Early Access verdict: Far Far West is one of 2026’s most joyful co-op surprises — a wizard-cowboy extraction shooter that earns every comparison to Deep Rock Galactic and Helldivers 2, delivered by a tiny eight-person team at a level of polish that makes bigger launches look sloppy. It thrives with friends, sags a little solo, and its endgame content is still thin. But at $19.99, even in Early Access, it’s an easy recommendation. Score: 8/10 (Early Access).
Picture it: you’re a robot cowboy with a six-shooter on your hip and a fireball in your other hand, squaring up against a ghost train and a horde of reanimated skeleton outlaws in a supernatural Wild West. That’s the entire pitch of Evil Raptor’s Far Far West, published by Fireshine Games, and it plays exactly as gloriously stupid as it sounds. The elevator pitch writes itself — and then the game keeps getting better from the first hour on. Half a million players showed up in the first week alone.
What it gets right, and what still needs work
The good:
- Gunplay and movement feel fantastic — sleek, fast, hyperresponsive, with a seamless switch between six-shooters and spellcasting (fire, lightning chains, acid, even possession).
- It’s refreshingly frictionless. A clean server browser, simple controls, fast loading — you can launch the game and be fighting a horde with a friend inside 20 seconds. It’s pure Left 4 Dead energy.
- Bosses are the highlight — a massive haunted train taken out in chunks, a scythe-wielding Grim Reaper, an Evil Dead-inspired haunted saloon. Genuinely varied and challenging.
- Remarkable polish for the team size. Steady frame rates, fast loads, and no game-breaking bugs, all from eight people. It’s Steam Deck verified, too.
- A meaningful progression system with perk specialisations (spell damage, healing, headshots, support) and roguelite “Joker” card modifiers that shake up each run.
The rough edges:
- Solo play is a slog. It’s technically 1-4 player, but it’s designed around co-op and really thrives with two to four. Alone, you’ll be up against the wall.
- Enemy variety is thin right now. By your tenth or fifteenth run, you’ve seen most of the roster, and some bosses get reused across missions.
- The progression grind starts steep, asking a bit too much too early before unlocks open up.
- Some audio/visual cues need work — it can be hard to tell where enemies are, and a couple of enemy sounds grate over long sessions.
The state of the game — and why Early Access matters here
It’s important to judge Far Far West for what it is: a confident, well-realised foundation that’s still being built on, not a finished product. The current build already offers the full core loop — over five map biomes (Desert, Canyon, Woodlands, and more, plus hard-mode areas like Area 41), a hub saloon packed with community fan art and interactive minigames, side objectives, and character customisation. What’s here is cohesive and knows exactly what it wants to be.
What sells me on its future is the team’s approach. Evil Raptor has committed to a roughly 12-month Early Access window with enemy rosters and content as stated priorities, an active patch cadence responding to community feedback (overtuned enemy spawns are already being tweaked), and — a genuinely rare goodwill move — a promise that online play with friends will remain available even if their servers ever shut down. That’s the kind of player-first commitment larger studios almost never make.
So where does that leave you? If you’ve got a crew and you love the Helldivers or Deep Rock loop, Far Far West is a smashing good time right now, and one of the best Early Access launches of the year. If you’re mostly a solo player, or you want a deep endgame today, it’s worth wishlisting and checking back as the content fills in. Either way, keep an eye on this one — Evil Raptor has grabbed lightning in a bottle, and they clearly know it.
