Earlier this year, 612 Games revealed its ambitious open-world MMO Wild West Online. Less than one week later, the developer announced it would sidestep a crowdfunding campaign as a result of additional investment from the game's initial investors. Now, producer Stephan Bugaj has shared new in-game footage which shows off a few of WWO's locations, its bounty system, and its combat mechanics among other things.
Let's look at that first:
As you'll spot from the outset there, newspapers play a "key part" of Wild West Online's world building and serve to update players on the goings on in the world. Bugaj notes that the players' actions could see them appear in the paper—something which is alluded to when the player is later seen stealing a bottle of whiskey from the backend of a saloon. Bugaj warns that if you get caught while stealing you could end up with a wanted level, but as the player goes undetected here he gets away with his crime.
Later, the player rides to a lovely-looking pine forested area in search of a bounty, before teaming up with a mate who's ultimately taken down during the ensuing firefight. The player nevertheless takes care of the prize in what looks like a pretty intuitive combat setpiece.
Shortly after we last covered Wild West Online, rumours suggesting controversial The War Z figurehead Sergey Titov was involved with the project and its funding surfaced. As covered by Massively OP at the time, 612 confirmed that it is using Free Reign Entertainment's Nightshade game engine however the latter is in no way associated with WWO's development or financing. Here's what 612 told Massively OP:
"Yes, we are using the Nightshade game engine from Free Reign Entertainment. However, 612 Games is neither a subsidiary of Free Reign, nor financed by Free Reign or Sergey Titov. The team is focused on making a great game that will speak for itself, and now that we’ve addressed this topic we are going to return our focus to the game itself. Thank you for your continued support."
Wild West Online is due at some stage this year. If it's something you fancy, you can sign up for its closed alpha and beta testing by visiting its website.
