarre world of the west manages to not feel like it’s strange for strangeness’ sake, but it’s telling a story about average people trying to make their way through an uncaring, even hostile world—the ugliness, and also the importance of our own empathy and care, even when the world doesn’t naturally