Wild Bastards Review Summary

Engaging & Strategic Gameplay Loop: Players consistently praise the game's core gameplay loop, highlighting its unique blend of FPS action, roguelite elements, and strategic depth. The combat is described as engaging, tactical, and varied, offering both intense showdowns and opportunities for thoughtful planning. The game's ability to maintain freshness through new content and challenges, especially on higher difficulties, contributes significantly to its high replayability and addictive nature.

Diverse & Charismatic Characters: The game's diverse cast of characters is a major highlight. Players love their unique designs, distinct personalities, varied playstyles, and well-executed voice acting. The character interactions and the strategic depth offered by their unique abilities and synergies are frequently cited as strong points.

Improved Successor to Void Bastards: Many players view the game as a significant improvement and worthy successor to Void Bastards. They appreciate that it retains the core charm and aesthetic while refining mechanics, enhancing the story, and introducing more diverse content, leading to a more engaging and less repetitive experience.

Enjoyable Story & Humor: The game's narrative and humor are well-received, providing an entertaining and lighthearted experience. Players enjoy the witty writing, engaging dialogue, and the overall fun tone that complements the gameplay without overshadowing it.

Striking Art Style & Visuals: The game's art style and visual design are consistently praised. Players appreciate the unique comic book-inspired aesthetic, vibrant colors, and distinctive character and environmental designs, which contribute to an immersive and stylish experience.

Disappointing Compared to Void Bastards: Many players, especially fans of the developer's previous title, Void Bastards, express significant disappointment. They feel the game deviates too much from Void Bastards' core mechanics (like exploration, looting, and tension) and fails to deliver a comparable or improved experience, despite being marketed as a 'spiritual successor.'

Frustrating Enemy & Map Design: Players report various issues with enemy design and behavior, including enemies blending into environments, having 'hit-scan' accuracy, or being difficult to locate. This leads to frustrating encounters where players feel unfairly targeted or forced into passive playstyles, and maps often feel too large or empty.

Repetitive & Clunky Gameplay: The core gameplay loop, particularly the first-person shooter combat, is widely criticized for being repetitive, clunky, and lacking depth. Players find the moment-to-moment gunplay unrewarding and the overall experience monotonous, especially given the campaign's length.

Weak Story & Characters: The game's narrative, characters, and overall story are frequently described as underdeveloped, forgettable, and lacking charm. Players report that the plot is barebones, characters are unmemorable, and the dialogue can be cringeworthy, failing to engage them.

Unbalanced Character System: The character system suffers from balance issues, with some characters being significantly more powerful or useful than others, leading to repetitive use of a few 'overpowered' characters. Many later characters feel like filler, and the progression system doesn't adequately support the entire roster.

Two-Layered Strategic Map: The game features a two-layered strategic map system. Players navigate a sector map to choose planets, then a node-based planetary map to make tactical moves, collect resources, and engage in combat. This strategic movement is a core gameplay element.

Diverse Character Roster: The game features a roster of 13 unique 'Outlaws' or 'Bastards,' each with distinct weapons, abilities, and playstyles. Players manage these characters, their relationships, and their upgrades, often pairing them for combat.

Roguelite FPS Hybrid: The game is primarily a roguelite FPS hybrid, combining strategic elements with first-person arena combat. While it shares some roguelike characteristics like procedural generation and unlocks, it's not a traditional roguelike.

Campaign and Unlockable Modes: The game includes a story-driven campaign, approximately 10-18 hours long, which serves as an extended tutorial. Completing this campaign unlocks additional procedural and challenge modes for extended replayability.

Arena-Based FPS Combat: Combat primarily occurs in 'Showdowns,' which are bite-sized, first-person arena shootouts. Unlike Void Bastards, the game focuses heavily on direct gunfights rather than stealth or avoidance.

Excellent Steam Deck performance: Players consistently report excellent performance on the Steam Deck, noting smooth gameplay, high settings compatibility, and efficient battery usage. This suggests strong optimization for portable play.

Frequent saves, short encounters: The game features a save system that progresses after each encounter, and these encounters are generally brief, often lasting less than five minutes. This design supports quick play sessions and reduces frustration from long re-dos.

Similar visual style to Void Bastards: The game's visual style is noted to be very similar to 'Void Bastards,' combining 3D environments with 2D sprite enemies. This provides a clear expectation for players familiar with that aesthetic.

Encounter-breaking bug reported: One player reported a significant bug that forced them to replay the same section multiple times, leading to frustration and uninstallation. While an isolated report, it highlights a potential critical bug.

M+KB offers advantage: One player noted that using a mouse and keyboard provides an advantage, attributing this to the game's AI. This suggests that the AI might be challenging or that precise input is beneficial.

Highly Recommended Game: Overall, the game receives a strong recommendation from many players, often with high ratings. While some suggest waiting for a sale, the general sentiment is positive, with many finding it a worthwhile experience.

Good Value on Sale: Many players suggest purchasing the game during a sale, particularly when it's around $10. While some believe it's worth the full price, the consensus leans towards it being an excellent value on discount.

Play on Higher Difficulty: Players recommend increasing the difficulty, especially to Hard or Ironman mode, to enhance the game's excitement and challenge. This is suggested for both initial playthroughs and after completing the story.

Understand Game Style First: Players are advised to watch gameplay videos before buying to understand the game's style and mechanics. It's also noted that the game might not appeal to those who dislike repetition or expect a stealth/sniper experience.

Desire for Endless Mode: There's a desire for more post-campaign content, specifically an infinite campaign mode. This would allow players to continue leveling characters, experiment with team compositions, and extend playtime.

Satisfying Game Length: Players generally found the game to be of a decent length, with playthroughs ranging from 18 to 27 hours. Many expressed excitement about continuing to play, unlocking characters, and exploring end-game content or potential DLC.

Pricing and Value Perception: The game's pricing and value proposition were a point of discussion, with some sympathizing with the $35 price tag while others noted its frequent availability in bundles or sales. There's also a broader sentiment about the challenges indie developers face in pricing their games fairly.

Unfairly Criticized Reception: Some players feel the game has been unfairly criticized or received a lukewarm reception, despite being competently made. There's a concern that this negative perception might hinder future content or sequels.

Quirky 'Beans' Theme: A recurring, humorous theme in the reviews is the mention of 'beans,' often tied to the game's narrative or character interactions, indicating a quirky and memorable aspect of the game's flavor.

Steep Learning Curve: The game has a noticeable learning curve, and some players suggested that initial gear and character choices should be more guided to help new players familiarize themselves with the mechanics.