Publisher Toplitz Productions has been tightening its stranglehold on the historical survival and town-building sim market for some time now. I rather enjoyed Render Cube’s Medieval Dynasty (published by Toplitz) when it came out back in September of 2021; it had a nice level of depth beyond just chopping trees to build a shack. In Medieval Dynasty, players design and build their own medieval township, which slowly becomes populated by NPCs who then become townsfolk, with the ability to generate offspring and cause a single playthrough to span generations. It was pretty ambitious, and mostly successful in its execution.
Then developer Superkami, also under the Toplitz umbrella, announced Sengoku Dynasty, which basically takes the concept and structure of Medieval Dynasty and transports it to Japan. Sengoku Dynasty has yet to release, and still only has a 2022 window with no firm release date, so it’s impossible to say if adding in more katana-focused action will pay off or change the game fundamentals in any meaningful way. But with Sengoku Dynasty, that Toplitz grip tightened.
And now, with the announcement of Wild West Dynasty, this time from developer Moon Punch Studio, it seems like Toplitz has reached maximum grip level 11.
Toplitz’s historical survival monopoly aside, I actually think Wild West Dynasty could be a real-game changer. Like a lot of game enthusiasts, I love the concept of any game set in the Wild West. To this day, Red Dead Redemption 2 is perhaps one of the best-designed and best-realized video games of all time, at least in my book. When you include mods (on the PC version), it can become a different beast altogether. And even though I love the single-player campaign and online component, neither really fully scratch the itch of living as a gunslinger in that time period the way I want them to.
And much of that comes down to being a fully fleshed-out character in Arthur Morgan in the single-player mode, which doesn’t allow me complete control over who I want my cowpoke to be. And even though the online mode offers a bit more personalization and diversity, it has been starved for new content to the point of clown parades and several mass exoduses.
So if Wild West Dynasty can pull off everything it promises, it might just have a camp stew going. Here’s a list of features:
- Experience the Wild West either in first-person or third-person perspective.
- Expansive story with dozens of missions, branching dialogue, and consequences.
- Create your own Dynasty, which will last for decades and shape the Wild West like never before.
- Vast open world with multiple environments, each filled with dangers, treasures, secrets, and lots of space to realize your city-building dreams.
- Survive in the unforgiving wilderness with scorching mid-day temperatures, freezing cold nights, and dangerous wildlife.
- From rags to riches: Start as a settler, build your own ranch, and expand it to a prosperous town.
- Explore abandoned mines and cave systems.
- Multi-layered skill tree.
- Unique mix of Roleplaying, Survival, Life Simulation, Resource Management, and City Builder.
- Explore the open world with its stunning vistas on horseback.
- Allocate workers and manage resources as well as trade routes so your settlement can prosper.
I mean, what’s not to like based on this description?
I am a bit cautious, though, as any self-respecting cowboy game worth a lick of salt should include a healthy dose of rootin’, tootin’, and shootin’, and I haven’t seen a whole lot of shootin’ in the footage I’ve seen thus far (there is suggested shooting in the trailer, but the game footage seems hesitant to show off what that shooting might actually look like). This will be the first Dynasty game that I can think of that could have a ton of shootouts, so the formula is kind of untested in that regard.
Now, I’m not expecting a Halo or Returnal level of gunplay polish, but am hopeful that any shootout mechanic will at least be serviceable at worst. Especially since, depending on your level of notoriety, it sounds like you can expect bandit attacks against your town and its denizens, and also against the caravans that trade with you.
So this will probably be the lynchpin, at least for me, that could make Wild West Dynasty swing off its hinges. Well, that and the admittedly stiff character animations and less-than-impressive visuals, and also Toplitz’s previous tendency to abandon game support once their next sim is ready to announce…
But this could all change for the better (or worse, I guess), by the time Wild West Dynasty releases, which is unfortunately only slated for 2022 (much like the aforementioned Sengoku Dynasty, which presumably will be releasing first).
Without getting my hopes up too high, I am still very much looking forward to seeing how Wild West Dynasty shakes out, as it could be exactly the game I’ve been hungering for. Medieval Dynasty was far from perfect, but was still more enjoyable than I expected it to be. Hopefully Wild West Dynasty will be just as good as Medieval Dynasty, if not better.
If Wild West Dynasty can create a great Wild West take on the survival-slash-settlement-building genre, it could be the runaway hit that Wild West enthusiasts have been waiting for.
