Space pirates are so 2019, but in 2024 it’s all about space outlaws. Developer Blue Manchu made adjustments for Wild Bastards to shift towards more bite-sized encounters and developing crew relationships that has everything feeling more intimate. Void Bastards was one of my favorite games from 2019, and it just hit at the right time, offering everything I was looking for that nailed the setting in space and roguelite formula while incorporating an immersive sim flavor. While this is still set in space, this unfortunately isn’t Void Bastards in the wild west, and in fact, Wild Bastards pales in comparison.
With the use of “Bastards” in the title, Wild Bastards is a disappointing follow-up to Void Bastards, and that never reaches the heights of its predecessor. I miss sending enemies out of airlocks after tricking them into investigating a sound. While it was a roguelite, there was a progression in its campaign that included immersive sim elements. These are the things that made Void Bastards so good. With Wild Bastards, you are beaming down to planets, exploring in a tabletop map view, and engaging in small shootouts with enemies until the area is clear – it’s a vastly different game, and not one for the better. Though it’s not all bad, Wild Bastards has a really fun set of characters, weapons, and modifiers that does make the encounters really fun.
The gameplay loop has you traveling from system to system, planet to planet to fight and collect resources. Beaming down to planets will see you often needing to fight enemies that block your path. In these scenarios you’ll have showdowns, which can occur in the day or at night, each offering differing visibility. Along the way you’ll resurrect outlaws, and add them to your team. From there you’ll progress to being able to take out the larger posses. Upon the completion of the campaign, a new challenge mode unlocks that offers increasingly difficult levels with gameplay modifiers to keep things fresh.
You’ll spend a lot of time on The Drifter, your interstellar ship that takes you from place to place. A chosen sector determines your path through the system. At a planet, you can see what enemies you’ll encounter before you beam down, allowing you to determine which of our outlaws are best for the job. It’s entirely possible, that due to atmospherics, your crew will get scattered upon beaming down and have to find each other planet side. If things become too intense, you can surrender from a showdown, or use a beacon to beam back to your ship in an emergency.
The flow of navigating the planet is done via a board game or tabletop view. There are specific points and pathways, some are open, most of the time, and in later areas you’ll find them blocked by enemies that you’ll have to fight past. You have a number of moves you can make on the board before needing to take a turn, and each turn cycles the time between day or night. Some points will offer things like money, ace cards to improve your crew, bounty hunters who can go after enemy blockades, or even orbital bombardments to wipe out some enemies entirely. There are many shops on the planet to purchase upgrades, health, and mods. Planets often feature different biomes, like swamps, ice, and deserts, not only changing the look but the feel, too. If you spend too much time on the planet, an enemy who cannot be defeated will start chasing you until you can repel him, or you beam back up to your ship.
