What do you get when you take the creator of the Dishonored series, mix in an isometric comic book art style and a dash of weird, it could be a hot mess, but so far Weird West is proving to be something special that works and after some hands on with the game, I can tell you why that is a welcome game.

If I had to force the game in a single sentence, I could say something like ‘a cowboy themed diablo/twin-stick shooter’ or perhaps ‘a metal gear solid game that lets you choose’ but neither of those really describe what the game is aiming for, but they do give a solid foundation to build from. The game is broken up into five chapters, with each chapter being centred around a particular character, what I got to play was for Jane, a former bounty hunter turned farmer. Her story begins when her farm is attacked in the night, her son and dog killed and husband kidnapped and with there being a chance of his survival she sets out to track him down, kill all who get in her way and try to salvage what remains of her family.

The game lets you explore the farm, where you start, before you have to head into Grackle, the nearby town, but upon your arrival there, you find that they have also been hit, that other folks husbands have been taken as well. After checking in with the towns sheriff, you get to talk with one of the captured gang members and this is where choice can be used. You can attempt to sweet talk them in to telling you where the gang is hiding, or you can do what I did and just keep breaking fingers, worry not squeamish folks, it is only done through text. Now you can head straight out of town on the path, but I spent time wandering around, looking at what I could discover and trying to talk to folks there, some were less than open to discussion but one lady asked me to look for her husband, so accepting that, I left town.

Now while I did get a chance to explore the map earlier, it is here where things really break away from the normal travel mechanics players are used to. Between where I was and the location I had to go, there was nothing on the map and I mean that, as the map fills in as you explore it, but travelling to places takes time. Time is a crucial element in all the decisions you make, the lady who asked me to look for her husband, gave me 4 days in which to do so, before she was leaving town and walking to the destination takes time. But as this is the wild west, the weird comes later, you can get attacked by bandits, animals or even discover trading caravans and those are random-ish but can be rewarding if you want them to be. The reason why time is important, as walking takes a while, whereas riding on a horse takes far less time, something I would learn later on, so while my quest was not that fair away, other locations could result in mission failure, if the distance is just too great.

Of course, as a western game, there is a lot to be said about the shooting, which is where the twin-stick shooter comparison comes into play, when you are aiming, you move with one stick and aim with the other. The one thing you don’t need to worry about it aiming up or down, your character will do that on her own, so much like old school Doom games, but you will need to be aware of elevation changes in the landscape. Shooting is one way of getting around, I often found myself attempting to sneak around on foot, taking people out quietly, in an attempt to save ammo for fights that I couldn’t ignore. After the first section of combat was cleared, barely, it was time for the big encounter at the gangs base of operations, but before I could go in guns a blazing, there was a cutscene that highlighted the weird for this western, a Siren, a flesheater and the reason why the men were taken.

With that done, it was time to take out the dozen members of the gang around the farm and begin my search, but even though I spent almost the entire time crouched, sneaking around, hiding bodies and being as quiet as a mouse, I was unable to get a few guys and they in turn spotted me and took me out. So, I did what any self-respecting gamer would do, rage quit… at least for an hour, when I came back though, I started from the start, farm to town to camp, all over again, but this time I looted all the weapons I could find. When I got up to the gangs base again, I started to sneak around the back, giving me a clear kill zone, though I never got to make use of it, as some coyotes managed to break into the farm and draw all the gang members to them, letting me pick off the stragglers. I know, not very sporting of me, but they killed me before, so it only seemed fair.

Once they were gone, it was time to go into the cellar and find the missing husbands, but there was only one down there and it wasn’t Janes, so with a little piece of info, it was time to head back out. Interestingly though, there was a member of the gang down there bleeding out, I did a nice thing and gave him some of my many bandages and he became a friend for life, someone who will pop up randomly in battles that are not going your way to lend a hand and he did that later on. One final thing to be aware of, the world itself can go against you, earlier I mentioned how the coyotes drew the attention of the gang, that worked for me, but there were a number of times when I would be travelling the map, only to be stopped by an encounter with them. Even the maps, once you get in, can be a challenge, if there is a lot of grass, you will want to avoid tnt or fire, as you could cause a big wall of flames to take that out, leaving you without a way of sneaking up.

I could wax poetic about how the quest for Jane was simple and straight forward, but it was anything but, though I did enjoy the time with it, in order to avoid spoilers, I won’t say anything more than that. With the level of choice available, in how you upgrade your characters, choose how to engage in fights and with what weapons and even how you get around, there is a lot to look forward too when the first chapter releases next year.