Wild Bastards has Void Bastards in its DNA, but the best comparison is to Firefly. If you’re not familiar with Joss Whedon’s short-lived sci-fi western, picture dusty saloons and six-shooter gunfights at high noon, plus a healthy mix of spaceships, quips, and futuristic nonsense. This roguelike FPS already has the makings of something great, especially considering the team’s work on System Shock 2 and Bioshock. Strong diversity of character abilities, satisfying shootouts, and a thoughtful balance of procedural and scripted elements all make Wild Bastards one to watch when its posse rides into town.
Law and Disorder in Wild Bastards
After getting gunned down by the treacherous Jebediah Chaste, the surviving members of the Wild Bastards hatch a plot. They’re going to use their sentient spaceship to resurrect their dead gang or die trying. In Wild Bastards, you travel from planet to planet, working your way across a Slay the Spire-esque node map. There’s Cramm to steal, mods to find, and allies to resurrect. That is if you can shoot your way through the robot gunslingers and other miscreants bent on dropping you in a shallow grave. It’s an unusual roguelike, but an effective one.
There’s a healthy amount of strategic depth outside of battle. Do you give the Rocket Boots to Casino so he can get closer with his shotgun? What about giving Spider Rosa and her dual five-shooters the height advantage instead? Is it worth risking your injured Bastards in another gunfight if it means getting an Ace that can permanently upgrade a character’s Health or Damage? Toss in Darkest Dungeon-style feuds between party members, random events in space, and a clever resource reset system that keeps things balanced between planets, and Wild Bastards has everything you need for diverse runs.
Gunfight at the Spaceship Corral
All of that would be worth less than a wad of chew in a spitoon if the gunplay were bad. Thankfully, the gunplay’s great. Using audio cues on the HUD to track multiple targets through ramshackle desert towns and fetid bogs just takes some getting used to. Once you do, the fights feel twitchy and tense. Every character in Wild Bastards has a unique weapon and power, and you can swap Bastards with the press of a button. Gunslingers on the rooftops got you pinned down? Swap to Smoky, and use his fireball-launching Skinnin’ Sauce to cook them from afar.
The game’s comic book style (reminiscent of Web of Wyrd) should feel familiar to fans of Void Bastards, and the crisp audio design supports it well. Weapon sounds and other SFX are solid, but it’s the cheeky voice acting that sells the game’s personality. A single conversation tells you everything you need to know about pyrokinetic skeleton Algernon Johnson and the rest of the Wild West cast. Wild Bastards is a deeply unserious game in terms of story and dialog. As soon as the focus shifts to strategy and action, it’s a whole nother beast.
Who but Blue Manchu?
Wild Bastards will include 13 outlaws, 6 biomes, narrative and procedural campaigns, and dozens of enemies when it releases in September. If you loved Void Bastards and are open to some unique twists on the roguelike FPS formula, Casino and the gang may be just the posse to ride with. Of course, it’s too early to comment on the quality of the narrative campaign or the replayability of the procedural one. Still, we’ve only seen reasons to believe in Blue Manchu so far. Giddy up, partner. We’re going bot hunting.
Wild Bastards will be available for PC, PlayStation 5,
