Wild Bastards Review

You know what I say about roguelikes: Putting players in different scenarios in the same game is always overrated. The roguelike craze isn't something new; in fact, it's a trend that has been going on for decades now, but it seems like the developers have picked up on it because it is the new demand of lots of players. I'll admit it's fun, but having a story completely built by you is taking it easy in terms of character and lore building.

One of the games that caught people's attention a few years ago was Void Bastards, a game that takes place in space, and you have to go through enemy bases with a strategy to overcome them. The rudimentary gameplay only consisted of basic first-person shooter elements, while all you had to do was choose a set of styles you found to be more enjoyable. The developers behind Void Bastards, Blue Manchu, decided to give different specs to different characters instead of letting players choose from various arsenal, making it play somewhat of a class-based shooter.

Funnily enough, Wild Bastard seems to be the same game, too, but with additional stuff implemented into the game. However, there are so many eye-poking differences between the two games, of course; otherwise, it wouldn't be nice to release the same game with an alternative coat, would it? Well, we need to talk about what Void Bastards initially served players as the means of gameplay.

The whole idea, or theme, behind the Void Bastards, was that we have to deal with space life as we continue our journey through space. Most fights were indoors, and with its drastic cartoony tone, it was well-liked by many. With a lot of customization options and a way to strategize, your next move flowed well into your style and ended up opening lots of possibilities before approaching an enemy hold.

For the record, the game was clear about what to expect inside the ships you encountered and had a nice curve with the difficulty settings. In the menus, you could expect to see which sort of enemies you'd face, given that the characters would have strengths and weaknesses. So, it was a straight-up strategy game mixed in with first-person shooter and roguelike/roguelite elements. The same could be said for the Wild Bastards, although some key features are mostly missing.

To begin with, compared to Void Bastards, Wild Bastards has an exquisite tone and theme: Wild West. I don't know why this was the case, but it's not the first time people have mashed sci-fi, space exploring, and Wild West elements together. What stands out the most while playing Wild Bastards is the heavy tone of the Southerner accent all the characters bear. It is quite nice to hear professional voice actors doing the tasks they have given, though it can run its course quite quickly.

Gameplay-wise, Wild Bastards approaches the whole strategy aspect a tad bit differently from Void Bastards. Our characters are aptly named Outlaws and can be unlocked by exploring the vast space and places we visit. All of them have different playstyles and are properly Wild West-themed once again. Although you might want to just combine certain characters to get the best output, Wild Bastards came up with a rule throughout the story, and that heavily influenced how I approach the fights and tactics.

As you unlock more Outlaws on your adventure, some of them get into fights and do not like each other. This plays a huge role as you cannot make them go into fights together. In the same regard, there are Outlaws that do like each other and buff their stats. This whole mechanic adds quite a bit of spice, in my opinion, and makes you want to think about what your next move is going to be.

I have already mentioned that Wild Bastards heavily relies on the strategy aspect, and the first-person shooter side is plastered on top of it. Coincidentally, fights act like a gun showdown, are quite short, and act as interludes between your and enemy's turn. There are certain roadblocks and roaming enemies that want to get you. You can wish to avoid them, but you get rewarded for your efforts- if you happen to win the fight, that is.

Since every character has a unique playstyle, some are great to play, and some are not, unfortunately. Some of the Outlaws lack the power to beat roaming enemies; they are, of course, balanced in their own way, but pitiful damage equals a longer time to deal with gunslingers, meaning more chances to have a defeat. For the record, the ways to heal in Wild Bastards are quite absent, so get ready to lose a lot of the fights if you aren't prepared.

While most fights only put you towards goons and other outlaws with guns, the antagonists' "crown princes" can also arrive at your battlements to avenge you. According to the backstory, the Outlaws did quite a damage to the opposing occult. Now, they are after the Outlaws. You come across three princes; they are quite tanky, so you don't want to mess with them unless you are jacked up with power-ups and items.

Power-ups play a big role in fights you engage in, as every character has its own special "ultimate" against enemies. So far, I haven't come across one that is completely broken… Except Casino, a robot character who depends on luck, wields a double-double barrel shotgun. Power-ups, called juice, are evenly out there on the battlefield, and Casino's ultimate attack is randomly killing an enemy. These could be anyone with massive amounts of health; they can still be put down regardless. Putting Princes into the equation and dealing with them becomes easy as you can take them out on 1v1 situations.

When you lose a fight, there are a few ways to get your Outlaws back. Tunics, which are lifesavers in a literal sense, can be found in shops, lying around in the field, or in boxes you get to open for gaining infamy. Tunics can be used to revive only one Outlaw back to full health. Therefore, it's quite essential to keep them in stock or purchase them when you have cramm (the currency of the space cowboys) to spare.

At the beginning of the review, I mentioned that Wild Bastards was a roguelike/roguelite game. As you can imagine, losing is one of the outcomes you can encounter during your adventures. Once you lose all of your Outlaws, you are sent back to the beginning with everything deleted, except Infamy, which helps you get rewards and items at the beginning of the round. This whole system creates a roguelike environment, as every playthrough of a warp area is never the same.

After finishing a warp area, you are rewarded with goodies to upgrade your Outlaws. These are permanent updates to give them a nice boost, but for that, you need to grab some of the upgrade cards from the battlements, and usually that takes a bit of ballsy strategy. It's the same with unlocking new characters, too; they are usually hidden behind tricky segments of the map; you might just need to get better at shooting and positioning if you want to add a new character to your roster.

Just like how you can move about on the map, your enemies can have their strategy planned, too. Depending on the enemy type, they might act neutral or aggressive when your turn ends. These enemies get tougher in each warp and are not there to mess about. Poisonous snakes, barrel turrets, Sniping Westerners, ambushing shotgunners, etc. Every enemy you encounter has a weakness to a certain damage type, and you can easily grab the info about everyone by grabbing the cards scattered on the map.

Although I really like how everything flows in Wild Bastards, this one thing kept me bothered. It wasn't the strategy plays or how guns worked. It was the user interface. It looks slick and has a charm with heavy tones of purple and black, just like space, but damn, it is confusing to navigate. There will be times when you forget to click on the action button on the bottom right, let's say fight or equipping armor. Instead of going there, I usually look at the "End Turn" button and completely forget to do the action. I will not lie; that cost me a few good runs.

Ultimately, playing Wild Bastards was a flawless experience. The presentation is top-notch, with a combination of great music, characters, gunplay, and voice acting. The strategy part of it is quite well done, though you might take some time to get used to it. Overall, the pacing and the difficulty of Wild Bastards are completely well-done. As for someone who got to see and play roguelikes in any shape or form, Wild Bastards have done well after their first game.