Western Press

About

Western Press is a rapid-fire multiplayer dueling game that takes place in the Wild West. Players must quickly press buttons in a specific order to outdraw their opponents. With a variety of arenas, characters, and customization options, Western Press offers a fun and challenging experience for up to 8 players. The game also includes a single-player mode for practice and honing your skills.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Local Multi-Player Play with friends in the same physical space using split-screen or multiple screens
2-Players Play with one other player, either online or locally, in a cooperative or competitive game mode
Multi-Player Compete or cooperate with other players online
Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo
Split Screen Play with multiple players on the same screen, often with divided or shared screen real estate

64%

Audience ScoreBased on 170 reviews

graphics13 positive mentions

story5 negative mentions

Fun and engaging gameplay that is easy to pick up, making it a great party game.
Polished visuals and sound design, with charming pixel art and a humorous western theme.
Offers local multiplayer and customization options through Steam Workshop, enhancing replayability.

Gameplay can become repetitive quickly, with limited content and a short single-player experience.
Online multiplayer is virtually non-existent, making it difficult to find matches against other players.
The font and vertical text orientation can be hard to read, leading to frustration during gameplay.

graphics
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
56%
8%
The game's graphics feature a charming pixel art style that many players appreciate for its detail and character animations, contributing positively to the overall experience. However, some critics find the retro graphics dated and lacking clarity, which can detract from gameplay, especially in fast-paced scenarios. Overall, opinions are mixed, with some praising the visuals while others feel they fall short of modern standards.
- “The pixelated art style is oozing with charisma: from the character animations to the backgrounds, everything is rich in details.”
- “Graphically, the pixel art and animations look great if you are a fan of the art style.”
- “Music, retro graphics, and the narrator's voice are all perfect, and gameplay is intuitive and challenging.”
- “Ugly retro pixel graphics (the game was released in 2016, there's no excuse for pixel graphics, hire an artist if you have no talent yourself) accompany next-to-no meaningful gameplay.”
- “The blocky, very pixelated art style, font used, and the fact that words are displayed vertically combined to ruin the gameplay for me.”
- “Despite the retro graphics, they should have at least had the letters look nice and clear, because this made the game a bit off-putting for me.”
gameplay
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
51%
11%
The gameplay is characterized by its simplicity and repetitive mechanics, primarily revolving around dueling with minimal variation and a lack of engaging content. While the art style and atmosphere are praised, many players find the gameplay tedious and frustrating, with limited modes and a lack of meaningful progression. Overall, the game offers a polished experience but falls short in providing depth and excitement, leading to mixed feelings about its long-term enjoyment.
- “A humorous western dueling game with an interesting mechanic.”
- “The gameplay is simple but can be challenging if you don’t have nimble fingers.”
- “Music, retro graphics, narrator's voice are all perfect and gameplay is intuitive and challenging.”
- “The gameplay is repetitive, pretty much a typing game.”
- “With such basic gameplay, minimal dialogue and no cutscenes, it takes an arduous amount of time to get from one duel to the next.”
- “A duel consists of 30 seconds of navigating menus and 4 seconds of key pressing gameplay.”
story
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
60%
25%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth and development, with many players noting that it feels incomplete and underutilized despite a promising setting and character design. While there are interesting characters and references to classic Western films, the absence of a cohesive narrative or meaningful backstories leaves the experience feeling shallow and unsatisfying. Overall, players express a desire for more substantial storytelling elements to enhance the gameplay.
- “Moral of the story: you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today.”
- “While there isn't a story mode, there are plenty of characters and references: Wyatt Earp from Tombstone, Ellen from The Quick and the Dead, Mattie from True Grit, and many more.”
- “If the devs continue building on this world and adding more modes like a full training mode, career mode, individual character story modes, or some sort of quest/RPG mode, it would make for an absolutely incredible experience in my opinion.”
- “It wouldn't have taken much to develop backstories and motivations for them, and to make the single-player skill test into a story mode.”
- “Decent premise, but with no storyline, this game is entertaining for about 15 minutes.”
- “However, the game lacks any form of a story, other than the winner of the duels 'is right.' Combined with the dead multiplayer, the omission leaves the game feeling a little empty.”
music
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
