On the wild frontier, do you have what it takes to survive, or is that six-shooter just for show?
Picture this.
You’re riding hard across a harsh, untamed wilderness atop your trusty steed. You can feel the lawman hot on your heels as you clutch your newly “acquired” riches ever tighter. Heart hammering in your chest, you reach for that cold heavy iron strapped to your side.
They won’t take you alive.
Exciting stuff, right? Westerns transport us back to a time of unparalleled freedom, but with that freedom also came great danger. Life came at you hard and fast, and you’d often find yourself settling arguments at the wrong end of a barrel.
If that gets your blood pumping, saddle up because these 15 games are guaranteed to let your inner Outlaw run wild!
15. Guns’n’Stories: Bulletproof (PC/PS4)
Guns'n'Stories: Bulletproof - Release Trailer
Have you ever seen The Princess Bride? Because this game’s like that, except with a lot less romance and a lot more bullets flying at you. A wild west story told to a young boy by his cowboy grandpa puts you in the driver’s seat as you live out his crazy adventures.
Are you ready for some fast-paced VR shooting?
Finally! A reason to dust off your VR headset! You know, other than those times when you’re entertaining house guests with Beat Saber. Don’t look at me like that; you know it’s true. Okay, fine, there is Hitman, I’ll give you that. Joking aside, if you’re looking to really step back in time for some saloon fight’n action, this game’s got you covered.
14. 12 Is Better Than 6 (PC/Nintendo Switch)
12 is Better Than 6 – Release Trailer
You’ve gotta escape, no matter what it takes. Those lawmen won’t put you in chains again. Carve a bloody path through the bounty hunters out for your head and claim your freedom; no one’s gonna stand in your way!
The old way justice used to be dealt out.
This Kickstarter-funded title takes a lot of its inspiration from the hit game Hotline Miami. It’s a bloody top-down massacre as you help the hero shoot his way to freedom. The clean white visual style serves to give emphasis to just how bloody this game is. Plus, it’s got customizable hats! Who doesn’t love customizable hats? (Looking at you TF2 players.)
13. Bloodroots (PC/PS4/Xbox Series X|S/Nintendo Switch)
Bloodroots - Official Steam Trailer
Westerns aren’t just about saloon fights and standoffs, you know. They can also be about murdering your way across the frontier with a hatchet, or a carrot if you're feeling adventurous. In this game, everything can be used as a tool of destruction.
You'll be seeing a lot of red in this game.
This is a fast-paced roguelike. Meaning, you’re gonna die a lot. But each death will teach you more and more how to use your environment to your advantage. Soon you’ll be speeding through levels at a pace that would put Sonic to shame. All while leaving an ocean of bloody carnage in your wake.
12. Tales from the Borderlands (PC/PS4/PS3/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch/IOS/Android)
Tales from the Borderlands - Launch Trailer
What would a western look like if it was set in a galaxy far, far away? I present to you the wild world of Pandora. Where every lowlife in the universe comes to duke it out for a shot at untold riches beyond their wildest dreams.
When everyone's only in it for themselves, who can you trust?
While there are many great games in Gearbox’s acclaimed series, if I had to choose the one you’ll like the most, it would be Telltale Games' fantastic episodic spin-off. Because this is a game that really makes you feel like you're actually part of this lawless frontier. It’s the one that makes you connect with the characters and understand the stakes they face in this epic treasure hunt personally. In five short episodes, the game makes you care more about its two leads than three games’ worth of content with the series' other protagonists. Plus, and this is the most important part, more Handsome Jack!
11. West of Loathing (PC/Nintendo Switch/IOS)
West of Loathing Launch Trailer
Go West, young stick person, go west and seek your fortune! That’s the premise of this over-the-top game developed by Asymmetric Publications. A game that sacrifices visual fidelity to bring you pure slapstick action!
Just stupidly funny.
