Were the reviews of Evil West fair? - An analysis of Evil West (2022) and its reviews

[@Deadforge]

What a fantastic analysis snd review of the game. Very well researched with a refreshing take on critics or the industry as a whole. I found it interesting you referenced Eddison instead of Tesla. Thank you so much for allowing me to be part of your video and I really enjoyed your perspective.

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

Thanks man, I’m glad you were a part of it 🤘 Edison appears in some of notes floating around the Institute, I believe there’s even a picture of William shaking his hand to softly imply that their collaboration might have been the genesis for RI tech.

[@Deadforge]

@@HeyBlondieGamer I do remember Eddison being mentioned but was not aware if the pic.

[@thesummerofmark]

@deadforge loved your cameo

[@Deadforge]

@@thesummerofmark Thanks man

[@Stevehug83]

I really enjoyed the combat in this game. The "kill them all!" Way of progressing makes weapon selection and the timing of it vital. The order in which you kill the enemies is important as well. Sometimes you can get stuck fighting 2 or 3 mini bosses with no energy cells, so you have to rely on cooldown weapons. All in all, it's very satisfying. As you power up, your efficiency in battle improves. Lots of fun

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

If there were more nuance to abilities and cooldowns it would make combat even better. Here’s hoping they make an Evil West 2 so they can expand on this foundation.

[@Stevehug83]

@HeyBlondieGamer it's not perfect, far from it. It has its flaws, I'd like to see a sequel too.

[@ThePrimordialChronicles]

The ozzie boiii is back!

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

Yyeeeeaaaah, boi!!!

[@MidnightMedium]

Really good so far, man. Im sure ill leave a more detailed comment later but works starting and wanted to get your early engagement up

[@ThePrimordialChronicles]

👀

[@Deadforge]

There's a familiar someone waiting within this fantastic video as well haha 😉

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

Appreciate it, man 🤘

[@clappagemcphee]

Excellent content as always- thank you! Your channel truly deserves to be blessed by the algorithm to get it the attention that it rightly deserves

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

Thank you, the encouragement is always greatly appreciated.

[@Ludacris2800]

>Gameplay - Actually, Rentier Rifles aren't the only weapon to tackle weakspots. The Crossbow you get after a few missions also work against them. It's just that Rentier Rifles have the incentive of being used optimally as they have an upgrade that allows them to reload a shot automatically when shooting a weakspot, as well as their high damage output per shot. As long as the weapon can be aimed down for accurate shots, they can hit weakspots. (although that's basically only 2 weapons that would work on them) >Story - While it is stated that there are at least 50 cells of the Rentier Institute, I believe that it is insinuated that most of the agents from these cells perished during the attack on the manor. As was previously shown by the game, the setting for that mission specifically was that William was going to present a new weapon against the Sanguisuge, so he assembled a gathering of his fellow agents from what we can assume from all the other cells to celebrate this momentous occasion. As we can see in the mission, many agents die or are heavily injured during the attack by Felicity. And being a secret government agency, we can also assume that to keep secrecy, they only recruit a few agents and do not have a lot of people working in the Institute. Combine all of those factors and it's safe to assume that Calico is the last bastion of the Rentier Institute, at least the last one that can actively fight against Felicity and her brood. Even if we don't necessarily take into account all those factors and say that the different cells still have many active agents, we can go even further back to the start of the game where D'abano was trying to persuade fellow Highborns to wage war against humankind. While they never make another appearance in the game, i'd say that other cells are working to combat these other broods of vampires, as part of the worldbuilding and whatnot. As such, these cells are too busy with other cults of vampires in their sectors to worry about Felicity, giving reason as to why Calico is of such importance to the main game being the only faction able to combat such a threat in this particular sector Felicity is scheming in. - On the subject of William's death and Jesse's reaction, I believe that the developers just didn't have enough time or budget to make a better scene of this. The foundation is there but it wasn't executed to it's fullest potential in this game. What I believe that they do want to do is to make a sequel that tackles on the events of the first game, and how Jesse reflects on this while continuing the war against vampires. They had hoped to capitalized on the market for old style beat em up shooters, but as someone who had just finished the game, im not entirely sure if a sequel will even come. The premise is there, now all we can do is to wait and see if anyone is willing to invest in a sequel for this game. At least the first game was pretty fun, but im sure that Flying Wild Hog wanted to do more about the characters that they couldn't do now, but they probably didn't have any assurance that this game would get a sequel so they only did the bare minimum that at least constitutes as passable for a standalone story in case a sequel never got brought up. Also, A most obvious but brilliant flip to have Edgar be the emotional loss. It makes so much more sense, but I would be all right either way to have either William or Edgar die if they executed it correctly. As little as Flying Wild Hog did with William and Jesse's emotional trope, damn did they do as much as possible to hit the right notes with William's letters spread throughout the level. That last letter was heart wrenching and you can see how badly they want to make it work. A sequel would definitely make the narrative stronger as well as expand on Evil West's background worldbuilding. Great video on the subject. Evil West definitely deserves a lot more praise than it got. It's good enough, and it doesn't have to innovate or tell a gripping, immersive narrative. It pulls from its inspirations and creates a wholly realized game that is a lot of fun and is better than what most big game companies have produced in recent years. They knew what they wanted to make and they made it.

