Can you beat your friends in a western-style duel by pressing a random string of ten buttons the fastest? That’s the challenge from Western Press, a new multiplayer game from the Melbourne-based Bandit-1 and distributed by Surprise Attack Games.
Like many quick-fire multiplayer games we’ve seen at this year’s event, the gameplay in Western Press is very simple. You and your friend have a duel. You and your friend press a series of random buttons. Whoever presses the correct series of buttons wins the round. Each duel lasts about a minute.
However, while you can play the game on a controller, their PAX Australia booth (located with all the other games from Surprise Attack Games) featured another unique way of playing the game: using the dance mat from Dance Dance Revolution.
I’d argue using the DDR mat is a better way to play the game – mainly because it adds a layer of difficulty to playing the game (especially those who are not familiar with DDR).
The developers also note that you can customise what buttons are used, so combinations can be as complicated as you want them to be. It also has support Xbox and PlayStation controllers, other dance mats, keyboards, and third-party controllers.
While the game feels more suited towards local multiplayer, the game does feature online multiplayer. You can host tournaments for up to 16 players (which can comprise of local players, online players and bots).
The game is already out now for PC and Mac via the Steam store.