Wild West Online roots and toots in first gameplay vid
Yeehaw!
Sandbox rooter-tooter Wild West Online [official site] is showing off a first look at its wicky wicky wah wah sandbox in motion with a new video. It's a little bit Grand Theft Auto Online but with cowboys and perhaps less relentless murder (and hopefully less hacking). It'll plonk players into the wild frontier to lark about, being goodies or baddies in all the ways a child armed with fingerguns in the school playground would hope.
That's still pre-alpha, and obviously not a server running under live conditions with all its players. But it does give a broad idea of what to expect: strolling around town, doing crimes, hunting bounties, riding horses, and being a cowboy, baby, with the top let down and the sunshine shinin'.
The big vision is for a sandbox world with everything from mining to hunting down bandits. It'll boast a mix of player-directed action in that 'form a gang and cause trouble/dispense justice' way and programmed opportunities such as regular trains to rob like raids. Developers 612 Games have set themselves a big task but I do like their ideas.
Wild West Online came to prominence earlier this year when a load of sillies mistook a WWO screenshot for a leaked look at Red Dead Redemption 2. Oh, Internet! However, this case of mistaken identity was quite helpful, as the increased interest helped 612 Games secure enough investment to skip both crowdfunding and early access, which they had previously planned to hit.
612 Games are planning to launch Wild West Online in December 2017. If you want to play before then, they are selling alpha and beta access. Which does sound a little like early access to me.