If you’ve been holding off playing Helldivers 2 because you’re fervently hoping they’ll eventually add robot cowboy wizards, then firstly, you are eccentric to the point of deranged, and your mother and I are very worried about you, and secondly, why not play the Far Far West demo instead? It’s a one to four player co-op FPS with robot cowboy wizards out the wazoo. Except that robots don’t have wazoos, I think.
Far Far West feels gentler than Helldivers 2, so far, more of a Blazing Saddles-style romp than a Starship Troopers-esque bloodbath. It drops you into a procedurally generated map full of mission objectives and steadily spawning undead.
You will: climb towers to find music discs; unearth graves; activate totems and kill 25 bony buckaroos; endure storms; possibly murder a ghost train; dual-wield; ride a minecart; gather gold; waggle your dukes; drop a nuke.
Just to add to your confusion, the combat puts me a little in mind of Destiny. Aside from dusting upstart skeletons with your clonky gaspunk ordnance, you’ll cast spells by flicking cards and summon a metal horse to ride around on. It’s just as well you don’t have a wazoo, because that metal horse looks like it’d be murder on the ol’ nether regions, pilgrim.
There’s the usual progression and cosmetics nonsense between missions, because levelling up is how the West was won. The full game will launch in early access this year. The devs are Evil Raptor, otherwise known for the well-received Akimbot and Pumpkin Jack. The publishers are Fireshine Games, who also brought us Shadows Of Doubt and Reka.
Find the demo on Steam. I can’t think of a cowboy joke to end on. Oh wait, how’s this: if they added support for another two players it’d be a six shooter, ho ho!
