Picture this: you’re a robot cowboy with a six-shooter on your hip, squaring up against a pack of supernatural monstrosities in a weird Wild West. That’s the whole vibe of Evil Raptor's latest project, Far Far West. It’s a chaotic cooperative shooter entering Early Access on Steam on April 28th, 2026. The limited time demo earned Overwhelmingly Positive reviews from players, but the real question is how the actual launch holds up.
Far Far West is not trying to be a story driven experience, and judging it on that would be completely unfair. You take contracts from the Town Sheriff, and head out into the weird corners of the frontier to bag bounties and collect loot. There’s zero voice acting. Instead, the storytelling leans entirely on environmental flavor and a comedic tone that never tries too hard. You aren’t here for plot twists. You’re here because the premise gives you permission to shoot demons with a revolver, and honestly, that’s enough for me.
The moment-to-moment shooting is where the game earns its stars. You start off with a rifle and a revolver, and both weapons feel meaty and responsive from the very first shot. The gameplay is mission based, using the saloon as your central hub. Boss fights are the absolute standout, with each one forcing you to rethink your positioning and weapon choice rather than just holding the trigger down and praying. If you enjoyed Gunfire Reborn or Deep Rock Galactic, you will feel right at home here, especially with a dash of Helldivers-style camaraderie baked in since you need to actually extract before heading home.
The gameplay loop itself is well structured and easy to settle into, even if the bones are familiar. Each run breaks down into three rough phases. First, you arrive in the wilderness via a hover train and get dropped into a wide open map. Then, you start working through a setup task to summon the boss. This usually involves something silly like loading dynamite into a missile or completing a small ritual. While that setup is playing out, you have plenty of time to explore. The maps are dotted with side objectives, gold ore deposits to mine, hidden secrets, and small puzzles. There is no clock ticking down, so you can take your sweet time or beeline straight for the boss.
The movement system is also worth noting as there’s no traditional sprint. You can jump and airdash, but if you want to go fast, that’s what your horse is there for. Yeehaw!
After the fight, you ring the train station bell to call your ride, hold off one final wave of enemies, and head home with whatever you’ve earned. Back in town, you have a few vendors for upgrades and a shooting range to test out new gear before committing to a build.
I played solo, so I cannot speak to the four-player co-op. There are no AI companions for players who want that jolly cooperation without rounding up three friends, and there’s no revive if you die solo. Games that lean this hard into co-op design can feel lonely when you're flying by yourself.
My only major complaint is the progression, because this is where things get really bumpy. Far Far West runs on two currencies, and the split feels completely lopsided. Gold covers every meaningful permanent upgrade: leveling weapons, boosting health, jumping higher, and unlocking cosmetic skins. Souls are earned by defeating enemies and are used for unlocking Jokers, perks that you can equip on top of weapons.
The problem is that gold is extremely hard to come by. A typical run nets you maybe 50 to 100 gold, maybe a bit more if you chase the optional gold ore deposits. Upgrades cost hundreds if not thousands of gold. Weapon unlocks compound this progression issue. Each weapon requires six fragments and 500 gold, and you can only track one per mission. With more than ten weapons on the roster, that’s over sixty runs just to see the full arsenal. All the while, you are using the exact same starter rifle and revolver on repeat until you unlock something new. I get that the game is designed for replayability, but there’s a massive difference between rewarding long-term play and making the early hours feel like an absolute chore.
The weapons fall into two categories: sidearms (revolvers, dual pistols, and throwing stars) and primary weapons (rifles, shotguns, and miniguns). Once you have one in hand, you can rank it up at the weaponsmith to unlock additional Joker slots. Jokers actually show up in two flavors. You have temporary ones you can pick up during a run, and permanent ones tied to specific quests or weapon ranks. It’s a smart system in theory, but in practice, you spend most of your time grinding gold just to even reach the point where the depth opens up.
Spells are the other layer, and they are a really fun addition. You can swap between guns and elemental abilities like acid puddles, fireballs, and lightning. Chaining those spells with weapon fire is where the combat starts to feel highly expressive. However, they have their own upgrade paths too, which act as yet another stat sink for that already-overstretched gold pile. Thankfully, you don’t need to purchase them, as new ones are unlocked the more you use a spell of a certain type.
Maps unlocks have a serious clarity problem as well. Maps are unlocked by completing specific quests, but the game only vaguely hints at them without actually telling you how to start or progress them. The game could desperately use a better onboarding experience outside the basic tutorial that just tells you how to shoot your gun or cast spells.
The endgame is where early access really shows its limitations. The enemy variety is currently very thin. By your tenth or fifteenth run, the thrill of the unknown is mostly gone as you’ve seen all of them already. Bosses carry the load because they are well-designed and challenging, but many of them are also re-used across different missions. Evil Raptor has said enemy rosters and content are priorities during the Early Access window, which is exactly the right call.
Technical performance is where Far Far West quietly punches above its weight. For an eight person team, the polish is remarkable. Load times are fast, frame rates stay steady, and I didn’t hit a single crash or game breaking bug.
Ultimately, Far Far West has a fun foundation buried under a progression system that asks too much, too early. It’s worth watching through its Early Access window, but not quite a must-play in its current state.
