STRANGE BREW
The burning light of neon bullets bursts through the desert, a dazzling gunfight in the blazing sun. The wryly voice of a roguish outlaw rings in the air as they step in to tag-team with their partner. That’s us; Wild Bastards is a sci-fi western adventure that has players swap between gunslinging outlaws on the fly.
What results is a wild but wonderful concoction of Wild West atmosphere and unique sci-fi charm, boosted by small but dynamic combat arenas. Adding further to this boiling pot of ideas, however, is a strategic layer to chew on between battles.
In the game, players must navigate node-based maps, picking up as much loot as they can while fulfilling objectives. More often than not, this also involves blasting through several enemies along the way. This turn-based, strategic layer and the addition of a ticking time-bomb injects the perfect level of agency.
A SIMPLE MISUNDERSTANDING
Yet, despite this melange of tantalising ideas and aesthetics, Wild Bastards sits at only 74% positive reviews on Steam at the time of writing. In fact, reviews are rather mixed as of late. However, despite this reception, Wild Bastards faired well with critics. At the time of writing, the game is holding steady at a Metascore of 76.
Why Wild Bastards did not perform well when compared to its predecessor, Void Bastards, is anyone’s guess. However, the game’s Steam page may set the wrong expectations, describing the game as a “roguelike strategy shooter.”
Sure, this is a roguelite we’re talking about; if players perish, they’ll have to restart the sector they’re currently on, losing minimal progress. And yes, the game features an Iron Man mode that turns the game into a real action roguelike. It’s definitely strategic, and it is most certainly a shooter. But I’d say that it’s best to approach Wild Bastards without these genres in mind at all.
IT’S THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION
Revisiting Wild Bastards without preconceptions is certainly worth a shot; once I saw Wild Bastards for what it really was – a mechanically adventurous sci-fi Western with immaculate atmosphere and fluid gunplay – I found myself settling in for the ride, instead of waiting for my ‘run’ to finally end.
“Whereas Void Bastards was a desperate struggle for survival featuring a cast of disposable protagonists, Wild Bastards is a fantastic adventure with a group of bickering but ultimately cooperative outlaws…”
Jon Chey for Epic Games
Attacking Wild Bastards from the angle of a roguelite, looping through familiar gameplay repeatedly in order to grind upgrades and slowly progress, this is an approach I’m sure many players took. But this isn’t where the magic of Wild Bastards lies. It’s the atmosphere, the world, and its twitchy, wire-tense gunfights that make it an adventure worth having.
And while Blue Manchu do attempt to give players an idea of their game’s campaign-based nature on the Steam store page, it’s arguably not quite enough to put players in the right mindset. This is a fast-paced shooter with the outer shell of a snail, providing plenty of adrenaline, tactical crunch, and space-cowboy vibes all at once. But make no mistake, this is an adventure, not a loop to grind around in circles.
