While there is a rich and long-lasting history of Western stories in the mediums of film and television, Western video games are a phenomenon that is much scarcer and more limited when compared to other artistic mediums. This can be attributed to numerous factors, from Westerns as a whole fading from popularity around the time of video games rising in popularity to genres in gaming being more defined by gameplay mechanics instead of fictional archetypes. Ironically, when the term “Western video game” is brought up, several gamers think of games created by studios in the Western hemisphere, like Europe and America, instead of the Western genre.
However, it doesn’t mean that Western genre video games don’t exist, as there have been several great games inspired by the great Western stories of the past and have gracefully translated the world of outlaws, cowboys, and other aspects of the Wild West into a playable format. There is an inherent joy that comes from a Western video game, as outright playing as a character in a world or style befitting of the great American Frontier has its own distinct charms.
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‘Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath’ (2005)
Other games in the Oddworld franchise are not a part of the Western genre, as the series is largely that of sci-fi fantasy with aliens fighting off destructive corporations poisoning their planet. While it plays into some similar messaging of previous games in the series, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath does not hide its overwhelming differences from other entries in the franchise, not just being a full-on Western, but having third-person and first-person shooter gameplay instead of traditional platforming.
Still, Stranger’s Wrath is far from a traditional Western world, as it takes all of the wild intricacies and charms of the Oddworld universe and fits it into the style and feel of a cutthroat Western. The titular main character of Stranger is a bounty hunter, with the player utilizing his varied arsenal of living ammunition to take on bounties so that he can get the funds for a mysterious life-saving operation. The game is overflowing with creativity in every aspect of its execution, fully living up to the Oddworld mantle while also being unlike any other game in the series.
7
‘West of Loathing’ (2017)
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Don’t let West of Loathing‘s cartoonishly simplistic stick figure art style fool you; the game itself is a hilarious satire of both Western archetypes as well as conventions of turn-based RPGs. Its art style proves to be an unexpected benefit for the game, not only easing the audience into the comedically charged elements of its writing and story, but also a symbol of how easy to understand the mechanics and feel of the game actually are.
It’s an indie game defined by charm and wit, inviting players into a goofy world that riffs on Western tropes while still being a lot of fun to play. A great deal of customization and the player’s choice of dialogue options help make the world feel more fluid and alive, while the core RPG gameplay is great, simple fun. The game even proved to be such a fan-favorite that it received a sequel in 2022, but this sequel has a Lovecraftian setting instead of a Western one.
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‘Call of Juarez: Gunslinger’ (2013)
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The Call of Juarez series has been the premier face of Old West first-person shooters ever since the series debut in 2006, with the arguable height of this long-forgotten Ubisoft franchise being Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. Despite being the fourth game in the series, Gunslinger acts as a standalone narrative completely separate from the original trilogy, helping the game achieve a much longer lifespan and memorability as a more action-packed alternative to other Western games for the PS3 and Xbox 360.
The game sees the player play as a ruthless bounty hunter, telling his grandiose and impossible-to-believe story of death and extravagant crimes to an audience of saloon-goers. As the player plays through these stories, the action and wild elements of his unbelievable stories shine through in the gameplay, letting the player feel like this absolutely unstoppable madman of the Old West. The action game has easily etched out a special place in the hearts of those who played it, enough for the game to get a rerelease 6 years later on the Nintendo Switch.
5
‘Sunset Riders’ (1991)
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One specific era of gaming that was overflowing with wildly creative concepts that were fighting to catch the interest of gamers through just a glance was the era of the arcade cabinet. When arcades were dominating video game culture in the early 90s, the go-to choice for a Western video game was Sunset Riders, a wild run-and-gun shooter that saw up to 4 players fighting their way through the Wild West in high-octane, quarter-munching action.
The gameplay is relatively similar to Konami’s other prominent run-and-gun games of the era, most notably Contra, but with an Old West coat of paint amplifying the charm and feel of the entire product. Sunset Riders excels and amplifies the insanity of its setting in every level, as well as each different playable character having a different type of gun and style of play. While the game did receive some ports on the SNES and Sega Genesis following its success in arcades, the original arcade version is the way to go for playing this classic, thankfully available to play in original arcade glory on the Nintendo Switch and PS4.
Four icons and four completely different ways of walking into trouble.
This is the one you would have been out there, why it fits, and what it would have cost you.
You have never explained yourself and you have never needed to,
because people work out fairly quickly that you are the most capable person in the room
without you ever having to mention it.
- Eastwood built the character out of everything he refused to do, stripping away the
backstory, the speeches and every bit of reassurance until only the competence was left. - You keep your own counsel, and while other people occasionally find that unnerving, you
have never felt any real need to fix it for them. - The Dollars films work because he genuinely is in it for himself right up until the
moment he is not, and he never explains that part either. - You would be gone before anybody got a chance to thank you.
You are the funniest person in most rooms and the most loyal
person in all of them, and you would be genuinely insulted if somebody suggested those two
things were in any tension.
