Does RimWorld feel Western?

[REMworlder]

^{Once Upon a Time in the West, 1968}

RimWorld has an unapologetic western Firefly-like vibe with its sherrif's badge logo and opening guitar riff at the start of every game. But lately I've had trouble feeling it. New features in the last few alphas have been cool, but none of them have had the same western punch you'd get from earlier alphas centered around last stand gunfights between cowboy-hatted settlers and American indians tribals.

With the most recent alpha especially, I thought the addition of more animals would play heavily into the western vibe. Livestock like cattle are what created the cowboy mythos in the first place, and countless gunfights came about from range livestock and water wars -- but I'm reading too far into that. The more I realized I expected to see Western callouts in the game, the more I was missing the point.

Part of the issue is what makes Westerns good is a nebulous thing and hard to nail down. When we look at prime examples of Space Westerns like Firefly, Borderlands, or even the original Star Trek we see they all avoid embracing tropes too obviously. They realize adding in western throwback props like space-horses or astronauts wielding lassos is a special sort of creative laziness (Cowbows and Aliens), made even worse by the western genre itself becoming oversaturated and cliche. Not to say cowboy hats are only worn by sellouts: Western props aren't themselves bad, but relying on them exclusively is.

So what did they do right? They focused on the themes that make the Western genre distinctive. To name a few:

• Interpersonal relationships: unique characters drawn together for survival, feuds, duels
• The struggle for civilization and justice
• Harsh and unforgiving frontier wilderness
• Lawlessness, violence, and physical courage

At this point I'm not entirely sure where I'm headed with all this. I'd love for RimWorld to feel a bit more western, but I'm not sure what that means, exactly. Given part of RimWorld's allure is its emergent storytelling, players have to take some responsibility for making the story of games what they want it to be. But the right foundation has to be in place if the player's going to find a western-esque experience.

What do you think? What makes RimWorld a Space Western? What would help?

[A Friend]

IMO, while pretty cliche, I think these would help a bit.

- Revolvers and lever action rifles.
- Masks. Idk, just something to give enemies an intimidating bandit like appearance.
- Some events that helps solidifies those themes you pointed out. For example: a dying visitor arrives on screen and falls down. He asks for your help. You go try and rescue him but suddenly an ambush appears.
- Being able to ride animals. (and mechanoids pls.)
- Edit: Though and of course, a tiny bit of imagination.

My mind right now:

A strange figure appears in the horizon...

Blurred by the desert heat, it inches closer and closer.

Soon, the sight becomes clearer. A man sits on top of a massive robotic creature. His face and expression is hidden away by his cowboy hat and bandit-like mask and goggles. A rifle of sorts is holstered on the back of his brown leather duster.

He eventually reaches you and your group, and stands in front of you all. The massive robot creates an intimidating shadow that towers over you. All the while creating a slight mechanical humming noise. Still, the man and his mount stays motionless, seemingly observing you.

The stranger pulls down his cloth mask and reveals a smiling face.

"Howdy."

A wanderer wishes to join the colony.

*Guitar riffs then proceeds to play afterwards*

[Boston]

I dunno about the whole "Space Western" thing. They don't really interest me.

I overwhelmingly prefer staying the hell out of arid/desert maps. They are just so ........ boring?  My favorite maps are boreal forest, followed by temperate forest. I prefer "lone wolf" (where I have 1 pawn, with a self-built cabin in the woods) and "tribal" colonies over cattle-towns and cave-dugouts.

I would actually prefer it if Rimworld moved away from "space westerns".

[Goldenpotatoes]

I would actually prefer it if Rimworld moved away from "space westerns".

Seems that would be kinda hard when the game itself takes influence from the show Firefly, which is literally a space western.

[cultist]

• Guitars as a joy item
• Use beer as a weapon, like wood
• Tumbleweeds
• Cattle rustlers (pirates that try to kidnap your animals instead of colonists)

[Boston]

I would actually prefer it if Rimworld moved away from "space westerns".

