After creating great beer in Brewmaster, nothing beats a bit of action in a serious game! Evil West, from Focus Entertainment and Flying Wild Hog, is one of the games I've been looking forward to the most at gamescom, out of all my appointments. It must be said that the idea of embodying a cowboy in a fantasy world, and going with him to hunt vampires, it sells dreams! The problem is that it is also the best way to be disappointed... But it was not the case! I played about twenty minutes but you, lucky guys, you will be able to enjoy ten minutes without having to move from your chair:
The player embodies Jesse Rentier, a Wild West hero straight out of a western, with spurs and hat.
At the start of my game, I walk a little to the right, to the left, and I test his skills. His ranged damage abilities are important, of course. The gunslinger has a devastating targeted attack, which allows you to target enemy weak points. To snipe at all costs, he can use his pistol. His weapons do not reload, everything is done automatically as soon as the shots stop. One less thing to think about. As I said in the introduction: action, nothing but action! By combining the two, no downtime. Jesse later gets an electric gauntlet and a shotgun that I haven't tested, having played at level 2.
Added to that our hero is far from ridiculous in contact. He chains the potatoes with mastery, enough to put back in place the enemies who dared to dodge the bullets. A very gory finish system is in place, symbolized by a yellow aura that surrounds the enemy ready to die. Dismemberment and liters of blood on the program. It makes you smile with the "too-much" side but nothing is very realistic in this game anyway!
The first enemies are simple. I feel all powerful. Quickly, things get tough. I'm starting to struggle and doubt my abilities. Until I ended up dying on a boss at the end of the demo. My dreams of heroism are shattered. Unfortunately, the weather prevented me from trying again, but I think that with one or two more tries, I could have managed. Finally, that's what the nice PR told me, story that I leave on a positive note... But I decided to believe it! You should know that the game was configured in normal mode. The less gifted like me can play in easy mode to enjoy the story without too much challenge. Conversely, the best will find fights that do not forgive mistakes. I also didn't think too much about optimizing Jesse. He progresses through a talent tree, allowing him to customize his abilities, as well as his weapons, to adapt to the style of play (or shortcomings) of each player: distance, contact, single-target, AOE...
Of course, it is difficult to realize the quality of a game after such a short session. But I didn't see anything that could have displeased me: the graphics are of good quality, the character well animated, the enemies convincing. The story initiated during this short session takes you to a fantastic world populated by teeming horrors that I can't wait to discover better. Not to mention a few environmental puzzles that promise great exploration phases. Luckily, I won't have much to wait for! Evil West releases September 20 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. To make sure you don't miss a thing, you can pre-order the game today on Steam or in physical version with an exclusive cover on the Focus Entertainment Store.