- Doc has no real reason to be in this fight beyond the fact that his friend is in it,
which is the only reason he has ever needed for anything. - You lead with wit, and it does a very effective job of hiding how seriously you take the
handful of people you actually care about. - Val Kilmer’s performance is the most quoted in the entire genre because the jokes keep
getting sharper as the situation gets worse. - You would spend everything you had on this and still describe it as a good week.
You never wanted this job, and you took it anyway because the
alternative was standing there watching somebody less careful do it badly, which is the most
Western reason there has ever been.
- Earp is the reluctant authority figure, a man who came to town specifically to be left
alone and somehow ended up answerable for all of it. - You are protective by instinct, so when something goes wrong your first thought is who
is exposed rather than who is to blame. - These films understand that keeping order costs far more than breaking it, and that the
person holding the line almost never gets thanked. - You would do the whole thing again, and you would complain about it the entire time.
Nobody has ever successfully talked you out of something you had
already decided was right, and a long line of grown adults has found that out the hard way.
- Mattie is the most relentless character in the Western canon and she manages it through
argument, paperwork and flat refusal rather than a fast draw. - You have no patience for being managed, so you negotiate, you check the details and you
turn up exactly when you said you would. - True Grit is the rare Western where the moral centre is the youngest person on screen
and every adult around her has to catch up. - You would get what you came for, and the film is honest about what that takes out of
you.
4
‘Desperados III’ (2020)
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While real-time tactics games are normally reserved for either settings of historical war or a high-tech future, the Desperados series has made a niche for itself as the definitive real-time tactics series taking place in the all-too-classic American frontier. While the series has been celebrated since its beginnings in 2001, the clear high point of the franchise is Desperados III, which was released 14 years after Desperados II and fully delivered on the patience fans had for another entry in the series.
The strategy game acts as a prequel to the entire series, following a bounty hunter assembling a posse of allies in order to take down a ruthless bandit leader as revenge for killing his father. The sheer brilliance of the Desperados formula comes from the depth and intricacies of its gameplay, constantly utilizing stealth and positioning to make each fight a test of the mind, finding the best path forward to go through each shootout unscathed. Desperados III proved to be the most polished and layered entry in the franchise, as well as being the most accessible, being the only game in the series released on both PC and consoles.
3
‘Wild Arms’ (1996)
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JRPGs were a seemingly inescapable trend in the 90s, especially on the original PlayStation, as there were countless masterfully crafted narratives with compelling gameplay and outstanding visuals that were pushing the genre forward with each release. While many of these JRPGs took a fantasy approach to their world, Wild Arms became iconic for how it blended together fantasy and Western elements to create one of the most engaging and distinct JRPG experiences of the 90s.
Wild Arms has all of the classic strengths of a 90s JRPG, including a well-crafted narrative, an absolutely mesmerizing original soundtrack, and great usage of both 2D and 3D visuals. It proved to be so beloved that it managed to be a success even despite releasing just months before Final Fantasy VII released and became the definitive PS1 JRPG. The game is still considered a cult classic to this day, with the series receiving multiple sequels throughout the 2000s.
2
‘The Oregon Trail’ (1985)
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Often considered the most iconic educational video game ever made, The Oregon Trail is an icon of childhood gaming for many as the text-based adventure invited gamers to directly experience the hardships and difficulties of pioneer life on the Oregon Trail. The game has seen a multitude of different renditions and remakes over the years, but easily the most iconic and immediately recognizable is the 1985 iteration, the first iteration with actual graphics and visuals to accompany the text adventure.
While the game itself doesn’t often come into conversation when considering Western video games, as it doesn’t have the inherent conventions and archetypes of Western storytelling, it is retelling and taking place in the exact time period that defined the American Frontier. There are many people around the world for whom The Oregon Trail was their first ever experience with video games as a concept, with this adventure game continuing to be beloved and appreciated well into the modern day.
1
‘Red Dead Redemption’ (2010) & ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ (2018)
Image via Rockstar Games
Image via Rockstar Games
Image via Rockstar Games
Image via Rockstar Games
Image via Rockstar Games
Image via Rockstar Games
Image via Rockstar Games
Image via Rockstar GamesTo the surprise of absolutely nobody who clicked on this list, Rockstar Games’s legendary Western masterpieces, Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2, are the definitive Western experiences that video games have to offer. They tell masterful and intricate stories that rival the very best Western films in Hollywood, are rife with content and near-infinite possibilities of how to play and experience the game, and they have more love and passion for the genre than most other Western games combined.
These open-world icons go beyond simply being great Western video games, but are among some of the most celebrated video game experiences of all time, defining their respective generations and being at the absolute apex of what gaming is capable of. They’ve broken through the cultural barriers of gaming as a whole to be some of the most iconic pieces of Western fiction ever made, outright defining the genre in the 21st century for some, all while being fun and engaging to play for hundreds of hours of content.
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