This game completely ditches the darker tones you tend to see in most games set in the wild west, bringing you an RPG with its main focus firmly set on comedy. With quirky classes to choose from, like the Snake Oiler, who can expertly talk his way out of any bad situation. Or how about the Cow Puncher, for when you want to punch… cows? Yeah, this game’s a weird one, that’s for sure. But if you’re getting tired of cowboys on bloody quests for revenge, you should consider giving this light-hearted game a try.
10. Desperados III (PC/PS4/Xbox One)
Desperados III - John Cooper Trailer
So I hear they say you’re the toughest in the west, but I have a question. Are you the smartest? Prove you’ve got the brains to survive in this real-time tactical stealth western, as you sneak your way across challenging maps, using your wits and the environment as your weapon.
"We do this quiet, get in, get out, and everyone gets paid."
This game is a bit of a break from the typical running and gunning seen in most cowboy games. The shootouts are still there, of course, but because you play from a top-down perspective, you don’t feel like you're in the center of the fray. You can actually sit back and plan out your strategies before moving forward. Not for too long, though; remember this is a real-time tactical stealth game. Your enemies aren’t just gonna let you stand around all day pondering what to do, but hey, if you’re good enough, you can make it through the maps without them even knowing you were there!
9. Hard West (PC/PS4/Nintendo Switch)
Hard West - Launch Trailer
When you’re already dead, what’ve you got to lose? Turns out a lot, as our unlucky protagonist Warren comes to find out after making a deal with the Devil for a shot at revenge. Now he’s Satan’s undead pawn, existing only to spread chaos across the old west.
Making deals with the Devil is never a good idea.
If you like turn-based strategy games like XCOM, you’ll love this dark and gritty western. There are also many narrative choices available in this game, allowing you the freedom to choose how Warren’s story plays out. And how he interacts with the colorful cast who inhabit this twisted world. It’s a tragic story told to you in the dark, brooding voice of Death. The Grim Reaper acts as your cold narrator as you fight to uncover Warren’s bitter fate.
8. GUN (PC/Xbox 360/PSP/PS2/Xbox/Gamecube)
Gun - Trailer - PS2
Man, westerns sure do love their revenge stories, don’t they? This is a tale of a young gunman out to get payback against those who did him dirty. An old school shooter with a story that takes many twists and turns, culminating in a final battle taking place in a mysterious lost city of gold.
A typical response to someone spilling your beer in the wild west.
Coming out at around the same time as the original Red Dead Revolver, these two games set the standard for what the modern western game would look like. And while its visuals may look a bit dated by today’s standards, its gameplay still stands the test of time. Mixing bullet-flying actions with a story that stands up with the genre's all-time greats. This game certainly won’t disappoint. So if you’re wondering how modern masterpieces like RDR2 came to be, check out this classic hit.
7. West of Dead (PC/Xbox One/PS4/Nintendo Switch)
West of Dead - Launch Trailer
You play as Marshall William Mason (Voiced by the very talented Ron Pearlman), a flaming-headed lawman brutally murdered by the mysterious Preacher. Now stuck in Purgatory, which takes the form of 1888 Wyoming, you must battle a horde of hideous monsters. Can you help the Marshall get justice against the man who put him in the ground?
I guess Marvel doesn't own the market on flaming-skull gunmen now.
This game is like Hades meets Ghost Rider. You die, again and again, each time becoming stronger. The game has a killer art style (No pun intended!). It’s dark and broody, yet the bright flashes of color complement its smooth, fast-paced gameplay. While the commanding yet smooth voice of Ron Pearlman draws you further into this world as the haunting guitar chords propel you forward on your bloody crusade of vengeance.
6. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PC/Nintendo Switch/Xbox 360/PS3)
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger | Reveal Trailer [US]
This here’s a real who’s who of the wild west hall of fame. As our bounty hunter protagonist Silas Greaves recounts his gunslinging exploits, you get to live out his extraordinary tale. Rubbing shoulders and squaring off against real historical outlaws like Billy the Kid, Johnny Ringo, and Jesse James.
What you wear when you need to rob a train in style.
You wanna shoot stuff on the go? Who am I kidding, of course you do! Well, you're lucky because this classic shoot-em-up is now available in your hands with its recent port to the Nintendo Switch. You can take aim like never before as you hunt your bounties down, now with added motion controls. Someone’s gotta bring order to this lawless country, and that someone is you!
