Skip to content

ThePawn02

Gaming and Streaming Content

  • Blog
  • Editor's Picks
  • eSports
  • Guides
  • Headlines
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Uncategorized
  • Website Update
Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Watch Live
  • News
  • eSports
  • Blog
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Guild Login
    • Guild Mentality
    • The Zealots
    • Malign
  • Socials
    • Youtube Channel
    • Twitch Channel
    • Kick.com
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • Facebook
Subscribe
  • Home
  • 2022
  • September
  • Evil West Hands-On Preview: Refreshingly Old-School
  • Headlines

Evil West Hands-On Preview: Refreshingly Old-School

Evil West Hands-On Preview: Refreshingly Old-School
September 21, 2022 4 min read
Evil West Hands-On Preview: Refreshingly Old-School

The limited time I got to spend with a slice of Flying Wild Hog’s Evil West felt almost like I was time traveling. A linear third-person action game? With hidden collectables? With no side quests? Checkpoints that don’t involve bonfires? Open areas that double as combat arenas to crunch through enemies before moving on to do it again? They don’t make them like this anymore, and a game like this really makes me wish they did.

Set in an alternate 18th century, where the West is still wild, but also filled with vampires, you play as Jesse Rentier, star agent and heir apparent of the Rentier Institute, an organization of vampire hunters powered by sci-fi tech and government spending. As the tough-as-nails man on the ground, you’re the go-to for when a dirty job needs doing. In the demo level I played, that job was recovering missing technology in a snowy mine.

Story and character exploration were very light in this build. Even with a sort-of sidekick to banter with, Jesse seems largely like your run-of-the-mill tough-guy protagonist who would rather shoot off a gun than his mouth. Meanwhile, much of the setting is cool on the surface. The Nikola Tesla-inspired electropunk tech is gaudy and over-designed in a way that attracts more than repulses. The unnatural tech juxtaposes starkly with the supernatural brutality of many of the vampire designs, as well.

The Nikola Tesla-inspired electropunk tech is gaudy and over-designed in a way that attracts more than repulses.

When the shooting starts, Jesse is more than prepared, both with more mundane and traditional firearms, and mechanical tricks that make up for the magical power gap between him and his enemies. The base of my offense came in the form of his gnarly gauntlet. You can mash for quick face-beating combos, or hold down the attack button to launch an enemy airborne. Follow it up with a diving punch, or quickly draw your pistol and fill them full of holes before they drop. Making these decisions on the fly is a cinch because every weapon is on its own dedicated button or happens in its own specific scenario. For example, if I want to fire the pistol, I press the shoot button. If I want to hit longer range targets with my rifle, shoot while aiming.

The Rentier Institute provides you with some other gadgets as well. Your energy shield isn’t the kind you hide behind to absorb attacks for you, but if you time it correctly, any enemy that attempts to touch you gets sent into high-voltage seizures, leaving them open for big damage. The crippling rod can do the same, but to a whole slew of enemies at once. Outside of being flashy, all of your tools feel like they are tailor-made for specific situations, and none feel like they are made irrelevant or redundant when compared to the others. I really loved that the variety of actions didn’t step on its own toes.

There looks to be a ton of ways to upgrade and personalize your tools around your preferred playstyle. You can add more functionality to your weapons, like being able to get bullets spent shooting weak spots on monsters refunded. Or you can add more character-focused perks that give you new abilities or alter and extend ones you already have. Standard skill tree stuff at first glance, but when you start seeing these knock-on effects add up, Jesse really starts becoming the kind to one man army they present him to be.

Finally, the vampires here aren’t your Bela Lugosi Draculas. Some are skinless feral beasts whose bodies are flailing around on autopilot in search of your neck. Some are almost like hives for large glowing explosive insects that march to their deaths to ensure yours. These are inventive and sometimes pretty challenging creatures that definitely make me want to know more about what weird horrors lurk in the shadows of this alternate-history America.

Each encounter feels handmade to create a specific sort of challenge, making it feel more like a deliberate puzzle than a happy accident.

The linearity of the stage I played was counterbalanced fairly well by the amount of nooks and crannies that were scattered around to find consumable items, money, or other collectables. I wasn’t particularly moved to search every inch of the stage in this demo, but I can see the more OCD gamer having plenty of boxes to check in a full release. Such straightforward design may seem out of step with today’s forever games, but I really appreciated the focus on making the elements you can interact with feel vibrant and intentional. No, I can’t “see the mountain in the background and climb it,” but each encounter feels handmade to create a specific sort of challenge, making it feel more like a deliberate puzzle than a happy accident.

