The Wild West is arguably one of the most evocative and iconic settings in film and games alike, and many video games have used its tropes and cliches to great effect. Red Dead Redemption and its revered sequel managed to capture the essence of the West with great skill, but although those games contain elements of RPGs, they're more focused on action and adventure.

For RPG fans, there's not much in the way of well-made games set in some variety of the Wild West. This discussion aims to provide a broad and varied selection of Western-themed games with solid RPG systems that should hopefully scratch that Wild West itch.

6 Wild West And Wizards – A low-budget RPG packed with loot

Steam User Rating: 75%

Clearly a low-budget indie title, Wild West And Wizards may have been overly ambitious with its open-world, but its low price tag, low-poly style, and simplistic looter-shooter gameplay make it worth a look for players hungry for Wild West RPGs. However, as its title may suggest, Wild West And Wizards does include a magic system.

Related

7 Underappreciated Space Western Games

Mixing two great genres together, Space Western games come in all shapes and sizes, with some of them, unfortunately, going unappreciated.

Wild West And Wizards' emphasis on collecting loot, combined with its unique talent trees and open-world exploration, make it a simple yet easy to play RPG that isn't too taxing on the brain. Unfortunately, this can be a bit of a double-edged sword, and some players may not be able to look past the game's obvious low budget.

5 Don't Die In The West – A straightforward frontier life-sim

Steam User Rating: 77%

This Wild West life-sim features minimalist, cartoon-style visuals and a general cozy frontier atmosphere that helps it stand out from other games with similar themes. The title is not all that challenging, and as a result it has a relatively low-stakes atmosphere, but Don't Die In The West is a nice and simple RPG with a focus on base-building and crafting.

For fans of slowly building a base, interacting with NPCs, exploring, and engaging in simple combat, Don't Die In The West is a vanilla Wild West-themed game that's worth checking out, even if it's a little rough around the edges. Don't Die In The West is currently in Early Access, but it's certainly worth keeping an eye on for fans of the Wild West.

4 Weird West – A wonderfully strange and stylistic immersive-sim RPG

Steam User Rating: 77%

This action-RPG takes place in an alternate version of the Wild West in which fantastical creatures walk the land. The game's unique 3D graphics make the dark fantasy West a visual treat, with a great deal of moody lighting and detailed environments.

Related

Weird West: The Best Abilities for Each Class

Weird West follows five bounty hunters exploring the frontier in search of their quarry. These are the best abilities for each of the game's classes.

Weird West is unique for its immersive-sim aspects, allowing players to develop a play-style naturally, mastering the game's systems and figuring out how to use them to their advantage on the fly. Weird West's action-packed gameplay, interspersed with stealth elements and made versatile through its immersive-sim influences, makes for an overall experience that's often fun, even if its RPG systems aren't the most in-depth.

3 Hard West 2 – A deeply tactical experience

Steam User Rating: 79%

Similarly to Weird West, Hard West 2 takes place in a strange and supernatural version of the Wild West. Unlike Weird West, however, Hard West 2 features simple, yet solid, turn-based, tactical combat made fun through distinct abilities and the game's "bravado" system that rewards players for killing enemies, allowing them to chain attacks.

Hard West 2 is visualized with superb 3D graphics and detailed Western environments with supernatural and Gothic influences, and these visuals, combined with its unique turn-based combat, make up for Hard West 2's fairly limited RPG systems.

2 Blood West – A First-Person RPG with an emphasis on stealth

Steam User Rating: 92%

This dark and gloomy retro combination of FPS and RPG features slow and methodical stealth gameplay that takes clear inspiration from old-school immersive-sims like Thief. The story takes place in a Wild West setting injected with a handful of gruesome creatures and undead.Blood West recently came out of Early Access with its 1.0 update, and now offers three entirely distinct areas to explore with their own unique environments and enemies. Blood West's weird-western setting is particularly unique from other "weird west" titles on this list, largely thanks to its horror aspects. Blood West features a fun world to explore, an abundance of loot to find, and a well-polished combat system that rewards careful planning and adaptability.

1 West Of Loathing – A simplistic RPG with a sense of humor

Steam User Rating: 97%

This minimalist, hand-drawn, black-and-white RPG distinguishes itself with its comedic writing and detailed open world. West Of Loathing won't be for everyone, and enjoyment of the game depends almost entirely on the player's sense of humor.

West Of Loathing doesn't take itself seriously in any sense of the imagination, purely focused on providing players with a lightweight role-playing game packed with slapstick humor and writing riddled with jokes. Make no mistake, there's still a solid game underneath West Of Loathing's comedy, but players will find it hard to enjoy themselves if the game's writing grates on them.

MORE: The Best Video Games To Play If You Love Westerns & Cowboys