I really love western settings. The only thing I love more than western settings is weird western settings, where the vibes of the historical frontier are amplified by larger-than-life science fiction or, in the very best of stories and settings, supernatural horror. I’m also a big fan of extraction shooters and the Borderlands-style shoot-and-loot games, where realistic gun physics are ignored in favor of over-the-top action, satisfying weapon mechanics, and huge hordes of enemies to mow down with extremely dangerous ordnance. It’s for all of these reasons that I was extremely excited when I was given the chance to give an Early Access impression of Far Far West.
If I haven’t done a good enough job of explaining it already, Far Far West is a co-op extraction-shooter-like where players team up into posses of robo-cowboys to take on missions across a vast, haunted western expanse. Together, you will use spells, magical playing cards, and fancy fantasy weaponry to mow down horde upon horde of nasty skeletons and collect dangerous bounties in short, fast-paced missions, earning upgrades over time to further enhance your western killing power.
My initial impression of Far Far West was that it was going to be one of my new favorite cooperative games. My opinion of that stance hasn’t changed, even after hours of solo play and a few of the Early Access kinks of the game coming to my attention. I’ll save you a lot of reading and say that, despite a few criticisms of the current build, I still highly recommend you check it out if it’s caught your interest. For a lot of Early Access games, I might recommend waiting a bit for improvements and more content to come, and Far Far West does have a promising roadmap, but I would suggest playing the game even in its current, early, flawed build.
The setting does a lot of heavy lifting, but not just for its unique aesthetics. The developers really played into the inherent, lovable weirdness of their concept, and it translates beautifully into the mechanics. Guns and spells defy logic without feeling cartoonishly unrealistic, and they pack a lot of oomph and punch when you fire them. The game also has great feedback when hitting and killing enemies, especially if you’re using an elemental weapon. The game doesn’t have the craziest movement I’ve seen in the genre, but it’s still fast and has a lot of jumping and airtime, which are perfect when you’re fighting against hordes of enemies.
The mission variety in the current build isn’t crazy, but the gameplay loop is satisfying enough that you won’t tire of the content that is there very quickly. You’re going into a match to grind currencies, have fun with your guns and new jokers, and destroy huge hordes of undead. The varying objectives are just little twists to keep the experience from getting stale too quickly.
Jokers are the game’s augments, similar to a lot of the passive buffs you find in the roguelike genre, and I really enjoyed how they were implemented. Essentially, all of your guns, as well as your body itself, have Joker slots, allowing you to bring in an absolutely crazy amount of augments into a match. Not all of them are nearly as exciting as others, but there’s a fair bit of variety and I’m sure the developers are planning on adding more.
Variety is maybe what I would like to see added to the game more than anything else. While each gun and spell in the game is unique, there aren’t a whole lot of them to go around, and I would really like to see the arsenal expanded with more tools to play with. I would also like to see physical upgrades to guns when you upgrade them. If this is already a feature in the game, I didn’t catch it; however, as far as I’m aware, it isn’t, and I would love it to be one. All of the models in the game are already so fantastic and uniquely designed, and I simply want more of them.
During my playthrough, I wasn’t able to pick up on any real bugs or glitches, aside from the occasional wall clipping when pushing payloads, but I’m sure some exist and I wasn’t able to catch them. My biggest outright criticism of the game, as it exists right now, is in balance. Clearly designed for cooperative runs, I wasn’t able to get a multiplayer game scheduled, and I found that in solo play, the game can quickly become overwhelming, even on lower difficulties.
This is less due to the combat and more due to how many little things you have to do outside of combat. Turning valves to relieve pressure, pushing a payload while making sure you don’t run into bombs on the way, and the ever-frustrating manual pickup of health items (there really needs to be an autograb mechanic) can make dealing with the large hordes a problem when playing solo. I’m not ashamed to admit that most of my games ended with me dead a good while before the objective was completed.
Overall, Far Far West has a very promising development cycle ahead. I’m looking forward to playing more of the game as it continues to update and grow a larger player base. If it’s caught your attention and you’re still iffy about picking it up, I highly recommend giving it a try. It might need some work, but it’s far from a disappointing experience.
Pros:
- A fantastic Weird Western setting
- Fun, fantastical firearm gameplay, focusing on satisfying mechanics over realism
- A satisfying extraction-lite / boss-rush gameplay loop
Cons:
- Missing some content in the current Early Access version, with more to come
- Seems a bit unbalanced for solo play in the current build
Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam code for this PC Early Access Review of Far Far West. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page!
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