The small demo time I got with Evil West left me thirsty for more Old West vampire hunting. In a year that, somehow, finds three notable games set in a dark and haunted Wild West, Flying Wild Hog’s remains unique not just among its setting counterparts, but its genre contemporaries. Action is easy to get your head around quickly, but reveals new layers of depth and strategy with every new powerful upgrade, bizarre tool, and fanged foe.

About Post Author

See author's posts

Continue Reading

Previous: Star Citizen Crowdfunds Half a Billion Dollars – and $100 Million In Less Than a Year
Next: Abbott Elementary Season 2 Premiere Review – “Development Day”

Related News

Donkey Kong Bananza Is Officially the Best-Selling Game on Amazon Right Now
2 min read
  • Headlines

Donkey Kong Bananza Is Officially the Best-Selling Game on Amazon Right Now

ThePawn.com June 23, 2025
Doom: The Dark Ages Limited Edition Xbox Controller Has Dropped to Just £58 at Amazon UK
2 min read
  • Headlines

Doom: The Dark Ages Limited Edition Xbox Controller Has Dropped to Just £58 at Amazon UK

ThePawn.com June 23, 2025
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Global Release Times Confirmed
2 min read
  • Headlines

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Global Release Times Confirmed

ThePawn.com June 23, 2025

Latest YouTube Video

Check out these awesome streamers

ThePawn02 on twitch

From Gamewatcher

  • Civilization 7 Update 1.2.2 Adds Large and Huge Map Sizes, Steam Workshop Support, and More
  • Resident Evil Requiem Release Date - Latest News
  • Chronicles: Medieval Release Date - Latest News
  • Chrono Odyssey Preview
  • Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review

From IGN

  • Deals For Today: Monster Hunter Wilds Is Discounted On PS5 and Xbox
  • Dune: Awakening Sells 1 Million Copies, Making It Funcom's Fastest-Selling Game Ever
  • Pokémon TCG Market Watch: Mega Evolution Cards Continue to Spike In Value In Anticipation of Incoming New Mega Sets
  • Canceled Batman Arkham Knight Follow-Up Concept Art Shows a Grizzled Bruce Wayne
  • Cyberpunk 2077's Next Big 2.3 Update Has Been Delayed Until The Team is 'Happy' — But CD Projekt Teases It's 'Aiming' For Something As Impressive As Update 2.2

From Kotaku

  • The 9 Marvel Characters Who Deserve TV Shows Like Ironheart
  • Mario Kart 64's Unofficial PC Port Is Amazing
  • AI Translation Of Smash Bros. Director's Comments About AI Misses Nuance, Sparks Outrage
  • MindsEye Maker Facing Mass Layoff As Players Seek Refunds
  • Daredevil Actor Completely Flabbergasted By The Public Response To His Clair Obscur Voice Work

.

You may have missed

Dune: Awakening is changing its endgame in response to player complaints: ‘Our goal is not to force PvE players to interact with a PvP system that they may have no interest in’
3 min read
  • News

Dune: Awakening is changing its endgame in response to player complaints: ‘Our goal is not to force PvE players to interact with a PvP system that they may have no interest in’

ThePawn.com June 23, 2025
I’m not built for whatever I heard in Phasmophobia’s Chronicle update, which adds terrifying new sounds you can’t afford to run from
4 min read
  • News

I’m not built for whatever I heard in Phasmophobia’s Chronicle update, which adds terrifying new sounds you can’t afford to run from

ThePawn.com June 23, 2025
The Blood of Dawnwalker 20-minute gameplay trailer shows off Dishonored-style teleportation and a man getting popped like a zit by an angry vampire boss
2 min read
  • News

The Blood of Dawnwalker 20-minute gameplay trailer shows off Dishonored-style teleportation and a man getting popped like a zit by an angry vampire boss

ThePawn.com June 23, 2025
Donkey Kong Bananza Is Officially the Best-Selling Game on Amazon Right Now
2 min read
  • Headlines

Donkey Kong Bananza Is Officially the Best-Selling Game on Amazon Right Now

ThePawn.com June 23, 2025
Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Watch Live
  • News
  • eSports
  • Blog
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Guild Login
  • Socials
  • Twitch
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Kick.com
Copyright © All rights reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.