In the stylized world of Evil West you play as Jesse Rentier, the son of the leader of a national vampire hunting organization. The world is gritty and dark, but contrasted by the cast’s “potty-mouthed” language and general demeanor. Combat is wild and fast-paced and enemy design does not pull any punches. The story focuses on stopping the “big bad” from infecting the whole world with vampirism. Though this may be a generic premise, the presentation sets it apart from others, while also feeling familiar enough to be a comfortable experience.

Characterization is relatively shallow. While the voice acting is solid, the development of the cast is practically nonexistent. Their relationships do not develop past the need to work together, you can tell that this is not what the game focused on. The story attempts to tackle the “unrealistic expectations of a father” but it falls flat as the player does not see enough of their interactions to understand that dynamic. When a “major” character dies, the emotional impact is minimal as well. The nonexistence of character depth results in no emotional payoff for “big” moments however it does not harm the overall experience egregiously.

The combat is frantic. The game promises you will feel like a superhero and it delivers. Initially you only have a couple powers, but as the game progresses you unlock a multitude of options. Utilizing all these tools in the combat scenarios is essential to your survival. Even playing on Normal, you can fail an encounter if you do not use your entire arsenal. In the mid-game there is a drought of new abilities and a boss encounter that feels like a difficulty spike, however after that fight, the steady stream of new abilities resumes. Uppercutting enemies and launching them into each other with the “Boom Balls” perk causes them to explode with viscera; this never gets old. One perk causes you to slowly lose health while gaining energy for your gauntlet which allows you to perform electrically charged super moves more often. There are other skills that change the way you play the game and at any point you can reset your points to change your perks if you do not like how it changes the combat style. This flexibility allows you to experiment with builds to fully utilize the systems and customize your experience to your liking.

The enemies you face come in a wide variety. There are werewolf-vampire hybrids, giant bugs with glowing balls that power up standard enemies, tunneling mole vampires, giant gargoyle vampires and encounters where they throw multiple of these enemy types at you simultaneously. Each one you have to approach in different ways. This keeps combat fresh, however some enemy types are utilized more than others and can be tiresome to defeat. Late game this is not a huge problem, because you are very powerful and can utilize your tools to remove the most difficult enemies quickly. Early game, some encounters can be a slog, but it is not a bad introduction to the systems and ramps up quickly.

Outside of combat there are some “environmental puzzles.” I use the term lightly as they merely require you to “walk to this spot and press the interact button” rather than requiring you to think. Most interactable objects have an icon indicating such and are also marked by fence posts wrapped in barbed wire. There are stashes of cash and temporary power-ups in the nooks and crannies, rewarding those that take a few extra seconds to check around the corner. These environments are not meant to be explored and it would have been beneficial to keep the game “on rails” rather than having any “exploration” in the levels as it seems superfluous, though the art style is quite striking to look at.

The best way to describe Evil West is a “video game ass video game.” It doesn’t do anything new, but is an entertaining way to spend your time. It took me 9 hours to complete and that is with a bit of retries as well as finding a few collectibles. The game would have benefited from either committing to the absurdity of the situation or actually developing characters. Some levels felt like they were too long, however the combat keeps the experience entertaining. The story beats miss the mark because of the character shallowness and though it is a generic plot, it keeps you moving forward to the conclusion. The main draw of the game is definitely the combat however. There are many different ways to play and a wide assortment of perks and upgrades that allow experimentation with the option to swap them out on the. Enemy design can be frustrating, but once your arsenal expands, you will have a tool to handle each one.

Evil West is a fun experience with some frustrating aspects, but is worth your time if you’re in the mood for an old school action beat-em-up. It is pretty short so you may want to wait for a sale before grabbing it.