This game is awesome for reals!

As a fan of Void Bastards, I was excited once I discovered this was announced when, funnily enough, I saw an article for it on a website I was using to see if I could run Tekken 8. Months later, I picked up when it was on sale and... I like it! But I'm not sure if I LOVE it.

First off, game play. If you read other reviews, then you'd already know about the emptiness which likely carried over from Void Bastards and the issue of trying to shoot on 2D sprites with full camera control, and I totally felt that. In Void Bastards, I'd argue these traits added to that game because it helped with the feeling of tension of stealth, fights and escapes it was clearly trying to go for. With Wild Bastards, while I do appreciate having moments to breathe, it made finding enemies hard in ways I don't think were on purpose.

I DID like the gunplay when it worked, though. I did like how some characters played super differently from others, Hopalong, for a example, was just really fun in having to think way differently with him. (While also becoming overpowered, though I do think it would have been better if they gave his abilities to the others.) It does feel REALLY good once your outlaws start levelling up. In fact, I almost want to say that the characters were the strongest part of this game... But here's the thing.

Narrative wise, it feels bloated. 13 playable characters sounds cool, but then you run into the problem of characters, especially later on, who feel like they were just there to fill space with roles that would have been better served by early game characters. (Judge should've taken Sarge's role, Roswell with Spike's role, etc) I liked the cast decently with some favorites but I would've been happier if the playable cast was cut in half with those cut maybe being friendly NPCs.

In short; I LIKE this game, at least I did enough to gift it to someone! It was certainly good and fun enough to turn your brain off to... But I wouldn't blame you for thinking you'd need an acquired taste to enjoy this.

As much as I want to love this game i can't. The characters do not feel balanced and the gameplay overall feels weird.

This game is so close to being amazing but something is just missing. The character designs and abilities are cool but the arenas feel empty. The art style is fantastic but something just feels off about this game.

It feels similar to void bastards in that it should be a great game, but something I can't describe just feels wrong about it. I feel these developers are so close to having something amazing but keep missing some intangible thing that would make their games great.

Sorry I know this review isn't very helpful but there is just something I can't quite place that feels wrong about both this game and void bastards.