Wild West Pioneers guide: the first hours, done right
Almost half of playtesters quit during the very first quest, by the team’s own count. This page puts the opening in order, from the Town Hall to the buried treasure and the shovel the dig party forgets to bring, with each step tied to what the game’s official posts say.
(The drop-off figure is from the Steam announcement: Playtest Retrospective)
The opening, in order
11 steps from an empty field to the buried treasure. Tick them off as you play.
Your settlement starts from it. Once it is down, a fourth button appears on the bottom bar: the Journey. You then pick the first Town Hall official, and that choice cannot be changed later.
The Journey is where buildings and upgrades are unlocked with journey points. Source · Journey points and ideas
Put a warehouse near where work will happen and assign workers until its range is full.
Staffing a warehouse to full range is one of the Progression tab's quick wins, and warehouses move goods between buildings. Source · How goods move
A logger's cabin near the trees. Logs raise tents; a sawmill later turns them into planks.
Every early building and the first houses run on wood. Source
On screen in launch-day footage: a tent needs 10 logs.
Open the Journey, unlock the tent, and build enough that nobody is homeless.
Residents' Needs, the first objective, now points you to tents first, and homeless residents cannot work. Source · Residents' needs
On screen in launch-day footage: the tent idea costs 40 journey points and houses 5; you start with 30 residents, and the Journey first opens with 45 points.
Wells only work on underground water; keep houses inside the blue circle around the well, and add a water tank to reach further.
Water is one of the three basic needs, next to food and health. Source
On screen in launch-day footage: the well idea costs 10 journey points, and each well needs 20 logs and 20 cash.
Gather mushrooms, cook them into soup at a kitchen, and sell it from a food shop close to the tents.
Settlers only eat what a shop hands out, and the loggers-to-kitchen chain was the slowest part of the playtest opening. Source · Food chains
On screen in launch-day footage: Residents' Needs asks that all 30 residents can buy food at the Food Shop; a shop for 30 needs 30 food units a day.
Shelter, water and food for everyone closes the first objective.
Whims, the personal wishes of each household, only start after it is complete. Source · Whims
The early gold objective asks for 50 gold.
The starting settlement now gives you enough gold to complete it, so you cannot lock yourself out. Source · Gold and the debt
A sawmill turns logs into planks, and planks turn a tent into a wooden cabin.
The same path continues: find clay and the cabin becomes a brick mansion. Source
Build the Scouts' Cabin and pack canned goods before sending a party out on the world map.
The main quest asks you to explore places only scouts can reach, and scouts need supplies. Source · Scouts and expeditions
On screen in launch-day footage: the Scouts' Cabin idea costs 200 journey points, needs the Sawmill unlocked first, and takes 30 cash and 20 planks to build.
When the party reaches the dig site without a shovel, go back to Dust Creek, pick up the shovel left behind there, then return and dig.
It is one of the stuck points players asked about on the Steam forum during the demo. The Early Access build still has the side quest, Fortune in the Foundations, and the treasure is in Hidden Grove. Source · Where the shovel is
Where can you play it?
On a Windows PC, and nowhere else yet. Steam lists Windows only, and the publisher named three stores for the Early Access launch. (Stores named in Toplitz Productions' open playtest news post) Consoles, Mac and phones have no announcement and no store listing. The full platform board has every row with its reason.
| Where | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| PC (Windows) on Steam | Yes | On sale now in Early Access. The build is Windows only: Steam lists Windows and nothing else.the Steam store page |
| PC on GOG | Listed, not on sale yet | The publisher named GOG.com as a launch store, but when Steam opened, the GOG page still said Coming soon with only a wishlist button.“available in Early Access on PC via Steam, GOG.com and Epic Games Store”Toplitz Productions' open playtest news post |
| PC on the Epic Games Store | Listed, not on sale yet | Named by the publisher in the same sentence as Steam and GOG; when Steam opened, the Epic page still showed Coming soon with only a wishlist button.Toplitz Productions' open playtest news post |
| PlayStation 5 and PS4 | Not announced | No PlayStation version has been announced and the PlayStation Store has no listing for it. |
| Xbox Series X|S and Game Pass | Not announced | No Xbox version has been announced and Microsoft's store catalogue returns nothing for the name. |
| Nintendo Switch | Not announced | No Switch version has been announced and Nintendo's eShop search has no listing. |
| Multiplayer or co-op | Not planned | It is single-player. The publisher said there are no plans for co-op or multiplayer.“As of today, there are no plans for coop or multiplayer.”Steam discussions: publisher reply on co-op and multiplayer |
Release time, price and editions
Early Access unlocked at 12:00 UTC on 25 September 2026 for everyone at once; the local-time table covers eleven cities. The publisher put the Early Access price at $19.99 (in Steam discussions: publisher reply on price and editions), and 200,000 wishlists pushed the launch discount to its top tier of 25%. (Announced in Steam announcement: 200,000 Pioneers at the Gates) Every edition is the same game; the price page explains what Companion and Ultimate add outside it.
The guide, section by section
Guide
The opening, the stuck points and how the economy fits together.
Platforms
Where it runs today, and where nothing has been announced.
Getting it
Release time, price, editions, stores and what your PC needs.
Reception
What demo players said, the AI art story, and where people talk.
Quick answers
- When did Wild West Pioneers Early Access open?
- At 12:00 UTC on 25 September 2026, the same moment everywhere: 8 AM in New York, 1 PM in London, 8 PM in Beijing. It is out now.
- How much does Wild West Pioneers cost?
- $19.99 for Early Access, and $14.99 on Steam in the US during the 25% launch discount that 200,000 wishlists unlocked.
- Is Wild West Pioneers on PS5, Xbox or Switch?
- No. The Early Access build is Windows PC only, on sale on Steam; GOG and the Epic Games Store list it too. No console version has been announced.
- Does Wild West Pioneers have multiplayer?
- No. It is single-player, and the publisher has said there are no plans for co-op or multiplayer.
The team keeps changing things as Early Access goes on; the update log tracks what the official posts say changed, and sources lists everything this guide draws on. Who runs the site and how it checks facts is on the about page.