Evil West is a straightforward video game, reminiscent of older titles. However, at times the game takes its over-the-top B-movie storyline too seriously, creating disjointed moments and leaps of logic to justify its tale of the power struggle between monsters and humanity. Sometimes, while pursuing high fantasy, world-building needs to remember the little important details.
In pursuit of capturing the experience of nostalgic games free of microtransactions and battle passes, it also brought back some of its frustrating elements. From story loopholes to questionable lapses of video game logic, Evil West has some baffling decisions that don't make sense to modern players.
7/7 Where Is Edgar Gravenor?
It's a trick question. You'll always know where Edgar Gravenor is, and he's barely by your side. The grizzled retired veteran made a strong first impression in the first two chapters of the game, before being tossed to the side on babysitting duty. You'll then save him twice during the campaign, undercutting his supposed competence.
The most insulting part is that Edgar lends a helping hand during the first chapter, shooting enemies and throwing explosive dynamite. He doesn't do that in further chapters, even during the grand finale, where every supporting character hides after making such a bombastic entrance.
6/7 Outdated Multiplayer
Evil West's multiplayer feels like a poorly thought out last-minute addition. For one thing, there's no public matchmaking. So you'll have to connect with a friend to experience the feature (which already excludes many players). Furthermore, the host receives all the benefits since only their save file, story, and character progress.
The funniest mechanic is that the second player is just another Jesse Rentier. Characters like Edgar Gravenor, Vergil Olney, or even other Rentier field agents are all pushed aside in favor of an unexplained doppelganger.
5/7 What Are The Other Field Agents Doing?
Evil West establishes the Rentier Institute as the government organization that fights supernatural threats—before blowing up most of the personnel in a devastating attack. While it seems that Jesse Rentier is one of the last surviving field agents, it turns out that there are other survivors in different locations.
Despite that, Jesse is the only field agent interested in fighting back vampires, because no one wants to accompany him during missions. Aside from occasionally saving Edgar, the engineer Vergil is another combat-shy companion. You can even see the other field agents gossiping in Calico while vampires run rampant in nearby towns.
4/7 Who Do You Pay For Upgrades?
Evil West's chapters are linear theme parks with a beginning, an end, and a random assortment of vampires in between. You can explore the map for gold pouches and chests between combat encounters to gain desired perks and bucks to upgrade your weapons. Where do these bucks go? No one knows.
While the likely answer is the in-house engineer, you pay to upgrade your weapons mid-mission. It's even more confusing because you can reset your perks and upgrades during a mission, refunding all currency spent. It would make more sense if the currency were replaced with spare parts or resources, as this would justify the upgrade tables scattered throughout the chapters.
3/7 What Are The Government's Other Priorities?
Your primary contact with the United States government is the corrupt Secretary of War, James Harrow. During the story, the president has more important concerns than a nationwide vampire outbreak that could lead to humanity's extinction if left unchecked. After all, watching a musical is much more important than dealing with the devastating loss of the main headquarters of the Rentier Institute.
This lack of urgency is an important plot point for Evil West from the beginning, as Harrow uses his position to threaten the institute's funding. The president only wises up to the vampire threat after a near-death encounter with the monsters.
2/7 Who Invited Other Monsters?
The narrative of Evil West is between humanity and the Sanguisuge, vampires who feed on humans. It's a classic good vs. evil, predator vs. prey, technology vs. raw power; a tried and tested conflict to keep the story going. However, this doesn't explain the plethora of other monsters in the game.
Mutated vampires are understandable, but who invited shape-shifting werewolves, the wall-climbing bundle of corpses, and flying hive monsters with exploding eggs to the party? The lore suggests that the Sanguisuge created these monsters with experiments, blood magic, and rituals. But it doesn't make sense how their form would stray so far away from becoming vampires.
1/7 Another Combat Encounter, Another Circular Arena
It's obvious when you're about to enter a combat gauntlet in Evil West. It's often a wide flat area containing various spiked columns and conveniently placed TNT boxes. The game will then proceed to throw an excessive number of vampires in that area until they eventually stop coming.
Cover, interactable traps, and verticality could diversify each combat encounter. Jesse can zoom around the battlefield with his high-tech gauntlet, so it doesn't make sense why he can't dash to a higher floor or pull objects for creative beatdowns. It would make for a much better game if the vampires used their wings to fly instead of leaping long distances.
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