Wanted: Dead - Review/Thoughts

Wanted: Dead is a new hybrid slasher/shooter game from some of the folks who made Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive and I thought it would be 1000000% my jam…. unfortunately, it is not. It feels like a throwback to action games from the PS2/Xbox era of gaming. It is brash, character barks are bad and cheesy, likely intentionally so, and the characters are caricatures through and through. Now to be clear, I did not finish Wanted: Dead. I tried, oh boy did I try, but I just don’t think I am good enough and/or I simply lacked the patience. I tried levels over and over again. I even spent an hour+ in various training modes working on combat techniques I thought could best serve me out in the main game. Some background, I like combat action games and have completed many, like Ninja Gaiden, all the Bayonettas, many a Devil May Cry, but something about Wanted: Dead just did not click with me. Maybe it is the mix of shooter and slasher, maybe it is what felt like required memorization of some enemy attacks, or maybe I’ve just gotten older and/or my tastes have changed? There were certainly moments in my hours with the game that I absolutely loved. I was able to get into a combat flow state and it was exciting… but then there were the other moments, and those other moments would lead to my death, and my checkpoint would be further back than I wanted, and there’d be that boss, and, and, and… So let me be clear, some action-game fans are going to absolutely LOVE this game. They will relish the challenge and many will put out videos showcasing their skills that put me and my abilities to shame. Good for them, I say! I truly believe there is a lot to like here for a specific subset of gamers, I just wasn’t one of them. This is a game that wanted to do something and I’d guess did exactly that thing. And I have to admire that. Wanted: Dead is not a game for everyone and that is OK. One last note, there are moments early on in the game that reflect the “male gaze” in a way I did not like. I guess that is part of the “throwback” style of the game as many PS2 and Xbox-era games treated female characters that way? But times have changed and this game could have done better. Perhaps things change and characters progress toward the end of the game… if you beat it, please let me know.

I was provided a PC code for the game from the publisher.