I maintain there aren’t enough Wild West games. Red Dead Redemption 2 is obviously the big dog in town, but we’ve seen some strong challengers, from action games like Blood West and Evil West to more strategic names such as Desperados 3 and Hard West 2. Wild West Pioneers, however, pushes the frontier in another direction with a city-building game that’s already caught my eye with its initial reveal. Set to launch in early access this year, it takes the best part of RDR 2 – establishing and managing settlements and their inhabitants – and transforms it into a full-scale strategy game.
Created by Polish developer EmpireCraft Studios and published by Toplitz Productions, Wild West Pioneers tasks you with shaping the very foundations of the American frontier, and is described as “a classic city builder with a modern touch.” As your scouts cross the land, you’ll seek out potential locales and establish initial settlements and production chains. You’ll have to handle appointing key figures such as mayors and sheriffs, choosing carefully based on the traits of your potential candidates.
Your early hours might focus on a single outpost, building the basics: residential homes, businesses such as a sawmill and butcher, and eventually warehouses and transport hubs to take your produce further. As time progresses, you can explore new territories and help set up additional villages, establishing trade routes between them to help all your settlements grow. Just make sure you don’t leave anyone behind, EmpireCraft warns, “or it will cost you dearly.”
Each settler in Wild West Pioneers is individually modeled with needs and demands to fulfill. That means every job that needs doing “is executed by a person and not a backend value.” It also means you’ll need to provide sufficient infrastructure, enough work, and the correct conditions for healthy, clean living if you want your population to grow and be happy.
With a day and night cycle and environmental conditions playing into the world around you, you’ll need to carefully adapt your management approach to suit the situation. Fortunately, a strategic map is available to help you plan, allowing you to schedule expeditions, establish trading posts, and organize wagons to either trade or explore.
The freeform building lets you rotate and place structures as you wish, or establish more defined roads through your settlement if you so desire. While there’s a lot to keep track of, the inherently smaller scale of the setting versus the sheer density of games like Cities Skylines gives Wild West Pioneers a little more room to breathe. “No need to stress out,” EmpireCraft reassures you, “just relax and watch the charming hustle and bustle of a busy settlement as well as dozens of buildings and production chains.”
EmpireCraft Studios plans to launch Wild West Pioneers into early access on Steam in 2025. It says it intends for the early access period to last “about a year,” and that the team “has lots of ideas on the table, but wants to be as flexible as possible to adjust to your needs.” You can take a closer look or wishlist it here.
Head out into the frontier with the best Western games on PC in 2025, or take a look through the best indie games for more picks from smaller studios that you might have missed.
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