Discussion – RED DEAD WESTERNS

I mentioned before that I started reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. In it, Steven Erikson mentions that when he tried to get it sold as a film script before it became a book series, he was told that the fantasy genre was as dead as westerns. I would have agreed with him, had the most recent westerns I’d seen not being absolutely awesome. 3:10 to Yuma. Django Unchained. The Good, The Bad and The Weird. All excellent.

There have not been a lot of western-themed games. Here is a list compiled by Wikipedia. I have only played about three of them. The best of them was, of course, Red Dead Redemption.

I don’t like the idea that genres have time limits, that they become old and die. Romantic comedies have been about for centuries, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Failure to Launch, and the Greeks knew of no other drama other than tragedies. In a way, Westerns, like Zombie Films or Found Footage, are just another genre under the huge umbrellas of Horror, Thriller, Mystery or Noir.

So what about the genres that time forgot?

Musical: Only a few years ago, the market was saturated with musical games. Rock Band. Guitar Hero. Dance Dance Revolution. The only problem is that these games were essentially simple rhythm mini-games that had been stretched to fill an entire disc. What about a return to these, but make the mini-game element a part of a larger game? An RPG battler where turn-based attacks are based on your ability to knock out a short riff? You and your friends navigate a world and work together to solve puzzles, defeat enemies and save kingdoms using instruments?

Animation: Although all games are technically animation, it’s been a while since a true cel-shaded, cartoony game has been released, the most notable being South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Documentary/biopics: I have only really played one of these: Eternal Sonata, which deals with the final moments of Frederic Chopin’s life as he drifts in and out of consciousness and his fever dream that he lives in. It was good. Assassin’s Creed does this, kind of. We meet historical figures in supposedly real events. Why not have more of this?