New Western PC Survival Game Lets You Earn Money While Playing

While Paydirt Games studio’s Kevin Beardslee will forever be known for co-creating arguably the most beloved MMO of all time, World of Warcraft, his company recently released an intriguing new PvE survival game called Fatal Frontier 1869. This single-player game stands out not just by being a free download on Windows PC as opposed to being launched through Steam, but by adding tension to the survival experience by putting real money on the line. In Fatal Frontier 1869, PC gamers are 19th-century pioneers on the hunt for gold, and if they get enough of that mineral, they can cash out.

While Fatal Frontier 1869 isn’t the only game that attempts to pay its user base for playing, the pedigree of the studio head that’s working on it makes it hard not to be interested. The actual gameplay mechanics are satisfying, and for players concerned about gambling for real money, it’s worth noting that Fatal Frontier doesn’t use NFTs, cryptocurrency, or player-to-player trading to fund its economy. While it’s a game that younger audiences should almost definitely avoid, its unique premise should guarantee tension on every single skill check, as repeated success could result in significant profit.

Fatal Frontier 1869 Features

• CHOOSE your playable pioneer from a regularly growing roster of adventurers, each with distinct abilities.
• EXPLORE the Alaskan frontier in search of gold, mining as much as you can before making the dangerous return home.
• LEVEL UP your pioneer’s abilities to have a better chance of surviving.
• SURVIVE dangerous wildlife, NPC outlaws, and harsh environmental conditions.
• SKILL CHECKS will determine how much gold players are able to extract.
• CASH OUT once you’ve obtained at least $5 of real-world gold.

Fatal Frontier 1869’s Mining Could Prove Equally Rewarding and Tense

Fatal Frontier 1869 allows players to purchase Prospecting Passes that enable them to go out hunting for gold, one of which is typically provided to newcomers upon sign-up as a welcome gift. These passes vary in cost and duration. Each time players attempt to mine for gold, they’ll also spend a claim, which is essentially ammunition for miners that can either be earned or purchased as needed. If they find and strike a vein, they’ll be given a Dead by Daylight-like skill check that they need to react to, with perfect hits rewarding all the gold, average ones providing some, and misses leaving them empty-handed.

Said gold is placed within a randomly generated world instead of being deliberately placed in hard-to-find spots by the developer, ensuring that the hunts for it are as fair as possible. Once players are satisfied with their haul, they can brave the threats of the environment to either exfil via a Steam Ship (assuming they’re in position of a ticket) or light a signal flare and hope for rescue. However, the latter approach is always a gamble, as the light will attract hostile bandits and wildlife. Once players have the minimum amount of gold banked ($5 USD), they can cash out to PayPal or their real-world bank account. According to Paydirt Games, since launch, the community has extracted “substantially more real-money gold” than it has spent on buying claims, suggesting a healthy balance between earnable claims and those bought via microtransactions.

With Paydirt Games only profiting from the Pioneer Passes that unlock access to earning real-world gold, as any money spent on the claims used for mining goes directly toward payouts for players, Fatal Frontier 1869 boasts a delicate and interesting ecosystem. It’s also worth noting that hunting for gold isn’t the only thing that players can do in the game. Players can complete challenging quests to secure rare items for NPCs, which they can trade in for mining tools and claims. There’s a tutorial available, too, and a high-level mode called Fortitude was recently added. However, players should be careful when messing with Fortitude or particularly tough quests, as failure can severely injure Pioneers. They’ll require time to heal, leaving players without their go-to adventurer, but thankfully, all gold dug out of the ground belongs to players regardless of a pioneer’s injury.

Fatal Frontier 1869’s Pioneers Could Be Its Secret Weapon

While being able to potentially snag some real-world cash just from playing a fun survival game is something that could get many potential players through the door, keeping them hooked is another matter entirely. However, the Pioneer system proving satisfying could be just what is needed to make Fatal Frontier 1869 a fixture of players’ game rotations. Not only is the roster set to expand over time, but players will also unlock access to more pioneers as they progress, including famous figures like Wyatt Earp.

Each pioneer won’t just have distinct statistics like faster or slower dig speeds, but unique abilities as well. For instance, the existing roster of Pioneers boasts the following unique traits (as well as varied Health, Energy, and Encumbrance stats):

• Wyatt Earp: Double-Barrelled Shotgun, +15% Ranged Damage, +1 Defense, +2 View Range Day
• Wade Tornstorm: Harpoon, Melee Damage +1 Defense, +1 View Range Day
• Clara McKinley: Sniper Rifle, +10% Mining Speed, +15% Ranged Damage, +5% Dodge, +2Move Speed, +3 Sprint Speed, -1 Sleep Hours, +1 Stealth
• Russell Greenberry: Custom Pack for extra carry weight, +25% Mining Speed, +1 Sprint Speed, 10% Melee Damage, +2 Defense, -1 Sleep Hours, +5% Dodge, +1 Stealth
• Boomstick Bob: Explosives expert, +15% Mining Speed, +10% Chopping Speed, +1 Sprint Speed, -2 Sleep Hours, +2 Defense, +10% Ranged Damage
• Skookum Joe Mason: Dual wield axes and stealth expert, +10% Mining Speed, +15% Melee Damage, +10% Dodge, +2 Move Speed, +2 Defense, -1 Sleep Hours, +2 Stealth
• Jane ‘Splinter’ Holloway: Expert woodsman and shelter builder, +20% Chopping Speed, +2Move Speed, +2 Sprint Speed, +1 Defense, +5% Dodge, -1 Sleep Hours, +1 Stealth, +2 View Range Day, +10% Ranged Damage
• Nellie Cashman: Husky dog companion, +10% Ranged Damage, +10% Chopping Speed, +1Defense, +10% Mining Speed

These companions have distinct advantages that could draw players to using (or avoiding) them, and they also have bold personalities and backstories to go along with their gameplay differences. Plus, though Fatal Frontier 1869 is very much a single-player survival game, it boasts a community that’s eager to both give new pioneers tips and compete with more experienced miners on the leaderboards.