Toplitz Productions stole our simulation hearts when they released Medieval Dynasty back in 2021, with over 24,000 “Very Positive” reviews on Steam . They looked to steal them once again this year, releasing Wild West Dynasty, and failed miserably.
Initially, I was excited to hear that Toplitz Productions was going to be releasing another life simulation, this time set in the wild west. My dreams of becoming a ranch owner or cowboy could now come to fruition. I was horribly mistaken. Wild West Dynasty fails in so many aspects that it’s hard to put onto paper just what a disaster this game is.
Before I get carried away with the negatives of Wild West Dynasty, I should point out some of the aspects I enjoyed during my couple of hours with the game. The crafting and inventory management are surprisingly solid and simple to understand. This is mostly due to the endless amount of updates done with Medieval Dynasty, so this was perfected. This can so easily go wrong in these types of games, and in a genre that relies on the functionality of the 10,000 menus you’ll be navigating, it’s nice to see a bit of effort going into this aspect of the game. Another positive I found was the sense you actually were in the wild west. The game does a great job at making you feel like you’re out on the open road. This is short lived due to the absolute horrid performance issues riddling this title.
The animations are clunky at best and feel very rough around the edges as you scratch your head as to whether or not the animation was done on purpose for flavor, or if the dog was supposed to fly 20 feet up into the air. The models look as if they’ve been recycled through so many games, that I can start naming them on a personal level. Here’s “Fred” the bear, and “Tony” the donkey. Speaking of models, you won’t find much variety here, either. Most of the models are clones of each other, so if you think you saw that woman back in the previous town, you probably did.
Wild West Dynasty is in a terrible state. The game barely functions. NPCs don’t interact with you except on a very basic basis. Stuttering, frame lag, texture pop-in, poor graphics, really dodgy animations, UI bugs, weird mechanics like the weight just not working as you’d expect, a very basic skill tree, and a pointless and agonizing tutorial are just some of the frustrating aspects of the game. Almost all the NPCS are direct clones of each other. The worst part, and my pet peeve in open-world games, is that the world is empty and lacking any kind of amusing content to keep players coming back.
This game truly feels like the worst early-access game I’ve ever come across, and I don’t think there’s anything to save it. For the die-hard fans of this franchise, you can always take a look for yourself. Be prepared to hit that refund button before your 2-hour time limit on Steam, though. You’re welcome.
