In May 2019, developer Blue Manchu released a roguelike first-person shooter called Bastards of the Void, an impressive title for an impressive game. Bastards of the Void was loved by critics and fans alike when it debuted in 2019, and five years later, Blue Manchu is back with another thrilling roguelike adventure. But while Wild bastards continues the same style and tone as its spiritual predecessor, but there are some major differences when it comes to gameplay.
In summary, Wild bastards is a roguelike first-person shooter like Bastards of the Voidbut it has an additional layer of turn-based strategy that its predecessor did not have. This gives Wild bastards a completely different sense of pace, and although this might disappoint some fans, there is still a lot that is worth trying out. However, not all Wild bastards' elements leave a satisfactory impression.
Wild Bastards has an exciting science fiction narrative
After a very short prologue Wild bastardsThe core premise is revealed, and it's a pretty compelling, classic sci-fi/western narrative. Aboard the mysterious, sentient ship The Drifter, players must travel the galaxy collecting the souls of their deceased former crew members, all in the hopes of eventually reaching the Promised Land, a haven for bots, mutants, and xenos.
Wild bastardsThe story is simple but effective, giving the player a strong incentive to keep racing through the galaxy. There are also lots of fun little sci-fi explanations for in-universe game mechanics, such as the Drifter's sentience being the reason for the game's roguelike loop. Wild bastardsCompleting the main campaign on normal difficulty took about 9 hours.
Wild bastards also has a procedural campaign mode, a challenge mode, and an Iron Man mode if players want an even tougher challenge. These additional modes are a nice addition that give the game the feel of a complete package, but their modifiers won't change the core loop all that much.
Wild Bastard's gameplay loop is too much for the cause
Wild bastards throws the players in at the deep end and is not afraid to let them flounder for a while. From the beginning Wild bastards offers players many overlapping systems and they often have to figure them out on their own in the first hour of the game, making for an intimidating first impression.
But after one or two rounds, Wild bastardsThe initial hurdle gradually disappears and a thrilling gameplay loop emerges. Players soon get into the rhythm of teleporting to a new sector to unlock a new outlaw and begin the lengthy process of rescuing them. Once in the new sector, players must plan their route through the stars, with each planet offering a major upgrade along the way. Once over a planet, players beam down to the surface and there Wild bastards' New turn-based strategy elements come into play.
With a party of 1-4 outlaws, players arrive on a planet laid out like a board game, with key landmarks along linear paths. Players have a set number of moves per turn, and the general goal is to capture as much loot, upgrades, mods, and valuable resources as possible before a powerful boss shows up, hunts them down, and forces them to leave the planet empty-handed.
In addition to upgrades, resources and useful tiles that restore the player’s movement or health, Wild bastardsThe board game-like planet maps are littered with combat situations such as roadblocks and enemy patrols. Reaching one of these combat situations forces players into a challenging first-person showdown where they must gun down each enemy to progress.
This core loop repeats for Wild bastards' in its entirety, but it remains quite engaging thanks to the game's many overlapping progression systems and evolving mechanics. In each sector, players will encounter at least one new gameplay mechanic. These can be permanent upgrades like Aces, Tonics that give the player the ability to heal teammates, and the Pal/Feud system, which sees the player's gang of outlaws fall out or befriend one another at random intervals. These mechanics, drip-fed to the player throughout the game, create a sense of worthwhile progression that's crucial for a roguelike, but it's not quite perfect.
A big problem with Wild bastards' gameplay loop is that while unlocking these mechanics feels immediately rewarding, some don't have too much of an impact on gameplay. The Pal/Feud system is probably the best example of this. Initially, this system seems very detailed, with players being presented with a large chart explaining who is at odds with who and who is friends with who, all represented by various lines connecting the outlaws' icons together.
At the beginning of the game, it is important which characters are feuding, as they cannot beam together. But once the player has unlocked six or more outlaws, this system can be largely forgotten, as they will likely always have a duo they are happy with, regardless of who is feuding. This then means that the bean resource is almost redundant, as the player rarely needs it to heal feuds. This criticism applies to a whole range of Wild bastards' Game mechanics, many of which are fun to unlock, but ultimately lack the depth needed to make them exciting throughout the game.
Unfortunately, this lack of depth Wild bastards' Gameplay loop can feel quite repetitive after a few hours. This is especially true if players don't like the turn-based nature of the game's planetary map, as it takes up a large portion of the gameplay.
The outlaws of Wild Bastards are a colorful mix of likeable villains
As the name suggests, a large part Wild bastardsThe story and gameplay of ' depend on the cast of Outlaws. Over the course of the game's main campaign, players will unlock a total of 13 playable Outlaws. Just like its spiritual predecessor, Wild bastardsThe Outlaws' distinctive, comic-like art style ensures that each of the game's 13 outlaws stands out from the crowd, and the game's voice acting does a lot to cement the characters' personalities.
In terms of gameplay, each Outlaw has a unique weapon and a special ability. In theory, this means that Wild bastards offers 13 different game styles. But here too, not everything is as good as it seems at first glance. In reality Wild bastards' 13 Outlaws is a mixed package, at least in terms of gameplay. While Wild bastards is home to many useful characters who have powerful, versatile weapons and special abilities that are very satisfying to use. But it is also home to some characters who are simply not worth taking into battle.
While opinions on some Outlaws vary depending on the player's preferred playstyle in FPS, there are some Outlaws that are objectively weaker than the rest. Smoky's flame-breathing finger gun looks damn cool, but is incredibly weak and its reload time is just too long, for example. In a standard FPS, these traits wouldn't be a big problem, but Wild bastards is a difficult game where every single shot counts. There is simply no room for weak outlaws in the squad, because weak outlaws mean a quick death, and death in turn means the abrupt end of a run, the need to restart, and a strong feeling of frustration that quickly tarnishes the entire experience.
Unfortunately, this leads to Wild bastards' roster feels a little unbalanced, and about halfway through, players have found their favorite four Outlaws and will likely ignore much of the roster. However, things get better with the game's Ace Upgrade system, which gives Outlaws powerful stat boosts and new abilities. These Aces go a long way toward making the roster's weakest Outlaws a little more tolerable, but they still won't convince players to swap out their favorite four.
Wild Bastards lands more shots than misses, but it’s close
Wild bastards is a very lively, very ambitious game that goes out of its way to add new gameplay mechanics and playable characters. But while that effort is certainly commendable, there's no denying that many of those elements just don't feel as strong as they should. There's still plenty of room for fans to have a good time Wild bastardsbut this time will not be free from moments of confusion, frustration and a little boredom.
Wild bastards is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Game Rant was provided with a PS5 code for the purpose of this review.
