later. My party duly scooped out his brain and carried it
across wide desert plains to the quest giver – who, against
all odds, knew what to do with it. This kind of
spontaneous event, and Weird West’s capacity to
incorporate its effects without batting
an eye, is a trademark characteristic of
the immersive sim – the genre that
Arkane, and now Wolfeye, have
dedicated themselves to.
In fact, Weird West functions as
one long (and strong) argument that a
game doesn’t have to be first-person to
meet the genre’s criteria. Back in
2020, Colantonio tweeted a challenge:
“Fight me about immersive sims not
being possible in top down!”. Given how powerfully Weird
West makes the case – not to mention the muscles on
display in Colantonio’s band promo shots – I don’t expect
he’ll find many fighters willing to face him.
Jeremy Peelbehind it, a vast nothing – that’s where I live.” It’s an aloof
existential attitude that fans will associate with the
Outsider, Dishonored’s plain-yet-uncanny emissary from
the Void. Later, Weird West introduces Heathen, a
transient witch. “Just promise me this,” she says. “Keep
being interesting, old friend.” Human drama as light
entertainment: the Outsider would be proud. In the minds
of Colantonio and his colleagues, the gods are neither
benign nor malevolent – they’re simply bored.
As in Dishonored, most of the locals of Weird West
worship more sensible deities – designated to protect
their crops and grant them a painless passing. But while
these beings are nowhere to be seen, the supernatural
meddlers run rampant, their influence empirically
observable. Creepy, nest-like shrines sit in hidden places,
and glowing bone charms unlock ancient power. In both
games, art and magic are presented as a dangerous
temptation in opposition to order – always alluring, but
intrinsically associated with death.
BRAIN FOOD
Of course, Weird West’s links to Colantonio and co’s prior
games go deeper than the story. Unusually for an
isometric game, levels are littered
with vertiginous alternative paths.
Even the caves have side-routes, while
the towns invite you to creep across
rooftops and clamber through
windows – either to get the jump on
your targets or to bypass locks and
complete your objectives non-lethally.
As in Deus Ex, a house lets you into
the brain of the character who owns it
- and the basement typically hides
their most deeply suppressed and sickening secrets.
On the subject of brains, one plot-critical character let
me know that only his cerebral organ need make it to our
shared destination – which was just as well, since he was
swept up and killed by a tornado on the road just an hour
THE GODS ARE
NEITHER BENIGN NOR
MALEVOLENT –
THEY’RE BORED
Witches have followed
Colantonio from
Dishonored to Weird West.ABOVE: Dark Messiah
is Weird West’s equal
in environmental
chaos.