The meanest gang in the galaxy is here, and they're called the Wild Bastards. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.

Wild Bastards Review Overview

What is Wild Bastards?

Wild Bastards is an action first-person shooter that features roguelike elements and comic-book visuals. You will take control of the Wild Bastards, a gang of thirteen outlaws, each with their own weapons, abilities, and specialties. It features a decently long campaign that will have you explore the galaxy in search of the other members of your gang. The gameplay features tabletop-like movement in procedurally generated maps and changes to a first-person shooter when starting combat.

Wild Bastards features:
　⚫︎　 Stylized Comic-Book Artstyle
　⚫︎　 Space Wild West Setting
　⚫︎　 Simple First-Person Shooter Combat
　⚫︎　 13 Unique Characters
　⚫︎　 Procedurally Generated Maps
　⚫︎　 Roguelike Progression and Upgrades

For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Wild Bastards’s gameplay and story.

Wild Bastards
Steam		PlayStation		Xbox		Switch
$34.99

Wild Bastards Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Amazing Banter and Voice Acting Different Outlaws, Various Playstyles Stunning Comic Book Art Style	Combat is Hit and Miss Some Outlaws Seem Better Common Roguelike Problems

Wild Bastards Overall - 84/100

Wild Bastards is best described as a comic book story in video game form, where you take control of the action. It has gorgeous visuals, amazing characters, and some interesting world-building when it comes to the banter between the gang. While the game’s combat does have its moments, it could also be its weakest aspect. The barebones first-person shooting mechanics make combat a drag despite having a good variety of enemy types. It’s a decent roguelike game, but as with all roguelikes, luck is one of the factors when it comes to the enjoyment of the gameplay.

Wild Bastards Story - 9/10

After a botched mission, the Wild Bastards find themselves scattered and dead around the galaxy. While being chased after the law, a sentient spaceship, the Drifter, rescues two of the gang, and they start their quest to resurrect and find their fellow gang members. The ship is seemingly going to the Homestead, a planet that’s considered to be a safe haven from the law. It’s a simple story, but the banter between the outlaws and the fact that they’re all fully voice-acted are honestly what make the narrative better than it actually is.

Wild Bastards Gameplay - 7/10

The gameplay is pretty simple. To be particularly honest, the combat and everything feel way too plain, aside from some exceptions on how the abilities influence the outlaws and their playstyle. It’s a simple isometric board game when it comes to "exploration" in the planets, but becomes a very barebones first-person shooter when starting combat.

The combat itself could become annoying to deal with, especially when you have enemies that are always under cover and are scarily accurate with their gunshots. Also, enemies tend to outnumber and have better positions than you in almost all encounters. The roguelike elements are present and are there to enhance the gameplay and progression of the characters, but as usual, luck is a factor when it comes to the enjoyment of playing roguelike games.

Wild Bastards Visuals - 10/10

For visuals, Wild Bastards is gorgeous. The game looks like it’s lifted straight out of a comic book, and the art style is also pretty great. The character designs are also distinct and memorable, as each outlaw has their own personal charm. Additionally, these character designs also lend themselves to the gameplay, as their appearances are not just for show.

Wild Bastards Audio - 9/10

As for audio design, the game’s voice acting is its highlight. The voice acting adds so much to the game’s presentation, as you might as well be listening to an audiobook of the Wild Bastards’ escapades. Not to mention that it’s not only the outlaws that have good performances, as even the henchmen and the main villains all have good performances. Other than its voice acting, the music is also pretty good, as it gives that wild west in space feeling in each encounter. The sound effects are pretty great as well, as it definitely differentiates the characters from one another with their weapons.

Wild Bastards Value for Money - 7/10

For $34.99, the game is a decent experience overall with content that’s pretty replayable. However, once the luster of the game’s characters wears off, the gameplay might feel a little too shallow to keep replaying after the main campaign. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very well presented game for its aesthetics and world-building, but after finishing the story, it might not be enough to keep players interested.

Wild Bastards Review: See You, Space Outlaws

It could be said that the Wild West as a setting has already been overdone. But have you ever thought about the Wild West in space? Enter Wild Bastards, a stylized roguelike first-person shooter where you control the titular gang of thirteen unique outlaws. At first glance, the game has a lot going for it; it’s striking visuals, interesting character designs, and a great Wild West in space setting. However, how does it compare to its contemporaries?