Seems that would be kinda hard when the game itself takes influence from the show Firefly, which is literally a space western.

The game also takes a lot of influence from Warhammer 40k, which is as far away from a Space Western as one can get. Firefly isn't the only influence at work.

[Specialist290]

On the one hand, REMWorlder makes some very interesting and valid points.  I certainly think that there's quite a bit of Western and Space Western influence in Rimworld, and for me that's certainly part of its charm.  However, I think this point is also important:

Firefly isn't the only influence at work.

I think it's important to state that Rimworld draws influence from all over the science fiction genre, which has an extremely varied makeup in terms of settings.  I for one would rather keep seeing that broad melting pot of influences shape Rimworld into its own unique experience as the final product than to see it fall into a narrow niche and become more generic.

[skullywag]

I can mod in some bullet richochet twangs when they hit the floor.....

[daft73]

I agree with the 'Old Western', though in a post modern world. The idea of settling a town in a far off place, coupled with the idea of raiders taking what they want from the local townfolk, for me screams 'Old WesternRim'. Not to mention the game icon

[Jimyoda]

• Guitars as a joy item
• Use beer as a weapon, like wood
• Tumbleweeds
• Cattle rustlers (pirates that try to kidnap your animals instead of colonists)

You ALREADY CAN use beer as a weapon in the current version.

[cultist]

You ALREADY CAN use beer as a weapon in the current version.

I was actually thinking that as I wrote it, but I guess I've never been desperate enough for melee weapons to try it in-game. I'll be sure to try it in my next game.

[MisterVertigo]

• Guitars as a joy item
• Use beer as a weapon, like wood
• Tumbleweeds
• Cattle rustlers (pirates that try to kidnap your animals instead of colonists)

These are great ideas, especially the cattle rustlers.

I have a few of my own:

• Saloons - Complete with saloon girls. Could be an added joy activity
• Sheriff & Deputy - Kind like like a squad system. You could designate a certain pawn to be your Sheriff, and then you would have deputies that worked for him. When there was a raid the sheriff would lead the deputies to the front lines to fight them off, and everyone would get some kind of bonus while the sheriff was in the fight. Their job would be to protect the rest of the colonists. Lots of possibilities for this.
• Mayor - Kind of like the sheriff, he would be a pawn designated with this title. There is a mod out there now for colony management, where they set the jobs that are to be done, etc. This would be a role for the mayor.
• Bandits/robbers - Maybe an event like the Visitors event we have now. They come in as friendly, but then all of a sudden one of them steals some silver from a stockpile and the sheriff and his or her deputies have to chase them down.
• Stagecoach & Train Robberies - Obviously there aren't vehicles in the game, but this would be awesome of that were to ever happen.

Just a few things from westerns that came to mind for me. These could be kind of fun, and would give a western feel I believe.

[Dive]

I would rather prefer rimworld to have a post-apocalyptic feel, which is kinda similar to a western in some way, ecpecially if you leave aside western cliches like train robberies, cowboy hats etc and focus on things like:

• Interpersonal relationships: unique characters drawn together for survival, feuds, duels
• The struggle for civilization and justice
• Harsh and unforgiving frontier wilderness
• Lawlessness, violence, and physical courage

Tell me how these properties are not appliable to a post-apocalyptic setting? I think they totally are! What to change to get that feel stronger? I'm not sure. I'd say wilderness is the first thing to improve, maybe make it more harsh.
Although I'm not sure, right now early in the game and sometimes midgame wilderness is harsh enough already, although it stop's to pose much danger in the late game.
Another thing to add more immersion is to make other factions system more complex. Right now it never seems like they're surviving too, they seem like an endless source of random people that come to you.

[rexx1888]

im a fan of the themes inherent to westerns, but i dont care for westerns themselves. Rimworld does a good job of some of the themes, not so much others. still a better western than most westerns