Wild Bastards is a quirky space-themed strategy shooter in a western setting.
Wild Bastards is a game that doesn’t shy away from its bold premise. Set in a chaotic universe where outlaws, mutants, and robots fight for survival, this space-western shooter brings humor, high-octane action, and a dose of roguelike mechanics to the table.
From the developers of Blue Manchu and publishers at Maximum Entertainment, the game is a spiritual successor to Void Bastards. This title made its name with its peculiar art style and its roguelike gameplay back in 2019.
Suppose, in Void Bastards, everything was about randomly generated corridors and resource management. In that case, Wild Bastard shifts gears to a more structured campaign without losing the chaotic spirit of its predecessor. Yeah, it is a wild ride.
While Wild Bastards is intended to act as a spiritual successor to Void Bastards, the two games don’t have much in common outside of the title. The differences begin with the story premise. Wild Bastards is Sci-Fi but with a Western setting.
In Wild Bastards, the plot revolves around a ragtag group of outlaws who’ve been nearly wiped out by the villainous Jebadiah Chaste and his children. Your mission is to travel through space in a ship called The Drifter, gather your scattered crew, and fight your way through small-scale but intense combat encounters. The villains in this story want to eradicate anyone that isn’t human, while your goal is to find the mythical “homestead”, a place where all beings can live together in peace
While the story concept sounds promising, it often feels more like a backdrop than something front and center. As you progress and start getting into the more difficult parts of Wild Bastards, the story tends to fall off a bit until you unlock the next character.
Wild Bastards is a strategy game, first and foremost, with a first-person shooter package. You’ve got multiple characters to play as who have unique abilities and weapons to fight off in showdowns to ultimately reach your goal of being accepted for the outlaws that you are.
Most of your time is spent in small arena-style shootouts where your reflexes and decision-making are constantly tested. You’ll control a variety of characters with unique abilities, from Roswell, who can bounce across the battlefield, to Billy, who turns invulnerable after taking damage (and throws dynamite sticks that explode).
Combat is fast, intense, and incredibly challenging—especially on higher difficulties, where even the weakest enemies can wipe you out quickly if you’re not careful. When you encounter these enemies, prepare for a showdown in the form of a first-person shooting segment. Here, you’ll need to fend off a wave of a predetermined number of enemies.
The gameplay loop boils down to you beaming down onto a planet and getting locked onto that planet, moving through a board game-like interface. After making a choice, you’ll choose which two bastards to beam down to the planet and then be taken to another map.
This secondary map contains various spots to loot, some shops, and, more importantly, the location of enemies. In a turn-based format, you’ll move across the map to loot and then get beamed back up to the ship. You have limited movement, and when that movement is done, you’ll have to end your turn, after which the enemies on the board can move around at random.
Plus, you’ve got to really think about what you do here because sticking around too long will attract the boss-like Chaste’s children, who will hunt you down relentlessly.
During the map phases, you can expect a set number of turns before the Chasers, McNeil, and Francisco catch up. These act as more challenging boss fights. The catch here is that they don’t die permanently, so they’ll follow you to the next map. The showdowns are pretty short, and the maps are rather small.
This is dramatically different from Void Bastards, which is more like an immersive sim with exploration and puzzles. There’s a satisfying risk-reward system at play in Wild Bastards. Do you push further for more upgrades or get out while you can? While this system adds tension to exploration, it can also feel repetitive after a while, with the same types of enemies and objectives popping up frequently.
One of the strongest features of Wild Bastards is its ensemble cast. Each character has a distinctive playstyle that makes them feel unique, from Billy’s gunslinging antics to Sarge’s long-range rifle. There’s also some interesting banter among the cast, and they even get into feuds with each other. The only way you can solve these feuds is by giving them beans.
You’ll have the ability to switch freely between the two bastards that you choose. Switching between bastards feels really snappy—almost closer to switching a weapon in your standard FPS rather than swapping out an entire character.