The story of the game is quite literally just getting the gang back together. After a botched mission and nowhere to go, a sentient spaceship called the Drifter rescues the last remaining Wild Bastards, Spider Rosa and Casino. Without warning, the ship seemingly leads the two to the locations of where their crew members died and is able to resurrect them by recovering their Helixes. Thus, the quest to revive the gang is on, all the while the ship is on course toward the safe haven of the fabled Homestead.

I wouldn’t really say that the story is unique or something overdone. It fits that middle line of being simple to understand while being something different to offer. Simply put, it’s a gang of outlaws that are trying to get their gang back together while being on the run from the law and their sworn nemeses. It’s nothing too fancy, but the biggest reason for the game’s interesting narrative are the characters themselves.

All thirteen characters have their own unique personalities. These characters also interact with each other, whether it be making conversation about the current or past events that happened before or after their deaths, or their general banter that reinforces the game’s relationship system. It’s a great way to build the world and make impactful characters despite having a pretty big amount of characters trying to share the spotlight.

In terms of visuals, it pushes the envelope of making a comic book into video game form. You could say that the Borderlands series had something like it with its cel-shaded graphics and character designs, but Wild Bastards fully commits to the comic aesthetic. Not only are the characters unique and well-designed, but how they’re animated is reminiscent of how you’d see comic book characters move from panel to panel.

Going back to the unique character designs, this is the first time I’ve ever seen character concepts such as the members of the gang. One of the first characters that you’ll be controlling, Spider Rosa, is an arachnid-humanoid hybrid that uses two revolvers as her main weapons. Her main schtick is that she webs her opponents every time she hits them with her bullets.

To add to that, she is even able to reload one of her guns while being able to shoot since she has four arms. It’s these kinds of character designs and character concepts that really make you think about how much we can still push for newer and innovative characters.

One of the best things about the game is that the characters are fully voice-acted. While they do have a stereotypical Western accent, the voice actors performances are superb. It adds so much to their conversations, as it’s not just the outlaws who have great voice acting, but the villains and henchmen as well.

For the gameplay aspect, it’s a pretty simple roguelike game. Progression-wise, the game rewards you for exploring the game’s procedurally generated maps by spreading out rewards in the game’s multiple levels. It also gives you decision points to choose what upgrade you’d rather go with. Will you try to get more upgrades for the members? How about getting more equipment to strengthen them? Or will you try your luck with the game’s random events?

The combat in the game could be described as barebones. It’s a very, very simple first-person shooter game that emphasizes the use of cover and the strengths of your character. You’ll be thrown into different enemies and situations, and it's up to you to pick the right people for the job. The mechanics of the game are something you’d find in any basic FPS that’s out right now; the only thing different is that you’ll need pickups to be able to use all of your abilities.

If anything, the combat could be described as its weakest aspect. It does have its moments when things click and you get to use the strengths of the character that you’re using, but it can be quite frustrating. For starters, the enemies are very accurate. It’s not as if all of their shots home in on you, but it stresses the importance of cover and that you can’t just go gungho whenever you want. This, however, leads to the problem of trying to root out the enemies that have a strong positional advantage. You might need to run around the combat encounters just to get them to move so that you have a clear shot.

You’ll need to be smart with your outlaw choices as well as use whatever it takes to give yourself the advantage. You’ll most likely be fighting an uphill battle, so you have to make sure to tip the scales in your favor by choosing the right outlaw for the job or getting upgrades to steamroll your way through combat encounters.

All in all, Wild Bastards is a wonderfully presented game, but only a decent gameplay experience overall. In terms of aesthetics and atmosphere, the game presents and executes them perfectly. Not to mention that the character designs and interactions are also top-notch and add a lot to the game’s simple narrative. However, the game’s replayability suffers after finishing the game’s decently lengthy story. Without the banter and constant conversation, the game’s combat mechanics are put in a spotlight that doesn’t quite carry the weight of the game being a roguelike that’s meant to be constantly replayed.

