Summary
TheWild Westis arguably one of the most evocative and iconic settings in film and games alike, and many video games have used its tropes and cliches to great effect.Red Dead Redemptionand its revered sequel managed to capture the essence of the West with great skill, but although those games contain elements ofRPGs, they’re more focused on action and adventure.
For RPG fans, there’s not much in the way of well-made games set in some variety of the Wild West. This discussion aims to provide a broad and varied selection of Western-themed games with solid RPG systems that should hopefully scratch that Wild West itch.
Clearly a low-budget indie title,Wild West And Wizardsmay have been overly ambitious with its open-world, but its low price tag, low-poly style, and simplistic looter-shooter gameplay make it worth a look for players hungry forWild West RPGs. However, as its title may suggest,Wild West And Wizardsdoes include a magic system.
Wild West And Wizards’emphasis on collecting loot, combined with its unique talent trees and open-world exploration, make it a simple yet easy to play RPG that isn’t too taxing on the brain. Unfortunately, this can be a bit of a double-edged sword, and some players may not be able to look past the game’s obvious low budget.
This Wild West life-sim features minimalist, cartoon-style visuals and a general cozy frontier atmosphere that helps it stand out from other games with similar themes. The title is not all that challenging, and as a result it has a relatively low-stakes atmosphere, butDon’t Die In The Westis a nice and simple RPG with a focus on base-building and crafting.
For fans of slowly building a base, interacting with NPCs, exploring, and engaging in simple combat,Don’t Die In The Westis a vanilla Wild West-themed game that’s worth checking out, even if it’s a little rough around the edges.Don’t Die In The Westis currently in Early Access, but it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on for fans of the Wild West.
This action-RPG takes place in an alternate version of the Wild West in which fantastical creatures walk the land. The game’s unique 3D graphics make the dark fantasy West a visual treat, with a great deal of moody lighting and detailed environments.
Weird Westis unique for its immersive-sim aspects, allowing players to develop a play-style naturally, mastering the game’s systems and figuring out how to use them to their advantage on the fly.Weird West’saction-packed gameplay,interspersed with stealth elementsand made versatile through its immersive-sim influences, makes for an overall experience that’s often fun, even if its RPG systems aren’t the most in-depth.
Similarly toWeird West,Hard West 2takes place in a strange and supernatural version of the Wild West. UnlikeWeird West, however,Hard West 2features simple, yet solid,turn-based, tactical combatmade fun through distinct abilities and the game’s “bravado” system that rewards players for killing enemies, allowing them to chain attacks.
Hard West 2is visualized with superb 3D graphics and detailed Western environments with supernatural and Gothic influences, and these visuals, combined with its unique turn-based combat, make up forHard West 2’sfairly limited RPG systems.
This dark and gloomy retrocombination of FPS and RPGfeatures slow and methodical stealth gameplay that takes clear inspiration from old-schoolimmersive-sims likeThief. The story takes place in a Wild West setting injected with a handful of gruesome creatures and undead.Blood Westrecentlycame out of Early Access with its 1.0 update, and now offers three entirely distinct areas to explore with their own unique environments and enemies.Blood West’sweird-western setting is particularly unique from other “weird west” titles on this list, largely thanks to its horror aspects.Blood Westfeatures a fun world to explore, an abundance of loot to find, and a well-polished combat system that rewards careful planning and adaptability.
This minimalist, hand-drawn,black-and-whiteRPG distinguishes itself with its comedic writing and detailed open world.West Of Loathingwon’t be for everyone, and enjoyment of the game depends almost entirely on the player’s sense of humor.
West Of Loathingdoesn’t take itself seriously in any sense of the imagination, purely focused on providing players witha lightweight role-playing gamepacked with slapstick humor and writing riddled with jokes. Make no mistake, there’s still a solid game underneathWest Of Loathing’scomedy, but players will find it hard to enjoy themselves if the game’s writing grates on them.
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