Wild Bastards is a cleverly layered roguelike | Hands-on preview
There are some great ideas at play in Wild Bastards, an FPS roguelike from Blue Manchu. You have a dangerous game of cat and mouse playing out on an overworld-style map at every location you land on, intense first-person shootouts that are quickly yet deadly, and a bunch of outlaws that you need to manage. Although I’ve only seen a snippet of what’s on offer, there’s plenty to get stuck into, and with impressive cartoony visuals and snappy dialogue, this could certainly be one to watch on the build up to release.
Wild Bastards follows a group of outlaws who were once the most deadly gang in the galaxy, but since their numbers dwindled at the hands of Jebediah Chaste and his band of misfits, you’re left scouring the galaxy to recruit them to your cause as you look for payback. You roam the galaxy in your spaceship and head from system to system, building infamy that provides you with ways to improve your outlaws loadouts as well as wiping out various enemies and scouting for new outlaws.
Once you find somewhere to beam down, you must select your squad and land on a map filled with pathways to a range of different goodies, buildings, and encounters before scavenging and returning to your ship before being overwhelmed by the bad guys. These sections are turn-based, and once you’ve used up your turns, the enemies get a go. There are shops for you to buy supplies’ teleporters to travel to different areas on the map in a way to avoid bandits; pick up mods to equip to your hero; set off rampaging herds of cattle to injure enemies; and so much more.
When you do have to fight, FPS showdowns become the best part of Wild Bastards. Each outlaw has different stats to one another, but they also wield different guns that do a range of damage depending on who you use. Smoky ended up being my favourite, and not just because he looked like Ghost Rider. These mini gunfights have a number of enemies that need to be defeated, but they are scattered throughout these small scale maps and if you’re not paying attention, your health can be wiped out in a matter of seconds. It’s not overly difficult, but you do need your wits about you if you want to survive.
Something I loved about these first-person segments were how they almost feel like Overwatch. By collecting juice, you can unlock an Ultimate Stunt which does something significant to wipe out enemies or mess with their heads. Casino will explode a random enemy, and Spider Rosa throws out a decoy to distract enemies. Each outlaw has one, and playing around with them to find your favourite is part of the fun. From robots with lasers to snakes spitting venom, there’re plenty of enemies to try to defeat, but hopefully you don’t get caught by one of the tougher boss-like enemies like McNeil, because encounters become much harder to succeed in.
Wild Bastards is a gorgeous looking game, with bold colours and wonderfully detailed characters. Some of the worlds are a bit dull, but it doesn’t particularly impact your enjoyment. Shootouts are enjoyable because of the different outlaws you can switch between, and the excitement of equipping a new mod and taking it into battle or finding a new outlaw gives you plenty of reasons to keep on playing. You do lose almost all of your stuff on death and have to return to the building, but that risk makes each run more interesting, forcing you to strategize with your various outlaws and abilities.
Wild Bastards is coming in “2024” to PC on Steam.
