Dutton Ranch Meets Red Dead Redemption 2 In This Frontier-Building Game

Published Sep 12, 2026, 9:00 PM EDT Chris is a Gaming Editor at ScreenRant. He has been a professional writer since 2009, and has written for top TV, comics, movie, and video game outlets like Engadget, Polygon, Destructoid, and more. He brings with him an expertise in every game genre, no matter how niche or mainstream. You may know him as the former Managing/Reviews Editor of Destructoid, where he published hundreds of game reviews across every genre, including MMOs, sports games, and Metroidvanias. Find Chris on Twitter @_SRChris. Red Dead Redemption 2 has shaped a lot of media, not just video games. It's inarguably one of the most popular games to come out in the past decade, and the visuals alone have wowed millions of fans since its release. While many players lament the fact that Rockstar didn't go further with Red Dead Online when they had the chance, it'll always remain a classic open-world game with a beautiful sandbox. If you've already finished everything Red Dead Redemption 2 has to offer, you can opt for a completely new experience that's coming to Steam. It's ambitious, but it's already backing up a lot of its claims. Westlanders is set for an Early Access opening sometime in 2027, and it looks incredibly ambitious. Helmed by developer The Breach Studios and published by Team17, the game has some weight behind it, especially if it can pull off everything it sets out to do. Here's a taste of what you can expect: "Survive a wild-west open-world teeming with riches and fraught with perils. Alone or with your friends, brave unforgiving landscapes and conquer the wilds from your customizable mobile base: The Wagon. But don't just survive; thrive. Lay the foundations for bustling outposts and settlements, recruit loyal companions, and weave a powerful economic network to tame the wilderness and build your legacy." There's a lot going on in Westlanders, as you'll be able to explore the frontier, which is governed by a "dynamic open world." You'll need to discover resources like in a survival game, but also craft and create new inventions through a tech tree. Settlements can be built and customized, which can then bear crops through farming, ranching, and mining. Oh, and you'll need to battle bandits as well as wild beasts along the way. Apparently, outposts will not inherently be safe, either: "As you explore the world, the events system will change the status quo in the territory. A raid of bandits or a pack of wild wolves may wreak chaos on one of your outposts, which will have its production halted until you fight back the invader." Red Dead Redemption, The Revenant, and Train Dreams are all sources of inspiration for the development team, and it's easy to see why after looking through its initial trailer. Music producer Sophian Alkurdi also aims to make the soundtrack feel natural to the game, with the goal of making you "dive into this wild world, shaping not just what you see, but also what you feel." The wilderness is also getting a lot of attention, using real-life places as a source: "Recreating the natural beauty of the wild is also deeply rooted in visual inspiration references. From existing imagery, photography, and real landscapes, the development team studied how light moves, how nature breathes, how vastness can feel both peaceful… and threatening. Because the wild isn’t just a backdrop, it’s a character of its own." While many of these types of games buckle under the weight of their own ambition, Westlanders is already coming along nicely so far. If they can stick the landing, this could be a pretty huge release, and not just for survival fans. Brand Valve Original Release Date September 12, 2003