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Evil West is what I would classify as an absolute banger of a 7/10. If you watch a lot of campy horror movies or played PS360 era shooters like Lost Planet or Army of Two, think of those games but with the narrative tone and aesthetic of a movie like From Dusk Till Dawn. And it also plays like God of War 2018. And maybe as if it was made by Platinum Games, but an alternate universe Platinum where they were actually a AA Polish game developer. You follow me so far? I hope so, because this makes sense to me but might also make it a hard sell if you're not entirely sure if it's your cup of tea. So let's reel it back a bit and break the game down a bit more.

Evil West is an action game where you play as a cowboy vampire hunter by the name of Jesse Rentier, part of the Rentier Institute dynasty. You go on adventures to stop the Big Bad Vampire lady by the name of Felicity D'Abano, and fight many more different enemies and characters on the journey to stop her from taking over the world. The story is entertaining with likable characters and fun cutscenes, but the story and plot are a bit forgettable imo. I played this game over the span of a couple months so the details a bit lost to me, but the plot and narrative are not super innovative or anything like that. It's just a means to move the player from each level and scenario, so if your focus is to get a God of War level narrative, don't expect that out of this game. I do however find the characters and dialogue to be fun and engaging in a campy over-the-top way.

But if you're looking for a fun action game, then Evil West is right up your alley. I find that the combat is snappy, fun, and a good twitch shooter/beat-em-up hybrid. It's very similar to GoW in that regard, but with far more emphasis on third person shooting, which is a ton of fun and has fantastic progression with new abilities, weapons, and gadgets constantly being thrown at the player pretty much right up until the last couple levels where the game really tests your skills to use all these tools during the most intense fights. I can see this game being a bit of a slog if you tried to marathon it, but if you play in short bursts over multiple sessions, I think you will find a lot to love and mechanics to sink your teeth into.

Overall I found the controls to work really well on a gamepad (and with Mouse Gyro enabled via Steam Input), but kb&m is apparently busted according to other reviews, so I would consider this a gamepad recommended experience before diving in. This game also performs well on a Steam Deck with mixed settings, but if you want stable framerates at 40 FPS, FSR is required for hitting those targets. It can run at 60, but for consistent framerates it's gonna require some major cutbacks and sacrifices, so I'd say aim for 40 FPS when playing on the Deck and you can play with close to native resolution. On a more caipable rig, this game hits 4K 120 fps easily (at least on my 3080/5600x build and DLSS set to Quality).

Speaking of graphics and presentation, this is another aspect where Evil West shines. It's easily one of the most captivating and creative AA games I've played in a long time, with some incredibly striking and awesome art direction and overall very pretty graphics. Character designs and enemies look great, and the sound design is incredibly satisfying when wailing on enemies and firing all your weapons. The soundtrack is good but not YouTube playlist stand-out, just appropriate for the setting and does a good job building the atmosphere. I wish the level design was a bit more intricate and interesting, but it does enough to keep things varied and fun, with laser focus on providing good arenas for the combat.

To wrap things up, I think this is going to be the defining cult classic of the decade, and has a lot of value in being a tight, fun, and engaging action game. I wouldn't exactly recommend getting this game at 60 bucks, as it's not a super long game at between 12-15 hours, and can be a little on the janky side in game. Nothing game breaking or unforgivable, it's just something you're going to notice when playing. God of War polish, this game does not have. But combat that's arguably more tight and fun than God of War, this game does have. For a good sale, this is a great game. It also has a co-op and New Game+ mode (neither of which I tried), which does add some value if you want to play the whole game with your friend. I recommend playing it to anyone who has an itch for mechanically rich, stimulating action games and/or likes the horror-western fusion aesthetic.