Dungeon Crawler Carl Collides With Red Dead Redemption In New Western RPG

Published Sep 12, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT Chris is a Gaming Editor at ScreenRant. He has been a professional writer since 2009, and has written for top TV, comics, movie, and video game outlets like Engadget, Polygon, Destructoid, and more. He brings with him an expertise in every game genre, no matter how niche or mainstream. You may know him as the former Managing/Reviews Editor of Destructoid, where he published hundreds of game reviews across every genre, including MMOs, sports games, and Metroidvanias. Find Chris on Twitter @_SRChris. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Steam is currently the king of PC game distribution, and it's not close when you compare the platform's engagement numbers. The sheer amount of variety on offer is staggering, especially when you start adding up all the promising indies and mid-level-budget titles that are doing seriously impressive work on the platform. Speaking of one of those games, a current Steam release is looking to shake things up pretty significantly by marrying the Old West feeling of Red Dead Redemption with some of the carefree sensibilities of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Although the mixture sounds messy, it ends up working far better than expected. Red Dead Redemption Is Vibe To Strive For Developed by Plot Twist and published by Lyrical Games, Erosion is "coming soon" to Steam. The idea of "experiencing every possible future" runs as an undercurrent throughout the game, as you explore an overworld reminiscent of the Old West, and potentially steal vehicles, join a cult, or spend money at the "Al Cashino" casino. Fishing, bounty hunting, dueling, and racing are also included. In all, it sounds like a pretty substantial adventure, with "endless ways to cause problems." Some of those problems are really out-there: "Experiment with 100+ skills and modifiers to create absurd synergies. Command an army of cats. Deploy orbital turrets. Clone yourself. The build possibilities are endless." A big part of that havoc lies with the destructible voxel environments. If you really want to go all-out, you'll need to account for the fact that cover is temporary. When nearly everything on the battlefield is destroyed, you'll need to deal with bullet-hell-style combat while you're blowing up walls and flipping poker tables. In case it wasn't clear, this is the vibe the game is going for: "Your daughter's been kidnapped. Every death costs you a decade. Explore a roguelike open world where your actions reshape the timeline. Join a cult, steal a ride, gamble Cheddar. Collect 100+ weapons and abilities, demolish destructible voxel dungeons. Can you save her before time steals her away?" Erosion Has Occasional Playtests Back in July, the studio ran a playtest and "couldn't be happier" with how it turned out. Not only was the session a big success metrics-wise, but it also gave the developer a chance to review more feedback and incorporate it into the final game. According to the dev, "tens of thousands" experienced the testing period. Here are some stats from the last playtest: In just 10 days, players killed 9.75 million enemies and died 73 thousand times You chose to help the Villagers almost twice as often as helping the Chicken Cultists The Revolver was the most potent weapon. Followed by the Laser, Machine Gun, and Boomerang Only 1,500 players defeated the Final Boss and met their daughter You earned 1.69 million Cheddar and 8.31 billion Pillar Dust Players drove over 26 thousand miles - enough to circle the globe If any of this sounds fun, head over to Steam and wishlist Erosion. Although it doesn't have a firm release date yet, it seems to be going straight from playtests into a full version rather than an Early Access period. Brand Valve Original Release Date September 12, 2003