Western games: about the games
Red Dead Redemption 2 is set in America in 1899, where Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde Gang are outlaws on the run. Federal agents and bounty hunters are closing in, so the gang must rob, steal and fight its way across the rugged American heartland to survive. As internal rifts deepen, Arthur must choose between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang that raised him. The game also includes Red Dead Online, a multiplayer mode in the same living world, where players can ride solo or form a posse, run moonshine, and battle lawmen, outlaw gangs and wild animals.
Desperados III is a story-driven hardcore tactical stealth game. John Cooper seeks redemption and, with Kate, Doc McCoy, Hector and Isabelle, travels through rural towns, swamps and riverbanks to a dramatic showdown. All five characters have their own skills: Cooper kills quietly with a knife or revolvers, Hector carries a giant bear trap and an axe, McCoy uses lures, knockout gas, poison syringes and a long-range pistol, Kate outfits and a hidden gun. You choose between stealth and blazing guns, deadly or non-lethal attacks; Showdown mode lets you pause and react to an ambush.
Red Dead Online is set in frontier America, in a world that keeps changing. Players chase bounties, fight outlaw gangs and other players, hunt, fish, trade and search for rare treasures. They can build a camp, ride alone or join a posse, and explore the snowy northern mountains and the southern swamps. Players can also run an underground moonshine distillery or become a Naturalist who studies the animal kingdom.
A dark menace consumes the American frontier. As one of the last agents of a top-secret vampire-hunting institute, you stand as the final line between humanity and a deep-rooted terror that is now emerging from the shadows. In visceral, explosive combat you wipe out bloodthirsty monstrosities with firearms, a lightning-fueled gauntlet and gadgets – either alone or in co-op with a friend. You move through a narrative-driven campaign while upgrading weapons and hunting tools and unlocking new perks to shape your own playstyle.
Far Far West is a chaotic co-op shooter for one to four players in which a crew of bounty-hunting robot cowboys takes on dangerous contracts from the Town Sheriff. Players track down targets, take them out and bring home the bounty. Beyond dusty saloons and endless deserts await haunted mines, reanimated skeletons, deadly storms and a giant ghost train. Combat switches seamlessly between six-shooters and fireballs, spells can be combined and gear customised, while in town you trade to upgrade guns, spells and abilities, pick perks and unlock skins for your robot cowboy and steed.
Red Dead Redemption is an action game in which you follow former outlaw John Marston as he tracks down the last remaining members of the notorious Van der Linde Gang. This is the PC debut of the predecessor to Red Dead Redemption 2. It bundles the main game with its zombie-horror companion story, Undead Nightmare, with complete single-player experiences of both plus bonus content from the Game of the Year Edition. There is no multiplayer. The PC version adds HDR lighting, native 4K resolution, support for Ultrawide (21:9) and Super Ultrawide (32:9) monitors, adjustable draw distances, and shadow quality settings.
Hard West takes players into a ‘weird’ version of the Western setting, where Warren, after a tragic event, is drawn into supernatural chaos and revenge and must brutally hunt down everyone who wronged him. The player controls 1–4 squad members in turn-based combat on tactical maps across eight story-based scenarios containing forty individually designed missions. Abilities are gained from cards that can be combined for stronger effects, and choices made during the game shape later events and the ending.
Turmoil is a simulation with strategy elements inspired by the oil rush of the 19th century in North America. As a budding oil entrepreneur, the player leases land at the town auction, finds crude with a dowser, mole or scanner, and builds a rig with a pipe network to bring the oil up into silos. It is sold at the best moments, upgrades are acquired to deal with rock, gas and ice, and town shares are gathered to outdo rivals in the race for mayor. A campaign follows the climb from rags to riches, joined by procedurally generated levels for single games and online multiplayer against friends or random opponents.
Hard West 2 takes you into the dark heart of the American West. You take charge of a supernatural posse and set out to catch the mysterious Ghost Train. In this turn-based tactics game you have to outsmart, outcheat and outgun your enemies. Nothing in its world is quite what it seems.
Paint the Town Red is a chaotic first-person melee combat game set in various locations and time periods. Voxel-based enemies can be punched, bashed, kicked, stabbed and sliced using nearly any object at hand. Scenarios take place in a biker bar, a disco, a prison, a pirate cove and a western saloon. The Beneath mode offers a roguelite underground adventure against dangerous creatures, with unlockable upgrades, and the game also includes arenas, an endless mode, multiplayer co-op and a level editor with Steam Workshop support.
Call of Juarez is a western-themed FPS in which the player alternately takes on two distinct, antagonistic characters: Billy, a sneaking fugitive, and his hunter, the reverend Ray. Playing as each of them brings different abilities and a different style of play. Alongside fast-paced revolver duels with historically accurate firearms, it offers horseback riding and saddle shooting, fighting with a whip, and stealth in locations inspired by Western movies. Emergent gameplay built on simulation of rigid bodies, liquids, gases, fire and smoke makes the action non-linear.
Colt Canyon is a 2D pixel art shooter where you play as a cowboy (or one of several unlockable characters) whose goal is to rescue his kidnapped partner from ruthless bandits. You fight your way through a hostile canyon full of hidden treasures, weapons, obstacles and bloodthirsty villains, armed with a revolver and TNT, with real-time combat and boss fights. The levels are randomized, persistent and open, with optional permadeath and the ability to ride horses. Once your partner is rescued, you still have to get back home.