62%
15%
23%
The music in the game is widely praised for its quality and ability to enhance the overall experience, with many reviewers noting its nostalgic and immersive qualities that evoke the Wild West. The soundtrack, along with the voice acting and sound effects, is described as masterfully done, contributing significantly to the game's atmosphere and enjoyment. Overall, the music stands out as a highlight, elevating the gameplay and making it a memorable experience.
- “What stands out most for me is the music, as the whistling really does make me think of the wild west.”
- “The soundtrack is amongst the best of western video games, bringing you back in time, making you feel nostalgic and never feeling derivative.”
- “I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
- “What stands out most for me is the music, as the whistling really does make me think of the Wild West.”
- “The music, narration, and attention to visuals really sell the experience.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
38%
38%
The reviews present a mixed perspective on replayability; while some users find it low due to a lack of online matches and skill disparities among players, others highlight the enjoyment of quick rounds with friends, suggesting a potential for replayability in social settings. Overall, the game's replayability seems to depend heavily on player skill levels and the availability of multiplayer options.
- “There is plenty of replayability here: beating skill tester is not an easy task, and if you have friends that come over you can play four or five rounds in about two or three minutes total.”
- “Replayability: 9”
- “There may have been some random matches online to increase the replayability of this title at release, but those days are likely long gone.”
- “Replayability is a negative number.”
- “Unfortunately, there will always be a clear gap between the better and worse players, and the amount of replayability will be affected by that. It will only be a few matches before the game gets old unless two players are very close in skill.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
83%
50%
The game features a quirky and fun sense of humor, with characters that exhibit great comedic timing. While some players found certain pop culture references to be unoriginal, the overall experience remains enjoyable and entertaining, even for those who may struggle with the gameplay.
- “A humorous western dueling game with an interesting mechanic.”
- “I was hilariously bad at this, but it was still a lot of fun.”
- “The characters have great senses of humor.”
- “Making your catchphrase a cheap, unfunny pop culture reference is a major letdown.”
- “The humor feels forced and often falls flat, leaving me cringing instead of laughing.”
- “Jokes that rely on outdated memes just don't hit the mark anymore.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
Character development in the game is highlighted by its fun and appealing character designs, as well as the ability for players to create their own characters and backgrounds. While the gameplay is entertaining and features good voice acting and sound design, some users feel that the overall experience may not justify the investment.
- “The voice acting, art, and character designs are all well done.”
- “Pros: cool design, good character design, incredibly simple, local/online multiplayer, good sound design, controller support, you can create your own characters and backgrounds, good if you like pressing buttons.”
- “Fun to learn fast typing, nice character design.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game effectively captures a polished and immersive wild west atmosphere, enhanced by a well-narrated introduction that sets the mood. While the core gameplay is solid, the strong atmospheric elements leave players desiring more diverse modes beyond the current multiplayer and linear playthrough options.
- “The wild west atmosphere of the game is enjoyable and appropriate for the gameplay mechanics.”
- “What I found after loading the game up for the first time was a delightfully polished western atmosphere with a wonderfully narrated and cinematically designed introduction that really sets the scene and mood of the game.”
- “While the core gameplay works pretty well and all the production aspects are quite tight, the brilliance of the atmosphere has left me wishing there were more modes than just multiplayer/tournament and a single character 'skill test' linear playthrough.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players appreciate the fun visuals of the game, but find the grinding aspect to be tedious and repetitive, detracting from the overall experience.
- “Fun visuals, but very tedious gameplay.”
- “The grinding feels endless and becomes a chore rather than an enjoyable experience.”
- “I spent hours doing the same tasks over and over, and it just felt like a waste of time.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game is poorly optimized for mouse and keyboard controls, offering limited functionality compared to controller use, which detracts from the overall gameplay experience.
- “It is not optimized at all for mouse and keyboard use, despite the option to play with a keyboard instead of a controller.”
- “The game suffers from severe performance issues, making it frustrating to play even on high-end hardware.”
- “There are frequent frame drops and stuttering, which significantly detracts from the overall experience.”