Cowboys, enjoying the hunt? You and your buddies must have turned the wilderness upside down! With your incredible gunplay and fireballs, neither necro-dragons nor ghost trains stand a chance against you. Do you think the West has become a lukewarm oasis with no challenges left?
Don't worry, because a new wild adventure arrives on August 27! Faraway West, the co-op shooter developed by the French indie studio Evil Raptor, will receive a rich and engaging content update during Early Access — "Frostfire Blaze."
Meanwhile, this update coincides with a limited-time 20% discount on Steam, marking a new historical low. Whether you're a novice cowboy new to the West or a seasoned hunter, now is the perfect time to jump in or return!
Faraway West? What's That?
Before chatting with the old cowboy about this update, it's worth introducing Faraway West to newcomers. Developed by a small French indie team, this 4-player co-op PvE shooter broke one million sales within just two weeks of its Early Access launch on April 28, 2026. It has accumulated over 36,000 player reviews on Steam, with a global positive rating of 95%.
The game blends robotic cowboys, dark fantasy westerns, spell-shooting, and roguelike deck-building into a rare cooperative experience.
Players team up to complete bounty missions in a western wasteland filled with eerie creatures and supernatural threats. By freely combining firearms and spells, they craft diverse combat styles, further unlocking unexpected build combinations through the Arcana Card system. This highly flexible build space, tense extraction pacing, and unique art style have allowed Faraway West to carve out its own path in the competitive co-op shooter genre.
And Frostfire Blaze is precisely the new challenge the game offers to cowboys.
A New Battlefield Rises Above the Flames
The central stage of Frostfire Blaze is the new map "Hellfire," an apocalyptic battlefield inspired by lava and volcanoes. A massive volcano stands at its center, periodically erupting and sending scorching meteors crashing down, creating an intensely oppressive environmental threat.
On the surface, besides lava-and-rock terrain, huge metal skeletons and molten alloys are scattered about, as if recording the history of ancient giant machines falling and merging with the earth. This creates a unique atmosphere blending post-apocalyptic mechanical aesthetics with primal geological forces.
Easter egg enthusiasts can also find tributes to classic works like The Lord of the Rings' Mount Doom scattered throughout the map. The map includes 3 new missions and 1 hidden secret waiting to be uncovered, ensuring every exploration may bring new discoveries.
A New Combat System Woven with Ice and Fire
One of the most striking new features in this update is the introduction of a brand-new shield system and ice elemental spell mechanics.
These two systems expand the game's tactical depth, bringing new dimensions to team coordination.
The shield system revolves around ice elements. When players use ice spells, they gain an additional shield bar beyond their health. The shield gradually melts away over time, while new ice spells allow players to convert shields into massive damage output. This means players must find the optimal timing between accumulating and releasing shields, creating a strategic cycle of ice buildup and consumption.
The new spell school also opens up more opportunities for team cooperation. Imagine this: you freeze yourself into a high-speed ice crystal during a dash, hurtling like a crazy bowling ball toward clusters of enemies, knocking them aside and inflicting damage.
Meanwhile, your teammates shoot out floating ice bridges in the air, creating high-speed pathways for the entire team. The smooth surface of the ice bridges accelerates everyone, damaging enemies crushed beneath them while granting shields to allies passing over.
With proper teamwork, continuous ice bridge networks can even grant access to areas unreachable by conventional means, completely transforming map exploration and tactical route choices.
New Weapons to Supercharge Your Arsenal
Meanwhile, this update introduces new melee weapon categories. All three weapons support upgrades and custom modifications on par with firearms, and come with exclusive Arcana Cards to build unique playstyles.
You can equip knuckle dusters, charge up, and unleash a cone-shaped explosive punch to crush dense enemy clusters head-on;
You can also swing your lasso in a high-speed spin overhead, dealing massive area-of-effect damage to enemies in a 360-degree radius, showcasing the romantic flair of the Wild West.
When melee fighters suppress enemy groups into chaos, spellcasters can release a cone-shaped frost blast forward, instantly freezing enemies solid. As enemies freeze, the caster's shield thickens, while frozen foes enter a vulnerable state, awaiting execution by melee allies.
But the best part is yet to come. Amidst all the intense clashes of ice and fire, another teammate might be weaving through the squad with a banjo, producing melodies that range from pleasant to ear-splitting, adding more joy and chaos to the battlefield.
In this update, each teammate's spell and weapon choices can amplify and complement one another. The team's overall combat power far exceeds the simple sum of individual abilities, further raising the ceiling for cooperative depth and creative potential.
Beyond these core systems, Frostfire Blaze brings new player skins and additional Arcana Cards, enriching character customization options and build possibilities.
The Journey to the West Continues
In short, as a thematic update during Faraway West's Early Access phase, Frostfire Blaze offers many map details, Arcana Cards, and exploration mechanisms to discover. According to the developers' planned update log, even more crazy content awaits cowboys in the future.
The story of the western wasteland is far from over. Before the official launch, "Frostfire Blaze" serves as a substantial appetizer from this French indie team. More maps, more spells, more weapons, and deeper team coordination—this time, let ice and fire accompany you on a new adventure across the wild western lands.