Wild Bastards Preview: Hyper-stylized space western almost reaches warp speed

The meanest , low - down , lily-livered - bellied outlaws this side of the galaxy .

Wild Bastards is described by the developer — a little Australian indie turnout known as Blue Manchu — as the " spiritual successor " to Void Bastards , their deep - space FPS scalawag - the like from 2019 . Though Void Bastards won them awards for its mirthful - book mode artistic creation and drew eclat for its nihilistically derisory humour , it persist to be seen whether Wild bastard will go forward or buck that trend .

What is Wild Bastards?

While still put in space , Wild Bastards give the theme a thoroughly westerly overhaul , sending players on a spur - jangling rogue - alike pleasure trip from planet to major planet , where they ’ll have to recruit and bring off a team of 13 malefactor , each of whom has their own clear-cut personality , power , and guns .

There are multiple levels of gameplay , with the highest level involving navigating the gang ’s sentient ship , the Drifter , through space organisation . From there you could find fault which satellite you need to land on next , based on enemy type and the swag present there , with the idea being to choose outlaws whose weapon system and playstyles fare considerably against certain opposition eccentric , and collect loot that will finetune their skills in the accurate means you want .

Once on - satellite , you move your crook around in an almost boardgame style . There ’s a modified number of moves per turn , and only so many sour before a powerful amplitude huntsman lands to track the felon down . In that time you ’ll have to gather up loot and powerups , void patrolling posse of law officer and pip your way through roadblock befuddle up in their way .

Wild Bastards Key Art showing title and main characters.

On my first few playthroughs of the pre - release demonstration I was n’t really sure which of the getaway I needed , or what would be useful in a yield gunfight . I found myself spending too long on each major planet and getting smash by the bountifulness hunting watch every sentence . This seems to be by invention though , with most roguelikes take on a check - by - break access . It only took a few run before I understand the mechanics and purpose for the pickup and strategic bonuses that would facilitate me get through , after which I was able-bodied to fool my way in and plug my way back out without too much fuss .

Fast and frenetic gunplay

Since you ’re only ever able to load in one of your quality at a metre , you ’re always outnumber and outgunned . The only style to survive is to hit intemperately , hit tight , and move between cover . I found myself having to switch over up my strategy on the fly most plot , scrambling away from withering fervidness one present moment and capitalising on a sudden chance the next .

That being aver , there are only a special number of enemy types uncommitted in the demo and these became samey quite speedily , especially as most enemy ' weakly spot is the head or mouth field . Though the full release boasts 41 different enemy types , so that should be more than enough to keep thing unfermented .

The enemy AI is quite weak in terms of their strategy , be given to rely on weight of numbers to try and get behind you or charge about wildly until they dead laser you from a length ( though they react well to any speech sound you make , slinging bullets your way if you make too much noise come through a canebrake ) . It took me longer than I ’d like to include to instruct to move quietly and stop turn on everywhere at full speed .

Space navigation menu of the lamentation sector in Wild Bastards.

Screenshot by Pro Game Guides

Despite only three of the uncommitted 13 player characters being present in my preview copy , there ’s enough miscellanea in term of the weapon system to allow for developing strategies . However , in their current shape the character ’s special powers ( or ' stunts ' ) have no cooldown timer and feel whole overpowered ( especially Doc Casino , whose power is to instantly kill a random enemy on the map no matter where they are ) , and because of the sheer abundance of ' juice ' ( especial power fuel ) I found myself wiping entire maps of enemy even on the hardest difficultness set with very little try .

Wild Bastards sells itself on how fast and frenetic the showdowns are , but for me , while undisputedly play , the gunfights felt a little atmospherics .

Meeting the outlaws ain’t like meeting the in-laws

The whole construct of the game — gathering a crew of misfits , loony , sport , robots and aliens — advert on how captivating and case-by-case those characters feel . Now , I ’ve only seen four of those characters and only act as three ( the preview terminate just as you rescue Judge , the robotic lawman sniper … snort ! ) but so far , so very good .

Each character has their own unparalleled weaponry , special office and accomplishment tree . Each can be further tailor-make during levelling , and by equipping them with paraphernalia despoil from the planets . This allow for further fine - tuning of strategies and tactics .

They ’ve really incline into the pulpy , rompy , space western outlandishness and I am here for it . I intend , just look at them :

The boardgame-like planetside movement screen in Wild Bastards.

Screenshot by Pro Game Guides

If this was the cast of an animation , I ’d observe the hell out it . As is , I ’ll happily shoot baddies with them .

The look and the vibe

mouth of animation , Wild Bastards feels like being thrown plum into the centre of a cartoon , albeit the form of blood - drenched and ill-scented - mouthed animated cartoon you ’d see on Adult Swim . Though they ’ve drop the overt comic book trappings of Void Bastards , they have retained the lurid color palette and over the top prison cell shading . This helps to keep things light and unhinged , without which a game where you spend the better part of your sentence gunning down lawmen might be too grim .

Meanwhile the music absolutely nails the smell , decent from the master menu , with clear inspiration from the classics of cinematic horse opera ( we ’re talking Ennio Morricone by the shovel full ) , without ever feel derivative . The opening guitar Riffian accompanied by gunshots had me reaching for the six-shooter at my rosehip before I ’d even loaded in .

A big part of what made Void Bastards such a cult darling was the calibre of the written material . Thanks in part to the stellar Cara Ellison , there was a 2000 AD - esque ( and incredibly British ) wry wittiness about it , with many of the joke out tatty amusing one lining the enemies blurt coming straight out of UK pop culture ( Cara made a return here , albeit only to lead early fictitious character ideas ) . Obviously that exact classic British coming would n’t make much sentience for a western , but the dialogue ( as handle by writer Jerry Holkins ) still work out well here as a kind of Borderlands rework .

Pointing Doc Casino’s shotgun at Koyotes in Wild Bastards.

Screenshot by Pro Game Guides

My hopes for Wild Bastards

While there ’s plenty to bask about Wild Bastards , its lash - snap art , trigger-happy adventure sketch aesthetic , and succus - amped character aim are held back by a want of challenge to the scrap . That being say , there ’s mess of time between now and full release to twist this into the rootin ' tootin ' and shootin ' showdown it oughta be .

Also , one of the only major complaint even at the late game Void Bastards was the deficiency of replayability . From what the developers are saying , it sounds as though they are occupy this earnestly , having anticipate a procedurally render challenge musical mode that will become useable once players complete the chief narrative .

All in all , this is one to watch .

Smokey points his burning hand at a giant snake in Wild Bastards.