While the staff Arkane working hard on Deathloop and Redfall, founder of the studio Raphael Colantonio (Dishonored, Prey, Arx Fatalis, Dark messiah of might and magic) decided to look at the “immersive simulator” concept from a different angle. Literally.
Last week studio WolfEye with the support of the publishing house Devolver digital organized a presentation of her debut project for journalists Weird west… The development team consists of only 25 people, and its backbone was formed by Arkane veterans. So, Gael Giraudot (Dishonored, Splinter Cell: Double Agent) acted as a game designer, and was appointed executive producer Julien Robie (Dishonored, Mafia III, Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic).
Although the development budget was limited, WolfEye was able to quickly define the artistic style of the game, which optimized production. At the same time, people from Arkane claim that Weird West has become their most ambitious project.
As part of the demo, the developers presented the retired bounty hunter. Her house is raided by bandits associated with sirens, who kill her son and kidnap her husband. Having buried the child, the woman draws out her weapon and goes on the warpath.
Weird West features a global map in style Fallout, which has points of interest and random events. Having reached the destination, the player goes to a location: a settlement, a den of villains, and so on.
WolfEye is pushing for a non-linear approach to storytelling. The huntress goes to the city to get information about her husband’s kidnappers. But she can also accidentally stumble upon a bandit camp on the global map – in which case the story will simply move on.
The narrative is not only conducted through the environment. Weird West also has a dialogue system, although the developers decided not to make especially branched answer options. Apparently, the lines of the characters are not voiced, but the game has a narrator that describes what is happening.
Weird West is not the classic immersive first-person simulator that Colantonio and co have been doing for the past 20 years. The developers decided to choose an isometric perspective to put more emphasis on tactics. The player covers the surroundings with a glance and notices additional opportunities.
Many objects in the location can be interacted with. Let’s say the hero needs to enter an enclosed space. He can look for a key, jump on roofs to a balcony on the second floor, or simply blow up a door with dynamite.
The locations are also full of interactive items. The easiest option is to grab a barrel and throw it at your opponent. A more difficult option is to spill the flammable substance, then throw the oil lamp into the crowd. On such interactions with elemental damage in style Dark messiah of might and magic and Divinity original sin a significant part of the gameplay has been built. However, the hero is also vulnerable to such attacks – if he is poisoned, you will have to look for an antidote.
At the same time, the developers have big ambitions. In particular, they mentioned dynamic weather, which is able to make its own adjustments to battles. We are talking about rains and even tornadoes.
When it comes to fighting, the focus is on shootouts. Management is a bit like a MOBA Smite – the player not only sets the direction for the attack, but can also adjust the firing range, so that there is always the possibility of interacting with the environment.
However, the developers have clearly not brought to mind the shooting. During the stream, it was seen that the autolock on the target works unpredictably, because of which the character could sharply turn in the opposite direction.
WolfEye talked about tactics for a reason. The fact is that during the battle, you can focus on killing the leader, after which his subordinates will run away from the battlefield in panic. However, later they may try to take revenge on the offender, so you should not relax.
During the demonstration, WolfEye representatives showed two options for clearing the location. In the first case, the hero used firearms, threw barrels, dynamite, and so on.
During the second attempt, the hero waited for the night when the visibility decreased, after which he began to move around the camp in stealth mode. Enemies are allowed to quietly disable, and then hide in a room or bushes. Alternative routes are also available. So, in one of the buildings there was a rope, along which it was possible to descend into the caves through the well.
Exploring locations, the player will find various artifacts for pumping active and passive abilities. As Colantonio clarified, each of the five main characters has its own characteristics, however, the developers do not force the game to be played in any particular way in the style of Dishonored and its Chaos system. In this case, the accumulated inventory will be transferred from one character to another.
There are also interesting features. In particular, you can … bury corpses. The authors noted that this works for the atmosphere and is also needed in some places. In particular, they casually mentioned a certain plague.
The player will need about 20-30 hours to complete Weird West, but this is if he does not comb every piece of the map and complete every side quest. Arkane veterans stressed that the project has the largest game world they have ever worked on. This is superimposed on a dynamic change in the narrative, random events and a bet on randomly generating a piece of content.
Traveling around the world, the character may stumble upon companions who will follow him. However, no one bothers to run in splendid isolation. The creators decided to get rid of micromanagement in the style Fallout or XCOMso the dummy AI will act on its own. But it is not entirely clear how this will affect the stealthy style of passing.
Weird West turned out to be a very curious beast. Yes, the budgetary constraints are obvious. However, in WolfEye this is not considered a curse, but a virtue that allowed focusing on other aspects, including an unusual setting. Therefore, I really want to feel the promising game on my own.
Weird West will be released in the fall of 2023 on PC, Xbox One and PS4.
See Also: Stranger West: New Weird West Trailer From Dishonored Creators Unveiled