Pros of Wild Bastards

Things Wild Bastards Got Right
Amazing Banter and Voice Acting Different Outlaws, Various Playstyles Stunning Comic Book Art Style

Amazing Banter and Voice Acting

The way the characters interact with each other is honestly the game’s biggest highlight. It shows that these are all pretty flawed and unique characters that have their own personalities. These personalities are highlighted with the game’s relationship system, where some characters might start bickering or start becoming friendly with each other based on the events that just happened. In the game’s story, it gets pretty interesting, especially when there are thirteen of them having their own feuds and friendships in the gang, and it’ll be up to you to juggle their relationships.

Different Outlaws, Various Playstyles

Having a set of thirteen different characters opens the game for having thirteen different playstyles. Not everyone is as complex as the other, but you can count that each of them has their own unique abilities and weapons that make the gameplay a little bit more interesting. One example is how Hopalong moves and fights, as he’s a close-range fighter with his laser lasso, and he automatically crouches down while he sprints.

Additionally, the game sort of forces you to play as the other outlaws since some situations are better dealt with by certain outlaws than others. For example, you’d want to use someone like Judge for engagements where you can capitalize on getting easy crits to use his Killshot ability frequently. There’s great pairings for outlaws to address both their strengths and weaknesses, so it’s up to you to find these.

Stunning Comic Book Art Style

The visuals of the game are amazing, to say the least. The game literally looks like it came out of a comic book, and the distinct character designs really make everything look stunning. They even doubled down on the game’s comic book aesthetic by making everything look 2D in a sense where they kind of look flat by the way they move and are animated. Not everyone will be a fan of the choppiness and how it looks, but I’m definitely a fan of the style.

Cons of Wild Bastards

Things That Wild Bastards Can Improve
Combat is Hit and Miss Some Outlaws Seem Better Common Roguelike Problems

Combat is Hit or Miss

The combat in the game can be very hit or miss. It’s a very simple cover-centric FPS that’s very barebones. Some encounters can be satisfying to do, while others can feel rather unfair with the number of enemies and their advantageous positioning. Additionally, the game could be very frustrating to some due to the tracking that enemies have. It could be said that the game has its fun moments, especially when you start playing around with the characters, but it also has its moments where things just don’t go as planned.

Some Outlaws Seem Better

While all thirteen outlaws have their own niche and roles to fulfill, it does seem like some outlaws are just better than others while being easier to use. An example of this is Preach being overly tanky as well as the ability to heal when hitting opponents while using her Juice ability, Damnation. The rest of the gang don’t really have this option of self-healing, but Preach can do well on her own without much assistance.

Another example of a difference in strength is Casino’s Juice ability, Roulette. It allows you to instantly defeat a single enemy anywhere in the map. While this seems lackluster, it actually helps you eliminate a target immediately from overwhelming odds. If you’re lucky enough, it could take out the strongest enemy in the encounter in one shot.

Common Roguelike Problems

The biggest problem that roguelikes face is the randomness that the genre itself has. Balancing the game’s encounters and rewards is definitely something hard to do as a developer. However, there are times when the game just throws too much at you, and you might have to take some losses every now and then. It’s important to note, however, that the game doesn’t exactly punish you too much for a total defeat, as you’d just have to repeat the whole level.

Is Wild Bastards Worth It?

Wait for a Sale, Unless You Really Like Colorful Banter

As a total package, the game is pretty good. It has stunning visuals, great characters, amazing voice acting, and a pretty lengthy campaign. However, if you’re after a better gameplay experience, this is not the game I’d recommend. There are definitely better roguelikes for the same price of $34.99 or lower. If you like a pretty good narrative and character interactions, then this game is definitely worth the pickup, but don’t expect amazing replayability, as after the campaign, it loses some steam without the colorful banter.

Digital Storefronts
Steam		PlayStation		Xbox		Switch
$34.99

Wild Bastards FAQ

What are the System Requirements to play Wild Bastards?

The System Requirements are as follows:

Game8 Reviews

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Wild Bastards Product Information

Title	WILD BASTARDS
Release Date	September 12, 2024
Developer	Blue Manchu
Publisher	Maximum Entertainment
Supported Platforms	PC(Steam), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
Genre	Action, Shooter, Roguelike
Number of Players	Single-Player(1)
Rating	ESRB M 17+
Official Website	Wild Bastards Official Website

Michael Gerra-Clarin

Resident fighting game nerd, avid FFXIV fan, and enjoyer of mostly anything gaming. Currently, he is enjoying Dawntrail as a Viper, while dying to Messmer's flames in Shadow of the Erdtree.