Wanted: Dead Reviews

Wanted: Dead is ranked in the 14th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
1 / 10.0
Feb 18, 2023

Wanted: Dead is an alleged slasher-shooter that only ever manages to slash my interest and shoot its respect for me as a player in the head. Save your bullets and play something else.

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Feb 20, 2023

At the start of Wanted: Dead, players are given the chance to enter a training simulator that walks them through the basic functionality of combat against holographic foes. It’s revealing when one of the levels in the game is set inside the drab and boxy corridors of that simulator. Apart from your foes now being flesh and blood, there’s functionally no difference in killing them. But, then, nearly every level of Wanted: Dead is practically the same, and no amount of stolen memes, nostalgic riffs, and non sequiturs can hide that depressing fact.

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3 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

After spending 12 or so hours with review code, I’ve come to the conclusion that frankly, this game just isn’t very good

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4 / 10
Feb 14, 2023

I went into Wanted: Dead expecting to be an overpowered badass that ripped and tore through the opposition. It delivered for a fleeting moment, but quickly deteriorated...

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4 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

Even with its quirkiness and challenging katana action, Wanted: Dead is a mess. It offers an odd nostalgic charm of the incomplete and unpolished games of the mid-2000s and never takes itself too seriously. Still, without the enjoyable mini-games, imaginative slice and dice finishing moves, and "so bad it's funny" voice acting, there's not much more to love. This might be one of the most disappointing games of this year.

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4 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

Wanted: Dead may be delightfully weird, but it's held back by extremely inconsistent combat, a nonsense story, and an all around lack of any direction.

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Feb 14, 2023

It's not often that the promotion campaign might be more enjoyable than the final product, but Wanted: Dead may have to grin and bear this ignominy. Despite some effort to subvert genre norms with its characters and amusing mini-games, the core action is bogged down by low production values, imbalance, and repetition. For every moment it hits its stride, there's another where it stubs its toe, and some slick execution animations are as imaginative as it gets.

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4 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

Wanted: Dead's shallow combat, dated presentation, and poorly balanced difficulty are the tip of the iceberg of issues that ultimately sinks this disappointing action game from the makers of Ninja Gaiden.

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Lee Mehr
Top Critic
4.5 / 10.0
Mar 14, 2023

Wanted: Dead captures the spirit of schlockier action blockbusters that've been long forgotten, but doesn't successfully argue why they deserve a comeback.

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Ken McKown
Top Critic
4.5 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

Wanted: Dead is a mess of a game with hints of excellence strewn about. I wanted to love it a lot more than I did. Instead the game kept making me frustrated at every turn. There have been a million examples of how to make a challenging game without making it frustrating. Wanted: Dead is the epitome of the latter. It simply uses lazy tropes instead of clever game play to create its difficulty. The end result is a game that has some great ideas, but will not interest most players. I expect most to quit before finishing the first boss.

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4.7 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

Wanted: Dead is one of the worst games I've played in recent years. From Unbelievably poor AI to weak gunplay, Wanted: Dead is a complete disaster. If you value your money and your time, never ever play this game.

Review in Persian | Read full review

5 / 10.0
Feb 27, 2023

Despite the impressive moves and cool style it tries to put out, Wanted: Dead is anything but cool.

Review in Greek | Read full review

5 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

Initially Wanted: Dead seems to pull it off, when one still appreciates its pleasurable imagery and is becoming familiar with its gameplay layout. It takes very little, however, for big and small wrinkles to come up, again and again, making the experience unsatisfying, frustrating, repetitive. Something is saved, of Soleil's game, but absolutely not enough to make it even vaguely enjoyable.

Review in Italian | Read full review

5 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

Wanted: Dead had a great team and the idea of mixing two action types so distinct was propitious, but unfortunately the game came with many gameplay issues. Besides that, it's inconceivable that the final visual quality is so far from the one shown on the trailers.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

5 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

Wanted: Dead has some cool ideas on show, but some dull combat mechanics and repetitive gameplay leave it feeling a bit rough to play. I wouldn’t say anything is outright bad in the game and it does have its cool moments, but they’re few and far between when compared to the more monotonous aspects of the experience.

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5 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

While there's an audience out there for Wanted: Dead's schtick, the myriad of issues with the whole game make it a tough sell.

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5 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

I wanted to love Wanted: Dead. It has everything I love about that charming AA middle ground from the PS2/3 era, but sadly even at its highest of highs, it still smacks of average.  The game has a lot of heart but zero focus, resulting in it trying to do too many things and barely achieving any of them well. I've no doubt this title will get a cult following and I'd be down for a sequel, but as it stands I can't suggest anyone gets involved unless you're craving something a little different wrapped in average and bland paper.

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5 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

If you’re not put off by its grave challenge that all too often feels unfair and its general rough-around-the-edges nature, you might have a good time with Wanted: Dead. Most, though, are likely to become disheartened and infuriated by it. It tries to do something new with the genre and we applaud it for that, but the execution isn’t quite there. We love its characters and its quirkiness, and even its mechanics, but they’re in a game that at the moment only sporadically feels fun to play. Hopefully Soleil can make some post-launch changes that point it further in the right direction.

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5 / 10.0
Feb 25, 2023

A mediocre release in which conflicting elements don't add up to a fun game. Wanted: Dead doesn't hold up against other February releases.

Review in Russian | Read full review

5 / 10.0
Feb 14, 2023

Wanted: Dead isn't as bad as the worst games to come out recently but sloppy game design and story-telling has let down what could have been a decent game to play.

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