Wild Bastards combines stylish shooting with outlaw ego management

digitaltrends.com:

While 2019 feels like a lifetime ago to me now, thanks to a time-warping pandemic, I still vividly remember playing Void Bastards for the first time. I had learned about the unique shooter a few months after it launched and was instantly drawn in by its graphic novel art style and eye-catching name. I’d buy it on a hot holiday weekend in July. It was the perfect time to go outside and get some air, but I couldn’t unglue myself from my computer. I chewed it up in a few sittings, obsessing over its sci-fi setting, roguelite systems, and slick shooting.

All of that came back to me when I demoed Wild Bastards at this year’s Game Developers Conference. The title isn’t exactly a sequel to Void Bastards, but more of a spiritual follow-up. It’s another brightly colored first-person shooter with procedural elements and a light board game twist. However, the new game isn’t just repeating the same trick twice. It’s a smart riff on Void Bastards’ riffing formula filled with Western flair, feuding teammates, and bean-trading.

Like Void Bastards, Wild Bastards is split up into a few distinct phases. The overall goal is to navigate an interstellar map with a team of outlaws, nabbing loot and clearing arena-based shootouts along the way. My demo would first throw me into a planetary map with branching paths. Some routes were safer than others; one risky choice caused me to lose one of my equippable upgrades. I’d keep moving forward in a board game-like fashion until I reached a planet and beamed down onto it. Everything widened out from there.

First, I’d have to select a team of outlaws from my crew to bring with me on my loot-hunting expedition. Each one has its own unique weapon that can be used in battle, skills that can be learned over time, and equipment slots for perks. But Wild Bastards takes the idea of team management one step further. I’m not just picking my favorite guns; I’m managing egos and clashing personalities.

My outlaws form interpersonal relationships with one