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The answer should be obvious. Players assume the role of Jesse Rentier, a monster killer in Evil West who has to save his organization from collapse. Armed with everything from guns to super-like powers, players will have a lot to work with. Let’s go through a few tips to make these vampire beasts wish they didn’t exist.
7 Play Up The Difficulties
There are four difficulties ranging from typical easy options to gut-punching hard. As is standard in most action games and third-person shooters, players can change these options in the menu at any time. There is one feature that should be decided upon at the start though as there is an option called True Death.
This means one death equals game over forever. That is the ultimate challenge of Evil West and should be saved until after playing the game at least once. Trying it on the first run is almost guaranteeing a bad time.
6 Adjust The HUD
The HUD in this game is not obnoxiously huge although it could use some tweaking. It goes away while not in battle which is nice for those that like minimalistic viewpoints in their games. Players can reduce the size the HUD takes up by 50% or these can increase it as an option too.
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A good tactic would be to reduce the HUD though as the screen can get chaotic with monsters hurtling toward the player at all times. It’s a shame the HUD cannot be removed completely while in battle like God of War Ragnarok, another recent action game.
5 Explore Thoroughly
Evil West does not have a map of any kind which goes against the upgrade system. Killing monsters will net players with experience points. The more enemies go down, the more their character will level up and earn skill points as is the standard in RPGs or games with these elements. Gold can be acquired in levels that can upgrade weapons.
Without a map or mini-map, it’s hard to know which direction goes toward the goal and which goes toward a side objective. For now, before a map system gets hopefully patched in, try to explore as much as possible and use intuition to figure out which paths lead toward main and side objectives.
4 Upgrade Suggestions
It’s always a good idea to save upgrades in action RPGs, whether they are level-based or money based until something essential pops up. Leveling up, story bits, and uncovering secret treasures in stages will open up new pathways on both upgrade trees. It’s not a good position to be in when an impossibly cool ability unlocks like Blaster and you are broke.
Blaster, by the way, imbues the revolver’s standard bullets with electricity. The cost is great at $5000 meaning it can be hard to reach that goal at $0. The overall tip is to buy upgrades with digression and to always keep one in the metaphorical chamber.
3 Use Your Environment
Players will get a huge arsenal throughout their adventure. They begin with a basic glove for melee attacks followed by a revolver, rifle, electric upgrade for the glove, shotgun, and so on. It’s the typical gear found in Old West games but with some steampunk upgrades.
The more players unlock, the easier it will become to juggle the hordes of enemies on screen. Before your arsenal gets vast, make sure to use the environment wisely. Lure enemies toward TNT reserves and then detonate them or punch zombies into barbed cages.
2 Countering With The Rifle
All weapons and general powers in Evil West run on cooldowns like in a typical action RPG. It’s nice that guns don’t need bullets but this comes at another cost. For example, the rifle is a great weapon for countering enemies who produce a counter signal via a ring somewhere on their body.
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Typically bosses will produce a ring when they are about to attack or recharge. If the rifle is out of ammo then this could set players back, especially if the boss heals like those giant vampire bats. That’s why it’s important to use the rifle during boss fights only for countering. On a related note, using the aforementioned electric glove upgrade is a good way to counter normal enemies in the field. Overall, countering is the best offense in this game.
1 Pay Attention To Autosaves
It’s hard to tell how checkpoints work in games as they all differ. Evil West has one of the best features that will assuredly go upraised by the greater masses. If players decide they are done on a mission and wish to quit back to the title screen, the game will tell them the last time it autosaved.
If it’s a few seconds, that means it just saved. If it’s a few minutes then it might be best to move forward and wait for that save icon to appear. The icon can be tricky to see especially if players take the previous advice and reduce the HUD. Just know that it is possible to leave a mission in the middle of it. Just be sure to pay attention to the autosave notifications. No one wants to jump back into a shooter or action game after a break only to have to redo the previous segment.
Evil West was released on November 22, 2022, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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