You can switch to a more mobile character like Roswell if you need to dodge a barrage of bullets. If you want to dish out massive damage, simply switch to a strong damage dealer like Preach. There is some strategy with the swapping here in Wild Bastards, but you will soon notice that some of the characters feel underdeveloped, and the game doesn’t give you much room to experiment with deeper abilities.
On aspects that make Wild Bastards more fun, you won’t need to worry about managing your ammo since it is infinite, though you will still have to reload your guns. When you get down to combat, paying attention to health is a lot more important, as health pickups during showdowns are limited, and you might not have the opportunity to purchase or find healing items on the map.
If you run out of health with one of your characters, they are injured, and you’ll have to use a tonic in The Drifter to revive them. If all characters are injured and there’s no way to revive them, that run is going to be over, and you’ll have to start at the beginning of the planetary system. Thankfully, you can keep permanent upgrades and any unlocked characters on your run. However, gold, equipment, and temporary mods will be lost.
There is also a currency called Infamy, which is earned from showdowns. Infamy unlocks permanent upgrades and other useful resources like tonic or equipment. The stronger you get, the more enemies you’re likely to kill and the more Infamy you’ll collect to spend at the start of the next run.
However, there are some balancing issues with Wild Bastards. The enemies are brutal on standard difficulty, and the game’s fast-paced nature can feel overwhelming. You may or may not like how quickly a good run can go wrong. I do know there will be some who enjoy the chaotic, unforgiving nature of each encounter. Lowering the difficulty does make the game more accessible, but that takes away from some of the fun of Wild Bastards, in my opinion.
The repetition in Wild Bastards can end up feeling like a grind. The mix of board game-style exploration and arena shooting makes for a fun loop at first, but it can start to feel like you’re doing the same thing repeatedly. Sure, there’s some variety in enemy types and map layouts, but it’s not enough to keep the game feeling fresh throughout.
Something the developers did include to shake up gameplay, though, is a relationship feature. Characters can get into feuds, which means they can’t be played together. But these arguments seem random in nature. There aren’t dialogue choices or anything to influence relationships. It all seems to be triggered after beaming back to the ship.
It’s a nice addition, but this relationship system is not deep enough to feel crucial to the overarching plot. It doesn’t do much in the way of adding depth to what’s already there, either. It would have been great if there was interaction between characters through dialogue choices or some gifting options. The current system just feels like an afterthought that becomes more annoying when your favorite mix of characters can’t be chosen.
One thing Wild Bastards does perfectly is the visuals. The game has a mix of comic book-inspired art and sci-fi western themes that really stand out. It’s bright, bold, and has plenty of personality. The environments, while limited in variety, are visually appealing and align with the game’s quirky space Western theme. I love the cel-shaded look here.
The voice acting also adds a lot of charm, giving each outlaw a distinct vibe that makes them stand out, even when the gameplay starts to feel repetitive. The voice acting across the board is just great, with everyone leaning into their cowboy stereotype.
I was disappointed, however, with the soundtrack. The music didn’t stand out and was just sort of in the background. It didn’t amp up any situation when I was in the middle of an intense shootout or provide any emotional weight in the story scenes. It’s just there, and it isn’t memorable.
If you end up playing Wild Bastards for 15 or more hours, you will also find some post-game content, including a challenge mode to keep you playing. This adds one reason to boot the game back up after finishing the campaign, other than wanting to hear the excellent voice acting.
Wild Bastards has many elements that make it stand out—it’s got a nice spin on the classic FPS and roguelike genre. However, the repetitive gameplay loop, shallow character relationships, and certain weak characters hold the game back.
Though, I mean it when I say Wild Bastards gets the job done as a tactical roguelike first-person shooter. This is a game with a lot of potential, but it doesn’t quite hit the mark. The combat is quick, fast, and satisfying in short bursts, and the character designs are creative and witty enough to keep you entertained for a while.
If you’re a fan of roguelikes or chaotic first-person shooter games, there’s fun to be had here—especially if you enjoy the quirky space western of Wild Bastards. But if you’re looking for a game with more staying power after your first few sessions with it, you may want to look elsewhere.
