Weird West

I don't hear it talked about much. It's from the co-creators of Dishonered & Prey but has the feel of what Fallout 1 & 2 would play like if they came out today IMO.

Western setting where a new gold rush for dark stone pits gunslingers, lawmen, saloon girls, etc against tentacles, the undead, mutated gangsters, snakemen, and lost technology as they travel between worlds.

It's coop and there are different missions, most of which have randomly generated maps that are created from a deck on you explore, giving it endless replayability. Characters gain experience, skill, and gear but also can become injured or mutate (nothing the church or surgeon in town can't fix for a price).

It also has tons of expansions. While the physical games add up in cost and require a lot of organizing, you can give it a try on tabletop simulator.

There's even a Japanese themed set that can combine with the Western ones.

A “Psychedelic Western.” Surreal, meditative, and a Neil Young soundtrack. One of my favorites. Also an insane cast!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man

rn on hboMAX

Atomic Robo is a comic book, mirrored on the web, about alternate history. In this arc, the eponymous hero has been sent back in time to the Old West... where he finds an old enemy who hasn't met him yet.

Not sure if a perfect fit, but a comedy western rpg with a bit of a supernatural element. If you haven't already you should check it out!

8 books, one short story, and one kids book... enveloping one weird Western tale in a world that has moved on.

I think this one is perfect for this instance. I have had it on my wishlist and tried the demo back in development. Creepy, western and fun!

West of Dead is a really fun game. It's a cover-based twin-stick shooter, so there's a top-down view and you crouch behind cover in between shooting bad guys. It's also a roguelike, so you get random weapons each run and unlock permanent perks with the currency you collect. I'm typically terrible at roguelikes but I fell in love with this one and actually beat it.

Here's a trailer. You can get it on Steam, Switch, Xbox, Playstation, wherever.

Ghoultown is an American rock band with Weird West themes in their lyrics. I wish the songs were a bit better but at least they're consistent in their theme. And this is already a niche within a niche so I can't really complain.

Typically, the Weird West genre is comprised of pulp novels and fairly mindless action movies. It's hard to take the genre too seriously when the premises are so ridiculous. But Cold As Hell does an amazing job of crafting fully-realized characters in a complex world. Yes, this is a story about an undead gunslinger trying to take down necromancers, vampires, and werewolves, but the authors treat it all with respect.

The main character is a relatively moral person who joined a gang in his youth. The gang started becoming more violent and brutal so the main character started to have doubts. And his gang murdered him for it. But an angel resurrects him and makes him a Hand of God, tasked with hunting down creatures cursed by hell.

One interesting aspect of this is his body heals extremely quickly and he feels no pain. So he can get shot multiple times and as long as his muscles and tendons are still attached, he can keep fighting. But this also means he's numb to the world. He can't get drunk, he can't feel a kiss, he can't indulge in any vices. So while he's able to continue walking the earth, he can't really do anything to make his time enjoyable. He isn't happy being a Hand of God.

Also, not every cursed creature is evil. There are werewolves who are just trying to lay low and stay out of everyone's way. And the main character doesn't like indiscriminately killing every cursed creature, which pisses off his angel handler. So the series isn't just a bunch of "go kill the bad guy" stories, there's a lot of nuance involved.

There are 2 books in the series so far, with a third planned for next year. Also, there's a 3.5-hour audible-exclusive prequel called Dead Acre which is narrated by Roger Clark (who voiced Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2). I highly recommend the whole series.

I was so excited when I learned of the existence of GallowWalkers. Wesley Snipes playing a vampire gunslinger in the Wild West? Sounds like it could actually scratch my itch for more Darkwatch!

But no, this movie is terrible. While I definitely went in with too high of expectations, this is a bad movie even with low expectations. My primary issue is the pacing; the movie is simply boring. I can handle bad writing and bad acting but I can't handle one boring scene after another. Such a shame.

Here's a trailer. And of course, being a bad movie, it's available for streaming everywhere! Tubi, Pluto, Roku, Amazon Prime/Freevee, anywhere you want!

I'm going to kick-start this community with my favorite Weird West work. Darkwatch had everything I wanted from a Weird Western: a vampire gunslinger shooting monsters at night. Sure, the gameplay could've been better (a lot better) but the world-building was so fun I loved it anyway.

I don't know if I could handle playing the game again today; it got mediocre reviews even when it was released and the game mechanics are even more dated now. But I'll always have a soft-spot for it and would love a sequel in this world.

Here's a trailer showing just how ridiculous the game was.

I'm no expert on the genre, I'm just a casual fan and thought I'd share the few Weird West works I've found and enjoyed. Who knows, maybe more people will show up here and share what they've found!

I won't act as a gate-keeper for the genre but just for myself, I'm going to try sticking to items that actually take place in the 1800s. I think there's a slippery slope of losing the genre definition once I start including movies/books that take place in the modern day but still technically The West so when I start posting those items, you'll know I'm starting to run out of ideas.