Far West

When you were bored with tournaments in the nineties and looking for something to kill time without too many demands, Far West was exactly that quiet helper — a Wild West strategy that never made the headlines, but everyone who had DOS and time knew about it.

It's a turn-based game set in goldfield settlements and frontier chaos. You command a group of settlers, build, trade, shoot it out with the competition, and try to control the local territory. It's not Civilization or Anno — it's simpler, more compact, more about tactical consideration than empire building. The word "strategy" here basically means: "plan a little ahead and don't be stupid".

The mechanics are simple to the point of being dull, but that's exactly what gives it charm. You create buildings, collect resources, haggle with other settlers. The graphics are basic, the controls straightforward — nothing stops you from looking at the title screen and wondering what the hell you're supposed to do. The game tells you what to do, and you either do it or figure out your own solution. You can only conditionally trust the pace and the AI of your rivals; they'll make the same mistakes as a player without a decent plan.

Far West belongs in the category of games you don't remember for the setting or story, but for the inner feeling — knowing you spent time with something that worked and was comfortable. The look has aged, but the controls and logic work even today. It's not a game that revolutionized the world; it's a game you played when there was nothing better.

Today? If you're in the mood for a simple turn-based game without unnecessary chatter and modern graphics demands, Far West in the browser behaves decently. It's not the pinnacle of the genre in '91 or now, but it's not soulless either — it's honest work worth half an hour or two.