Red Dead Redemption has the horses, the guns, the action, but if you’re wandering through a deserted patch of frontier, and you feel it could use a saloon or two, there isn’t much you can do. Likewise, Cities: Skylines lets you craft the ideal, bustling metropolis, but if you’re citizens are getting on your nerves, it’s not like you can grab a Winchester rifle and just, you know, shoot them.
So that’s why we have Wild West Dynasty, an upcoming western survival and building game from Polish developer Moon Punch Studio. As a budding frontiersman, you arrive on the plains intent on forging a new civilisation. You can lay the plans for your camp, build amenities like ranches and stables, and develop your skilltree as you look to expand into a fully-fledged town. This isn’t a top-down city-planner type strategy game – from what we can tell, the building mechanics seem more inspired by Fortnite, or Fallout 4’s settlements – but your ultimate goal is to create a functioning and prosperous western township.
Obviously, though, it’s not that simple. Environmental threats like weather and animals, and rivalries with local outlaws, mean crafting and building in Wild West Dynasty are just as vital as surviving. The game promises a large open world, branching dialogue and story, and dozens of missions with outcomes based on your decisions. It sounds very ambitious, but if Moon Punch can pull it off, this could be an extremely deep cowboy and construction sim.
Wild West Dynasty is scheduled for release sometime in 2022, but you can find it on Steam, and add it to your wishlist now. In the meantime, if you’re hungry for some more western action, Red Dead Redemption 2 has some pretty good new mods.