Western fans rejoice, as Red Dead Redemption 2 meets Among Us in new game West Hunt, which pits a town sheriff against a wily outlaw in a life-or-death game of hide and seek. West Hunt, developed by NewGen and published by Wandering Wizard and Snail Games (best known for Ark: Survival Evolved), brings the cat and mouse hidden identity genre to the Old West.
Set in a small village full of everyday folks, this Western game assigns players as either a sheriff or an outlaw. Outlaws have a series of tasks they must complete within a certain amount of time in order to succeed, while the sheriffs’ job is to correctly ascertain which of the townspeople are up to no good and put a bullet in the perpetrators. However, wrongfully shooting an innocent bystander will – of course – mean failure for the lawbringers and a victory for the ne’er-do-wells.
The outlaws will be assigned a random model from the pool of villagers, meaning that anyone you see could be your target. Outlaw tasks include all the classic Old West troublemaking activities – poisoning the water supply, stealing medicine, planting a bomb in the train station, and more.
As tasks are checked off, the outlaws’ notoriety increases. As notoriety increases, the sheriffs will receive hints about the outlaws, such as their last known position or unfinished missions to keep an eye out for. In order to mitigate this, outlaws can also undertake side missions to attempt to lower their notoriety. What better way to throw off any suspicion than a little boogie down in the local bar?
West Hunt features the option to play in 1v1 or 2v2 matches. It also includes AI players for solo play as well as the option to set up custom games with a ruleset tweaked to your personal preference. In-game voice chat is supported, and players can customise the look of their sheriff and equip a variety of emotes to play at the end of a match.
This might all sound fairly similar to fans of the social deduction genre, but the Western setting is a perfect fit and should help put a fresh spin on the format. You can even get a dog pal who sniffs out trouble for you!
West Hunt releases on Steam Early Access on June 14. You can check out the game’s trailer below:
If you need something else to satiate your social deduction needs, the Among Us VR release date was recently revealed. An Among Us House Flipper mod in the works transforms the multiplayer game into a capitalist neighbourhood showdown.