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

Rentier Rifle - That’s true, but they occupy the same weapon slot and general function. I understand that there are clear differences between them, but the game design tells us that they’re both designed to attack weak spots as a core gameplay mechanic and it’s up to the player which they prefer to use. Story - that’s a decent point. I couldn’t buy the idea of every agent or even the majority of agents from each cell showing up at RI. As you’ve said, they have their own business to attend and still need to protect their local area. I couldn’t buy the idea of only a single well-funded cell outside RI headquarters, I would expect at least a handful given the broad reach implied by the lore and the need to have well funded and well stocked centers of operation for neighboring cells to draw upon. It could, as you say, be different, but it’s interesting to speculate. William - It feels as though they realized the true potential of the narrative too late, and the letters are a last hurrah at trying to reconnect players with William. I agree that this was likely due to budget/time constraints and effort vs general reception of the game at release. Such a shame that it wasn’t a little closer to the mark all the way through. Thanks so much for the comment, it was an engaging read! 😄

[@Ludacris2800]

@@HeyBlondieGamer Thank you for spending the amount of time and research put into the video, it was really great seeing how well it did and what the consensus was with the game. Most critics nailed it in the head if you look at it from a modern standpoint, but I appreciate the nuances you bring to the table when talking about what makes Evil West a great game despite it all. Even if it has flaws, it is time and money well spent and I encourage people to try it out and just have fun, as was said in the video.

[@stevenguitink5947]

Personally, I think the whole discussion around games like this in games journalism hearkens back to the same old arguments about high art/low art. Every form of creative media has had its fair share of denigration from those who revere older mediums and video games comparatively are still a relatively young medium. And within the discourse surrounding video games, you have those that see games as art and those who see games as entertainment. So as a result, you have that share of games journalists who dismiss or undersell games like Evil West because they embrace the art side of the game over the entertainment. Look at walking simulators like Gone Home or high-budget games like the Last of Us. They are games that lean more on the side of art than the game somewhat and so they have many a reviewer's eye. Meanwhile games that simply embrace the fun of games are seen as lowbrow or derivative or not pushing the medium far enough. And the fucked up thing is, I think there's room for both sides and variants thereof. There shouldn't have to be this immature dick-waving amongst gaming media where one side has to be the dominant one. But I think sadly it's just a common product of peoples' need to be right or in charge or on the right side of history.

