Former Overwatch director reveals The Legend of California, an open-world online Wild West FPS

Former Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has revealed his next game, The Legend of California.

The debut offering from Kaplan’s new studio Kintsugiyama, The Legend of California is a Wild West themed first-person shooter set during the Gold Rush, but in a fictional island of California rather than the real-life version.

“Explore, gather, craft, build, hunt, and fight your way across a vast untamed frontier,” the game’s description on Steam reads. “Whether you choose to travel alone or work together with friends, your mission on this mythical island is not just to survive, but thrive.

“Stay strong, stake your claim, and become the true Legend of California.”

The game has multiplayer at its core, and offers procedurally generated islands which have key landmarks in the same place each time, but randomly moves other elements around.

“We handcrafted the world so the shape of California is always the familiar shape of California, except it’s an island,” Kaplan explained on the Lex Fridman Podcast. “You know, there’s no Nevada on the eastern side. We handcrafted all of that, it looks gorgeous, and places like Yosemite are where you would expect Yosemite to be.

“All of those familiar landmarks are there, but then we have dozens of points of interest, and those move around the map depending on the map seed, and the map is also tiered in terms of difficulty. We don’t really have levels in this game, we have tiers, and there’s only four right now, maybe that will change.

Kaplan explained that each server will have a different tier system. “Mohave might be the easiest newbie area on your server, but on my server it’s an endgame Tier 4 area,” he explained.

The game’s description adds: “Master FPS combat that rewards precision and skill – whether you’re hunting wildlife to stay alive, taking down hostile encampments for some quick coin, or defending your territory against enemy players in optional PvP.

“Leverage robust gathering and crafting systems to transform the Californian wilderness into everything you need to survive, from weapons for protection and tools for expansion to delicious meals to stay fed and ready.

“Establish and expand your own ranch – build a mine, add stables, and unlock powerful new crafting stations to further customize your slice of the wild. Play online on persistent multiplayer servers where you can forge your legacy solo or form a company with up to three other players, sharing resources, buildings, progress, and more.”

The Legend of California is available to wishlist now on Steam, where players can also request access to upcoming Playtests.