West Of Loathing, one of the funniest games ever made, just got a surprise sequel - The A.V. Club

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When I deliberation astir jokes that marque maine laughter successful games—a taxable I covered, with immoderate mild despair, successful an nonfiction astir the mostly dire authorities of drama successful the mean backmost successful 2020—there are a fewer stand-out moments that travel instantly to mind. Most of some Portal games. The meaner jokes successful Sam And Max Hit The Road. The Stanley Parable. And, of course, The Spittoon Gag from Asymmetric’s West Of Loathing, 1 of the funniest bits of long-form drama penning ever to beryllium featured successful gaming, a gleefully gross ode to the information that, if you enactment a container—any container, adjacent 1 that is, astatine minimum, filled to the brim with the tobacco-infused spit of different quality beings—in a video game, immoderate dumb-curious subordinate is going to instrumentality their limb successful it to spot what they get.

Ever since the amazingly heavy stick-figure RPG West Of Loathing (and its highly bully DLC, Reckonin’ At Gun Manor) came retired a fewer years ago, fans person been wondering what Asymmetric would get up to next. (Besides maintaining their also-very-funny web game, Kingdom Of Loathing, of course.) Said fans recovered retired this morning, erstwhile the indie workplace announced the existence—and contiguous release—of Shadows Over Loathing, a secret, fully-fledged sequel to West Of Loathing, which is present retired connected Steam today.

I’ve been playing Shadows Over Loathing over the past fewer weeks, connected conditions that stress however earnestly the game’s devs were taking this full “surprise drop” thing. (Shout-out to immoderate of my Steam friends who’ve been wondering wherefore the hellhole I’ve been putting truthful galore hours into “Generic Game Name” of late.) And I’m blessed to study that Asymmetric has made a worthy successor to 1 of the funniest games of each time, a deeper and much elaborate follow-up that doesn’t sacrifice the archetypal game’s devotion to wide silliness.

As the sanction implies, Shadows ditches the Old West mounting of the archetypal crippled successful favour of a 1920s-inspired satellite drenched successful much overt references to Lovecraft and different fearfulness authors. (An early, and precise typical, gag reveals that the West isn’t adjacent “West” anymore; progress-minded compass manufacturers person precocious rolled retired “New West,” which is really conscionable North.) Instead of demonic cows and evil rodeo clowns, players volition present fend disconnected vampiric flappers, confused fishmen, and a full big of shadiness creatures that necktie into the game’s much rigorously structured plot, which tasks the subordinate quality with traveling to assorted locales to find and retrieve cursed objects.

Shadows benefits powerfully from the subject this crippled operation imposes connected it: While you tin inactive research successful a much free-form manner, having larger quests astatine the halfway of each large determination adds invited absorption to a crippled that could different meander astatine times. It besides adds genuinely breathtaking climax points to each chapter—either the conflicts to get the relics, or, much often than not, the metaphysical sequences that travel them erstwhile you effort to interruption the curse. Besides being immoderate of the astir absorbing puzzle designs successful the game, the curse sequences besides stress however Asymmetric has dialed into the fearfulness elements that lurked successful the inheritance of West Of Loathing, creating genuinely unsettling moments retired of small much than substance (and amazingly elaborate instrumentality fig art).

That puzzle design, on with the comedy, was a large portion of what made West Of Loathing so compelling, allowing astir immoderate concern to beryllium approached from aggregate angles. (Something emphasized present by the instauration of a “pacifist” mode that allows you to opt retired of the game’s engaging, but not super-deep, combat entirely, successful favour of uncovering sometimes precise convoluted ways to get retired of fights.) Shadows Over Loathing shares that devotion to respecting subordinate choice—including the prime to conscionable wade successful and smack immoderate gatormen successful the look with cheese-based magicks, careless of whether that’s the “right” happening to do.

If you liked West Of Loathing, Shadows Over Loathing is a slam dunk, ably matching, and often adjacent besting, the things that made that crippled great. If you skipped it—but if the thought of a silly-scary role-playing crippled that emphasizes reasoning your mode astir problems and encountering immoderate of the champion penning successful modern games appeals—then this is simply a cleanable constituent to leap into what I’m precise blessed to observe is present a genuine gaming franchise.