Evil West 

Cowboys and Aliens?

Evil West is exactly what it says it is. Evil in the West. The founding fathers story starts with a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen approach. There’s cowboys with gauntlets and guns that protect the world from Vampiric evil. The premise is clear as daylight… but is the genre mix a coherent amalgamation? Find out if you should grab the garlic and wane off the vampires, or invite them into your gaming den for a glass of the “red stuff.”

Gory Story

Avoiding spoilers, essentially the game centres around a group dedicated to ridding the old west of vampire imperialists hellbent on taking over the founding fathers moments of history in the 18th Century. The Frontier landscape provides players with a juxtaposing yet effective background for the blood to splatter. 

The story is a romp to trek through, and feels like a B movie western. This is in no way meant to be an insult as it’s true to its style throughout, and feels like a committed journey through the age. Lines are memorable and stick with the player throughout the butchering of the blood suckers.

Gruesome Gameplay

Players are gifted with a Gauntlet of pure smackdown energy to start the game off. This immediately hooks players into the hack and slash fight style from the top. Enemies come in waves and while nothing is completely Game changing here from the adventure hack and slash genre, it’s definitely a compelling fight control system. The Gauntlet is fun, and upgradeable to boot, but it wouldn’t be a western game without guns. The guns have infinite ammo and were used ultimately as stylistic fighting choices for the most part. The Gauntlet is where it is at. Overall though, these were all relatively simple combat pieces and while fun, the gunplay admittedly felt repetitive as time went on in the game.

Co-op helped make the game more fun, but after playing other co-op titles in the past, the mode felt a bit tacked on. That being said, hacking and slashing through vampires with a buddy was still a bloody good time.

Presentation Pan Out

Overall, the game looks like a AAA developed title. I’m a stickler for environments in games though and I would have liked more destructible set pieces in this western shoot ‘em up. Sometimes, the explosive battles would be so crazy, and then I’d get back to exploring and want to blow stuff up, but I couldn’t. Another huge thing to be aware of is NPC mouths. They don’t move… this isn’t really a big deal, but can take players out of the experience.

This all being said, the character designs are captivating and creative. From the bloodthirsty monsters, down to the protagonist Jesse Rentier, designs feel unique and influenced just right by the frontier facade.

Outlaw Overall

Evil West does everything right to achieve its historical old west fiction B-movie action hack and slash adventure. Players going into this Frontier influenced shootout against vampiric cultist dictators expecting the next game of the year plot structure, amalgamated with smooth and innovative gameplay, may be a bit disappointed. While Evil West can feel dastardly familiar, the game brings out a few pleasant surprises with the Gauntlet weapon, the character designs, the fun co-op gameplay, and the overall fast paced western vibes. If you’re looking to grab a game to unwind and punch a vampire in the face, Evil West is easy to recommend. Save the Old West, and know that it’s going to be rambunctious chaotic fun doing it to boot.