The best Western games on PC 2023
What are the best Western games on PC that you should be playing? It’s not an easy decision to make. The Wild West is a time of lawlessness, striking gold, and perilous shootouts – no wonder it’s the subject of many top cowboy games.
Western games are inspired heavily by the cowboy media that has come before them, and it’s fair to say that the humble Western is a cornerstone of American culture. The game studios that decide to take on the challenge of bringing the American Frontier into our lives have a lot of pressure to get it right. Luckily, a number of them have absolutely nailed what being a cowboy is all about. And, fortunately for you, we’ve done the hard work of corralling the varmints right here, so here’s our pick of the Wild West’s best PC games.
Here are the best Western games on PC in 2023:
Red Dead Redemption 2
A prequel to one of the best western games of all time, Red Dead Redemption 2 throws you in at the brunt end of life as a cowboy in an unforgiving open world. Not that RDR2 is without whisky swilling, tavern brawls, or nights camping under the stars, but we now see another side to this scrappy way of living. You play as Van der Linde gang member Arthur Morgan and right-hand man of Dutch, the baleful leader of the outlaw gang. The murky morality the gang embraces in order to survive in a world that no longer accommodates their lifestyle is constantly tested across this epic tale – unlike many Western games, RDR2 looks at the American frontier in transition, and that’s brilliantly reflected in the downtrodden Van der Linde gang.
In Red Dead Redemption 2, you’ll learn how to be a cowboy, but along with taming horses and bounty hunting, it’s a place where you can lasso escaped outlaws and lay them on railway tracks like a pantomime villain, get drunk at saloons and start a town-wide brawl, and ride through the dry, dusty plains shooting deer for dinner. There’s also an online game component to RDR2 that’ll have you fighting rival cowboy gangs alongside your most loyal friends.
Evil West
If RDR2 is that little bit too realistic for you, then why not don your Stetson and rattle those boot spurs while slaying vampires instead? 2022 sure had its fill of vampire games, but Evil West took the popular genre all the way back to the Old West – well, a very fictional Old West, complete with electric weapons and demonic, winged beasts.
This RPG game takes you on a linear journey as you explore this crazy historical story, so there’s no free roaming around on horse back here. However, Evil West still answers the call of Western fans, with its gorgeous environments and 19th Century style. And if you don’t fancy being a lone rancher while you complete Evil West’s series of chapters, then you can slay vintage zombies in co-op mode, too.
Hard West 2
The original Hard West was a mighty fine blend of turn-based strategy, the supernatural, and good old fashioned cowboy. Sequel Hard West 2 has managed to offer that and more. When a heist on the infamous ‘ghost train’ goes south, you and your merry band must blaze a trail through the American frontier, fighting everyone from law enforcement, to witches, to the demons that threaten to consume you.
Despite being a turn-based tactics game, Hard Ward 2 still manages to keep its combat environments dynamic and alive, while also offering some satisfyingly brain twisting moves and combos that can see you take out a whole carriage of foes in one shot. Throw in a rip-roaring adventure that even gives Red Dead a run for its money, and you have yourself a western game that’s not only a great sequel, but a worthy western outing in its own right.
Desperados III
The Desperados series is known for blending the iconic stealth game action of Commandos, with the theme and setting of the wild west. Mimimi Games did excellent work paying homage to this Commandos-style of tactical strategy game with Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, and the studio has applied that same formula to a third Desperados game.
Desperados III has everything you could want – stealth-based action, characters you grow to love and care about, and the exquisite tension of getting the timing just right so you can take out a bunch of enemies without raising the alarm. This story-driven game acts as a prequel to the original Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, and you’ll lead Cooper and his gang on quest of redemption and epic western-style shoot-outs. Since launch the game has been supported with a healthy amount of DLC as well, so you’ll get plenty of value here too.
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