5. Hunt: Showdown (PC/PS4/Xbox One)
Hunt: Showdown Steam Trailer
Get your crew together and saddle up! The Louisiana bayou is crawling with nightmarish abominations. We need a team of professionals to put these suckers back in the ground. That’s where you come in.
You know, with this game and Resident Evil VII, I'm starting to think Louisiana might not be the best place to live.
This game is brought to you by Crytek. Developers of the famous Crysis series. Which is infamous for overheating PCs back in the day. Fortunately, this game has more reasonable requirements to run smoothly. Allowing us with less expensive rigs to also enjoy the experience.
4. Fallout: New Vegas (PC/Xbox 360/PS3)
Fallout: New Vegas Trailer - E3 2010
Okay so we’ve been looking back in time; now let’s instead spring forward. In this post-apocalyptic western, you play as the Courier, an unfortunate soul who is ambushed and left for dead en route to deliver a mysterious package. After being nursed back to health, you set out to make a name for yourself in the war-ravaged Mojave desert.
In a desert filled with many factions, who will you throw your lot in with?
Fallout: New Vegas is really a miracle in games development. Its developers, Obsidian Entertainment, were only given 18 months to complete the project. Which is not a lot of time to make a game, even back in 2010. And yet what they managed to pull off in that time is simply astounding. The game has fantastic writing, both in the main story and the side-quests. As well as some of the best companion characters the Fallout series has ever had.
3. Red Dead Revolver (PS2/Xbox)
Red Dead Revolver Trailer #1
Do you know what time it is? It’s Red Dead time. I held off as long as I could, but here, at last, is Rockstar Games' award-winning western franchise, beginning with the one that started it all.
He's got six shots but he only needs one.
Believe it or not, Red Dead was supposed to be a Capcom game. Originally titled ‘S.W.A.T.,’ the premise was later changed to be a western. Thus the acronym came to stand for “Spaghetti Western Action Team,” and that’s hilarious! Can you imagine the cowboy star of Spaghetti Western Action Team showing up in Marvel VS Capcom? Unfortunately, that would never happen. After a troubled development, the project was eventually picked up by Rockstar Games when they purchased Angel Studios, the games’ original creators. Angel Studios was then renamed Rockstar San Diego, and the rest was history.
2. Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360/PS3)
Red Dead Redemption Official Trailer "My Name is John Marston"
Poor John, he’s just trying to get his life together. Put his outlaw past behind him and raise his family in peace. But unfortunately, the past has a way of coming back at you. When you’ve made as many enemies as our boy John here, well… let’s just say that ‘getting out’ was never really an option.
Uncle Sam's whipping boy.
Red Dead Redemption was crowned Game of the Year at the Spike TV game awards back in its release year of 2010. Not an easy feat in such a star-studded year. Managing to win out against blockbuster titles like Mass Effect 2 and God of War 3 really put the series on the map. And set the stage for Rockstar to produce what is arguably the best western game ever made in its pre-sequel nearly a decade later. It even had a fun zombie mode that was a lot more fleshed out than it had any right to be. The mode had its own story that took John's gritty, serious tale and turned it into a campy zombie/western hybrid. It was great!
1. Red Dead Redemption II (PC/Xbox One/PS4)
Red Dead Redemption 2: Official Trailer #3
Set in the last days of the wild west. This game tells the story of Arthur Morgan, an outlaw working for Dutch van dor Linde. As he and the rest of their group try and outrun the agents of the US government.
All of this is Dutch's fault somehow, I just know it.
This game is Rockstar’s love letter to the genre. It's a game made with such loving detail that it can’t help but pull you in, immersing you in what it really felt like to live in the fledgling US of 1899. From the way guns handle to the way your horse moves, you can tell a tremendous amount of research went into every area of development. The result is a game with an incredible amount of polish. A modern classic if there ever was one. You as a gamer owe it to yourself to play through it at least once, it really is worth it.
