This tiny indie turned robot-cowboy nonsense into a co-op loop that actually clicks

At first blush the pitch reads like a late-night Mad Lib: robot cowboy wizards, a hovertrain drop, card-based spells and undead skeletons. Play the Far Far West demo during Steam Next Fest and the joke stops being a joke – the core loop feels intentionally designed, tight, and actually fun. That’s the real story: a small seven-person studio, Evil Raptor, has made a demo that proves the game’s laughable concept can support the kind of satisfying co-op cadence that hooks players for dozens of runs.

• One-to-four player co-op FPS demo available now on Steam Next Fest; full PC early access planned later in 2026.
• Gameplay blends hub-town progression, procedurally generated missions and spell cooldowns into a loop reminiscent of Deep Rock Galactic.
• Demo has an Overwhelmingly Positive reception (~1,900+ reviews at time of writing) – players are responding to the feel, not the jokes.
• Clear weaknesses to watch: weapon accuracy, polish, and whether the progression has lasting depth beyond the demo.

Why this matters more than the premise suggests

Far Far West could have been a one-joke novelty. Instead it’s a compact proof-of-concept for a co-op rhythm that matters more than whether the enemy is a skeleton or a cyborg bandit. The demo nails three fundamentals: satisfying gunplay feedback, mobility that rewards positioning, and spell mechanics that punctuate firefights instead of replacing them. Those are the pillars that made Deep Rock Galactic sticky – a reliable loop of loadout choices, risk-and-reward runs, and town-level progression that makes you want to queue again. Evil Raptor has the same bones here, only dressed in ten-gallon hats and card sleeves.

What the demo gets right — and what the PR team hoped you’d notice

The demo leans on its comedy and design flourishes to get eyeballs: a hovertrain deployment, summonable metal horses, minecarts, even a nuclear-missile-on-rails moment. That spectacle is smart marketing. But the user reaction — Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam, per the demo — is driven by play feel. Dual-wielding and reefing off spells (you pull cards to cast) create a satisfying cadence; encounters escalate with steady enemy waves and optional objectives that reward greedy play. The town hub gives you the same kind of carrot-and-stick progression loop you see in co-op hits: spend currency, tweak loadouts, hit another mission.

That said, the demo also shows where Evil Raptor needs to tighten screws. The default primary weapon can feel inaccurate at times, pushing you toward backup pistols — fixable, but obvious. And the game’s humor is uneven: referential gags and a steam-logo-horse that begs for reviews land as groanworthy rather than charming. These don’t break the demo, but they reveal the studio’s priorities: spectacle and jokes first, deep polish second.

The uncomfortable question nobody’s asking

Demo success is nice. Retention and depth are what pay the bills in early access. The real question is whether the progression loop scales: will there be enough mission variety, meaningful unlocks, and endgame hooks to keep players returning after the novelty wears off? Rock Paper Shotgun and Steam’s news blurb both pointed the curious toward the demo, but neither can tell you if Far Far West will add the later-stage systems — boss variety beyond novelty, balanced RNG, matchmaking stability — that separate a cute demo from a live-service hit.

If I were in the room with Evil Raptor I’d ask bluntly: what’s the plan for retention metrics? How many mission templates, bosses and loadout trees have you reserved for post-launch patches? The demo proves the combat works. The rest is a roadmap and a calendar.

What to watch next

• Early access launch window — the demo says “later this year.” A concrete release date (and whether that’s Q3 or Q4 2026) will tell us how much content they’ve bundled at launch.
• Patch notes for weapon handling — a small accuracy tweak will go a long way toward smoothing the learning curve.
• Progression reveals — look for number of mission types, boss variants and a clear endgame loop (seasonal content, level caps, or prestige systems).
• Multiplayer stability and Steam review trend — demo hype is one thing, sustained player sentiment is another. Watch the review graph after the Next Fest window.

Play it now on Steam (includes Steam Deck support) if you want an early look at a co-op shooter that leans into both spectacle and a working gameplay spine. The demo’s reception shows players are responding to play feel over gimmick; whether Evil Raptor can translate that into a long-term player base is the gamble.

TL;DR

Far Far West’s Steam Next Fest demo turns a silly premise into a legitimately fun co-op FPS loop. The demo nails gunfeel, mobility and spell cadence — the same fundamentals that power sticky co-op games — but needs clearer answers on balance and long-term progression. Watch for the studio’s early access date, weapon tuning patches, and post-launch content roadmap; those will determine if this is a brief novelty or the next small-studio co-op win.