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

That’s how it feels, yes. Every game must be pushing creative boundaries or it isn’t worthy of your time. Not true of all mainstream, but I feel that many have lost sight of what games provide to players, though even the act of playing a ‘simple’ game is oversimplification. It’s a shame the industry can’t have more discussions like this. I get infinitely more value from comments like yours than the vast majority of mainstream articles or coverage. I agree with you that there can be middle ground in the way games are perceived as art. When I hear reviews which are rated down because a game isn’t ‘innovative’ enough, I think of investors demanding consistently higher profits year on year and squeezing developers of the joy and passion required to make good games. The creative industry works best without these harmful restrictions. We need a better conversation about games as art, and an acknowledgement of the multifaceted benefit of games to their players. One size doesn’t fit all, and Evil West is a good game.

[@donotwantchannel]

I'm really digging your analyses, man. I don't even remember hearing about this game when it came out. It's clearly not perfect, but it may be worth a play, I'll check it out. Keep up the great work! (Incidentally, that's exactly what happened to me, at the exact same point, in Game of Thrones)

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

Cheers for the kind words 🙏 It’s getting released on GOG soon. I’m sure you’ll be able to pick it up in one of their sales sometime soon. The cracks in GoT appeared early when the writers seemed to revel in the audience reaction to the death of established characters. The outcome of the Oberyn/Mountain fight was so stupid I almost gave up on the series right then and there.

[@generalkrang7138]

Great video

[@thesummerofmark]

Great video man

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

Cheers, mate!

[@agbrenv]

I played through the game twice, and didn't really understand the some of the hate it got, it was a gameplay focused game that aimed to be fun, and in my opinion succeeded

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

100%

[@jasonyoung3070]

If it wasnt for gamepass i may have never got to try this game because the way it was reviewed but after i tryed it i found i enjoyed it a ton it was like the old 360 kind of action shooters i used to play all the time and are not made enough any more its either AAA or indie rarely do we get a good AA style game !

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

I’m glad you gave it a chance.

[@dienand_]

Game looks great to me

[@DAYMAND3R3552]

I loved it what a cool fucking game.

[@chereborn2525]

0:20 Was gonna say why not Darkwatch added?! 😉 😂 Underrated game by the way. Had the bloodborne design. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnbWlJuMps-oabc

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

I never played Darkwatch. I’d like to give that a spin some day.

[@fuzzyillogic]

Exceptional analysis and commentary on review culture. Capitalism and consumerism systematically trains us to look for the opinions of others to tell us what to think and how to feel about everything - there's just so many layers of shit to wade through these days that we are dependent on some level of expert curation to navigate it all. Sponsored videos, clever marketing and paid-for awards funnel us towards the acceptable centre of fashionable consumption and away from the imperfect, but far more interesting stuff happening on the edges of innovation and creative endevour. Human beings are biologically hard-wired for judgement, and our proclivities and unexamined biases are more often than not used to manipulate us in increasingly pervasive and incredibly sophisticated ways. Ironically, the function of games is to provide us with a way to escape and numb ourselves to this existential dread.

[@Deadforge]

Damn dude well said 👏

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

Well said, you’ve whacked the nail on the head of my biggest bugbear. This is especially true of AAA studios, though indie developers can fall prey to these practices too in the desperate scrabble to be noticed in an over-saturated market. The review process is also horribly broken thanks to condensed review windows for the journalists lucky enough to get review keys. Many journalists almost exclusively work from publisher-supplied review keys, a further erosion of the integrity of the review process. Evil West might be designed to draw us into the power fantasy, but that doesn’t mean that games can’t ask us to ponder wider issues or self-truths. Escapism doesn’t have to mean fleeing problems; sometimes existing in someone else’s equally troubled reality is fine (*cough* “reality” TV *cough*). Acceptance of games as a storytelling medium is surprisingly fickle among the community - (I tried to write a thoughtful response while juggling a recalcitrant child and can’t go further, I give up 🤪). Excellent response, Fuzzy! Your insight is amazing and always welcome.

[@Gislileet]

Great analysis on a boring game

[@HeyBlondieGamer]

To each their own 🫡