More gameplay footage has been seen of Wild West Pioneers by Toplitz Productions. Generally speaking, the game has great environmental graphics. The lands around the starter town in the demo is very realistic and the river looks quite natural in here. However, the human characters seem rather rough. I am aware that they are only a small team but they need to get it close to Manor Lords quality so that they can carve out their own niche.
Strangely, in spite of the success of the Red Dead Redemption games, Old West city builders are not popular. The Old West city builder is just great fit for the genre. Most of these towns were small in size but huge in character. That is great way to have scale without having to compromise on the unique nature of the people in the towns.
I think that Wild West Pioneers is a great concept, but it will take time for it to be truly a great game. This is why early access is a great way for small developers to get their game out and get feedback on the mechanics. Of course, they need to keep themselves productive and make sure that deliver a great game which makes everyone appreciate that they spent time testing it in early access.
Here are some issues I have with the gameplay right now:
- The game’s usage of AI characters is too obvious. I think it would be better to handmake these characters as they look too much like avatars someone would use online. They need to have more distinctive styles.
- The game needs to more than an economic simulator.
- The game needs more character to its buildings, they seem too generic right now.
- The townspeople need to have more personality so that we can actually build Old West towns where they seem alive here.
- The voice acting is too conventional right now.
- The game needs to have more random events which actually effect the physical nature of the town.
- The game needs fauna to moving around so that the environment has more vibrancy here.
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