Weird West

Lore & Background

Weird West was announced at The Game Awards 2019 by Raphaël Colantonio and Julien Roby, former Arkane Studios executives who founded WolfEye Studios. The game adopts a top-down perspective inspired by early Ultima and Fallout titles, rather than the first-person view typical of immersive sims. Chris Avellone was originally involved as a coach to the writing team. The game's soundtrack was partly composed by Weird Wolves, a band formed by Colantonio and Ava Gore.

The game includes a playable Native American character, Across Rivers, whose storyline centers on supernatural conflict, community responsibility, and defending Native people. WolfEye Studios invited the Anishinaabe to ensure authentic depiction and added Elizabeth LaPensée, an Anishinaabe and Métis game designer and writer, to the writing team. LaPensée has emphasized Indigenous self-determination in media, and her involvement helped place Native identity at the core of the narrative rather than as background detail.

Reviewers noted that the game's attempt to reimagine minorities in the historical West raised questions about how successfully it handled Native and First Nations culture, especially given the Western genre's history of stereotypes and the 'white gaze.' The game can be discussed as both an example of increased Indigenous visibility in video games and as part of a broader conversation about Native representation in popular media.

Reader's Guide

Weird West is notable for its integration of Indigenous representation into a genre that has historically marginalized or stereotyped Native peoples. By making a Native American character one of the five main protagonists and centering her story on community and supernatural conflict, the game complicates the typical Western narrative focused on settlers and outlaws. The involvement of Elizabeth LaPensée as a writer, rather than a consultant, reflects a shift toward Indigenous self-determination in game development.

The game's reception was generally positive on PC and Xbox One, with critics praising its story, world, exploration, and player choice, while noting technical issues and an unbalanced upgrade system. Its nomination for Role-Playing Game of the Year at the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards underscores its recognition within the industry. However, the mixed reviews for the PlayStation 4 version and criticisms of its combat, morality system, and loot indicate that its execution was not universally acclaimed. The game's permanent consequences and permadeath mode align with its immersive sim roots, offering a distinct experience in the action RPG landscape of the 2020s.