Please, note this is an Early Access title, and my review is based on my experience of the game while under the “Build 2019 September 5th”. I will update my review when the game has considerable changes or leaves Early Access.
Wild West and Wizards is a unique, original, and quite fun mix of wild west and well, wizards, as the name suggests. Magic and old rusty guns come out together in an RPG full of adventure, exploration, and deadly encounters. Although still in Early Access, it was well received by the community and it shows tremendous developer support.
Players start by picking up their class, and at the time of this review, only one is available. In future updates, more classes might be available which will automatically open new doors to gameplay styles. Customizing your character is possible, but so far limited, with only some generic features to choose from, such as hair, skin color, and beard shapes.
Set foot on the vast deserts going from town to town, completing quests, gathering information, discovering magical ruins, mysterious landmarks, and even more enigmatic places. Some contain valuable loot, while others are just traps waiting to get you. It is, as it sounds, an adventure RPG, where players start with the lowest of equipment, while gathering anything of value to sell, and quickly upgrade themselves for the challenges ahead.
As gameplay goes, it’s pretty solid as it stands. You can use elemental magic and weapons, of which made the wild west known for. It’s impossible to guess what other deadly things might spawn in future updates, but as it stands, the weaponry is what one would expect in the old cowboy movies!
Taking bounty hunts and quests from all sorts of townsfolk, there’s no stopping where one would go. Bandits await at every prairie or cave, but there’s plenty of magic to go around. Players can use different type of spells, either active or passive. Boost your defenses or go straight up offensive when it comes to attacking. Different ammunition also takes a toll in the damage you inflict, and based on my experience, fights go far well when mixing magic with your trusty weapons.
Players can also manage their inventory, sell items they don’t need, or upgrade their cloths and restock on potions and food, as well as other commodities! To sum it all up, there’s plenty of improvements regarding gameplay, but its core should remain the same. A traditional action RPG experience, in the waves of The Elder Scrolls, but completely indie, with a very unique feeling of the old west!
Visually, the art direction was probably the best. It’s not taken seriously to a point where details really matter, but instead, with a cartoonist perspective, for a more laid-back experience. Very colorful, and very pleasant to the eye, with consistent patterns and distinct areas. As visuals go, there’s little to pinpoint, and it will surely remain the same through the final stages of completion.
Mechanically, we know it’s a Unity Engine game, and as it stands currently, with some optimization in recent patches, but still far from what we’d like to see. With my GTX 750 Ti, at 1080p I’m getting 30 locked fps with V-Sync on, and up to 45 when turned off. If we take in consideration my GPU is already outdated, it’s not terribly optimized at all, providing a fair experience for those with old hardware.
There is always room for improvement, and a promise of better optimization was already reassured. Some in-game options such as shadows or light effects have its hit on performance wise, but without them, the world itself looks much more poor and soulless. Chromatic aberration can be toggled off from the option menu, and that’s always a plus from my side. With time I believe more options will effectively be in place.
Animations are somehow generic at the moment. Bandits and enemies have well behaved postures, but NPC’s are still very simple. Voice dialogues are not included at the moment, and may never be. This is not a negative annotation though, but more a simple statement. The overall gameplay is very natural, and when 60fps becomes reachable, the whole experience will become quite fluid.
With a lot of features and improvements coming in future updates, Wild West and Wizards is incredibly fun and will provide anyone with a fantastic time. It has a long way to go, but it’s on the right track. The sound and atmosphere already exist, giving players the original west vibe, and it’s up to you to build up your character and set for exploration.
Beautiful yet simple, with tons of loot to collect and magic powers to gather, here’s a fantastic indie made with love and passion. Highly recommended for an interesting modern RPG experience, and those looking for a relaxing time.