Could Wild West-Themed VR Settings Become A Reality?

Westworld is up there with the best television series of recent times, or at least its first couple of seasons were. It imagines a Wild West-inspired theme park in which visitors can do almost anything they want. In the series, the park’s hosts are AI-powered robots, and revellers can interact with them.

It may be too ambitious to bring a project like this to life in the real world, but there’s a strong chance that there will one day be virtual reality Wild West settings. The era is hugely popular in the mainstream, and developers are keen to keep churning out Western content on a wide range of platforms.

Western Genre Continues to Attract Attention

The Wild West genre enjoyed its golden age in cinema many decades ago and then drifted out of the mainstream. However, in recent times it has made a grand comeback, and now there’s widespread interest in the genre among modern audiences.

Indeed, some of the most popular content of the last few years has been inspired by the classic Westerns of old. Yellowstone, for instance, is a Western set in the modern age featuring plenty of classic tropes from the genre. HBO’s Deadwood took viewers back to the old West, immersing them in a typical town of that era.

The gaming industry is packed full of Western options as well, with this category among the most prevalent. It’s interesting that Slingo for real money is one of the newest categories at online casinos, but it already has Western games like Slingo Great Western. With there only being a few games on Slingo lists so far, it’s clear that developers have made titles with themes that they know will appeal to a lot of people.  

VR Could Take People to Past Worlds

One of the primary uses of VR is to immerse people in settings and situations that they may not have had the chance to experience before. It’s the next level of entertainment and aims to put people in the thick of the action. The entertainment industry has a rich history of exploring the past, and there’s no doubt that this will continue in VR. That could mean that there will be VR programmes that transport users to past events to let them experience them firsthand.

Of the various eras that are likely to be covered by VR developers, the Wild West is most likely going to get representation. Judging by its prevalence in the entertainment industry already, there’s clearly a huge audience out there for this form of content.

Westerns set in VR could allow users to take up the role of a sheriff or an outlaw, exploring the dusty settings of yesteryear on the American frontier. Although entertainment has given people the chance to see what these places were like, they’ve never had the opportunity to experience the textures and smells. VR could change this.

Because Westerns remain at the forefront of popular culture, there’s a strong chance that there will be VR offerings set in the Wild West in the future. These may give users a chance to feel as if they have entered an episode of Westworld, where the classic themes of yesteryear are combined with modern elements.