Evil West (PS5) Review

Genre blending is one of my favorite things in media. Sometimes all it takes is smashing together two seemingly polar opposite ideas to make something wacky and fun. Evil West is that – an action title from Flying Wild Hog and Focus Entertainment mimicking the mechanics and even demeanor of God of War to create an experience that leans into the ridiculousness of its twisted creatures, gruff heroes, and blood-soaked sunsets. Cowboys vs Vampires is the fundamental way to describe Evil West but there’s a lot of creativity to be found, culminating in one of the most dumb-fun romps I have played in a long time.

Players wear the hat of Jesse Rentier, a dutiful slayer of all things fanged and clawed. As a part of an organization dedicated to the protection of America’s people from creatures of the night, known as the Rentier Institute, a regular hunt bleeds into something more as the group discovers a sinister plot from an ancient family. Resolute in the eradication of these “Ticks”, the hilarious way the good guys talk about these creatures, Jesse steadily increases his abilities through electrically powered tools of murder and takes the fight to the source as things get personal.

The result is a third-person theater of violence where players get to wield everything from a power fist with “Rentier Institute” stamped across the knuckles to a flamethrower to dynamite to a laser beam of death. Options expand throughout the entire bloody campaign, constantly enticing players to move forward. The result is an action game that boxes well above its weight class, despite weird editing in the story, overly serious tone, and the occasional missteps in technical performance and encounter balancing.

Evil West is reminiscent of several films and titles throughout the 2000s while pulling from the general backdrop of gunslinger pulp fiction. Fans of the films “Van Helsing (2004),” “Wild Wild West,” “Desperado,” “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” Underworld, or “I, Frankenstein” should absolutely spend a weekend playing this game. It definitely is inspired gameplay-wise by 2018’s God of War, right down to the way Jesse punches open chests but there are enough differences to keep veterans of that particular type of combat hooked throughout.

The most fascinating difference is that Evil West’s combat relies on various cooldown meters that get to be a little much by the end due to the sheer amount of actions available while allowing more advanced gunslingers to enter a zen state of death. There are no ammo counts to keep track of as Jesse simply reloads or the bullets reappear at a set rate. His main method of pain is the gauntlet which does expand to be fairly nuanced through perks. Jesse eventually is able to send out a stun pulse through a cross, zip across battlefields like a Dragon Ball Z villain, and keep foes suspended in the air by fanning the hammer of his revolver, similar to how Dante of Devil May Cry defies physics through repeated sprays of lead.

Most foes have a particular way they’re best dealt with but there are more effective ways for observant players. For example, I found out that I could defeat a Hive Crone (a gross collection of moths and flies where floating nests must be shot to deal damage) in a single cycle by using the electric barrage of fists but purposefully ending my combo right before it stops and following up with a stick of dynamite. Little optimizations such as this are probably all over Evil West and it was fun figuring out the most effective ways to clear encounters. This game feels a little like DOOM in that Jesse is mostly moving to one collection of beasts after another with the way they’re arranged being what keeps things interesting. Unfortunately, Evil West suffers from the same trappings as many of the AAA horror games I’ve played over the years; the game often throws too many enemies creating a sense of chaos that brightens the cracks in the game’s systems.

The combat is at its best when a select group of foes invites clever balancing of weapons, noting when an opportunity arises and striking with a controlled rhythm and accuracy. Where it fails is when there are six larger foes followed by six werewolves all jumping on Jesse’s face at once. There are moves that help with crowd control but beasts often slip through so I spent most of my perk points in ways to keep my health up.

Combat is the most abundant gameplay found in Evil West, though I did enjoy just seeing the imaginative environments. Coming across churches of rough lumber and seeing the moonlight pour through the gaps while bats swarm in great clouds overhead or seeing an ominous, upside-down pyramid miles below ground is stunning. This same approach makes the game’s monsters fascinating to look at and read their lore in the menu. It was a delight just to see what twisted land or beast I would see next, compelling me to keep playing, unlike the fairly drab story.

There are some stakes keeping things moving, and the voice acting and cinematography are also better than expected, but Evil West does this strange thing where a mission will end and the next cut kills any satisfying conclusion, often popping our heroes into the next scenario unceremoniously. I’m not sure if cutscenes had to be scrapped due to constraints in production or if this references a particular style of storytelling but it was jarring and frequent. I also wished that the home base had more to do with more interaction rather than just an excuse to come to the same space for a few lore drops. Thankfully, the lore is well-realized and the audio logs often have hints as to what’s around the corner. Yet, this world remains a fantastic outline where a hero takes down an overwhelming force without much character growth. Granted, the story didn’t need to be even as deep as it is and I still would have loved throwing haymakers at Ticks.

I played Evil West on the PS5 which looked amazing but there were weird instances where characters would stutter or progression would halt after finishing a monster closet. It didn’t happen too often but enough that I was reminded that this is a Focus Entertainment title, a publisher damn near notorious for funding incredibly fun ideas and uplifting games to be closer to AAA in presentation but often stumbling in performance by comparison, particularly at launch. That said, Evil West is one of the more solid Focus games I have played and I really hope that their publishing trend continues because I have had so much fun with their library.

Evil West is unapologetically a game about gruff gunslingers ripping through gross nightmare monsters and that is exactly why I like playing games.

This is dumb fun, lacking any meaningful message or even purpose in a way that so few experimental genre blends succeed. Expanding this setting through more adventures would be fantastic but I would love to see what creativity comes out of Flying Wild Hog’s collective minds next because Evil West is by all accounts fun.

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 8.5/10

VISUALS - 9/10

SOUND - 7.5/10

CONTROLS - 8/10

REPLAY VALUE - 7/10

OVERALL - 8/10

Learn more about Evil West on the official website. A digital PS5 copy was provided for content purposes. Screenshots were captured using native features of the PS5. Evil West is available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.