Wanted: Dead Reviews
I mentioned at the start that I could not tell if Wanted: Dead was a deliberate execution or something that went wrong during development.
On paper, Wanted: Dead has everything you could possibly want from an action game, but it’s mired in poor execution, ropey presentation, and more than a few unusual design choices. Wanted? We’re not so sure.
Wanted: Dead tries to rekindle that flame of passion for gaming’s earliest titles, and while it might resonate with some who unconditionally loved this era of gaming, the final product is very unsatisfying and a reminder of why going back in time is a double-edged sword.
Wanted: Dead feels like a callback to the worst games of the Xbox/PS2 era. The game has a distinct lack of polish when it comes to its enemy design, and, combined with the horrid voice acting and confusing storyline that's only explained through supplementary material, it feels like the ultimate case of wasted potential that could've become something better had the developers put a bit more thought into it.
Wanted: Dead is, at its worst, a frustratingly bad action game, but in its inexplicable presentation, nonsensical storytelling, and baffling character dialogue, it's difficult to completely dismiss. There's undeniable fun to be had here in a so-bad-it's-good kind of way, and that might even be enough for the game to secure cult status somewhere down the line. But for now, you'll need to slog through some of the most jank combat in full-price gaming to squeeze enjoyment out of the experience. Wanted: Dead is a truly fascinating mess.
There’s an action game underneath all of Wanted: Dead’s problems that is not half bad, especially if you liked games like No More Heroes, Devil’s Third, and Wet. It’s ridiculous in its context and action. Unfortunately, for everything good I could say about this game, there was at least one or two things keeping me from enjoying it. Between cringe-worthy dialogue, game crashes, clashing moods, random and ridiculously difficult moments, and broken mechanics, Wanted: Dead takes a lot of effort just to play, let alone enjoy. Here’s hoping they can smooth out some of the technical issues after launch, but even then, this might be a title only the truly dedicated will tolerate for long.
Despite its clear and comprehensive flaws, Wanted: Dead is still weirdly likeable, and will undoubtedly find a similarly strange and unique fanbase to worship at its feet.
Wanted: Dead promised to be a very violent action game, with a macabre style and unexpected mechanics, but instead we have found a frustrating experience that is rarely fun. We cannot recommend it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Wanted: Dead is perhaps too ambitious, at times punching above its weight while mostly missing the mark and also being brutally difficult at times.
Wanted: Dead is a bloodthirsty romp with challenging gameplay, but it feels unduly harsh, and more frustrating than fun. Accompanied by an inconsistent narrative, poor presentation, and repetitive boss battles, it results in a mediocre experience overall.
Wanted: Dead looks back at the last twenty years of game design and manages to combine shooter and hack ‘n’ slash elements rather cohesively into one of the tightest melee/shooters I’ve played in a long while. Unfortunately, while I will scoop praise on the gameplay until the end of time, there are issues that can’t be ignored. When I wasn’t shooting things with gleeful abandon, everything else was trying to make me put down the controller. The wooden plot and lifeless characters are a given, but the strange minigames, awful level pacing and difficulty spikes left a bitter taste in the mouth. There’s no doubt this is a fun game and I can see a small section of players absolutely loving it to death, but outside a tight knit niche of fans, I’m certain that Wanted: Dead will sadly be quickly forgotten.
Wanted: Dead brings so much and at the same time, that as a player we are perplexed. That's way too many emotions for a game that doesn't make any effort to truly improve any of them. Despite everything, the evident humorous side takes us to the opposite of the most negative emotions that we could get from this experience, even reaching several moments of: "just go for another 10 minutes". I can't really recommend it, but honestly I can't tell you to put it away either. In my humble opinion, despite everything and the calamity of everything that the game brings, I will give it a positive note... just because it managed t9 make my comic persona won over my rational one!
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
With Wanted: Dead, Soleil fails to accomplish its mission to make a good comeback for hardcore action games like Ninja Gaiden: this game seems blocked in the PS2 era.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Violent, ridiculous, and occasionally fun, Wanted: Dead misses a lot of its marks but is still worth a look for the devoted.
Wanted: Dead reminds me of the PS2-era Onechanbara games but it's substantially less entertaining with its clunky gameplay and odd story, characters, and dialogue that I'm not quite sure if I should be laughing at or with.
Soleil is an up-and-coming studio that has been showing real promise in the mid-tier games space. A space that has gotten less and less attention this past decade. I think that they succeeded here more than they didn’t. I found myself continuing to come back and fight against the frame rate issues and the technical flaws. I like these characters, even if they are more shallow than they could be. I like the tone. Referencing Supa Hot Fire in 2023 and then having your war criminal antiheroes do karaoke or see who can eat the most ramen right before they lay waste to a government building or comfort a child who doesn’t seem to care that his parents just died in the next room is a crazy, weird, off-kilter, fun time. I even liked the combat: as cheap as it may be to get insta-killed by a random merc with a rocket launcher or a ninja flying out of nowhere. I liked the weird pace of it. I liked the puzzle of deciding how to get to the next checkpoint. I just really, really did not like having to fight through a non-stop onslaught of glitchy jittery frame rate issues or other small and large performance issues. I want to give this game at least a 7.5, and if it is ever patched further we might be able to reexamine it, but I can’t overlook something so glaring as countable frames and frequent crashes. I hope that Soleil Ltd. is able to bounce back and stick the landing on the next one because I like everything else I’ve played from them. And I know they’re capable of more.
I’ll say it like this: I’m actually mad about how much I want to like this game. While the simple but effective personalities can be so-bad-it’s-good occasionally and the soundtrack certainly survived the sound check, this gameplay isn’t doing it any favors. I can’t help but feel the story might have worked better as an anime as the interactive element is what lets Wanted: Dead down the most. With some more work, Wanted: Dead could be that hilariously fun love letter to retro anime and games of the early noughties that I desperately wanted it to be. As of right now, it’s just far too short, clunky and directionless to be worth the price of admission.
I enjoyed some features of the game. Like the way it looks, chopping the opposition to separate parts and grooving to some ramen and music. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep me playing. I couldn’t get over the protagonist’s voice and some of the cliché and borderline cringe cutscene dialogue.
Wanted: Dead's challenging settings, unique approach to battle, and visual presentation will attract some interest, but they certainly won't be adequate to hold most players' interest for very long. Its gameplay mechanism and core plot shortcomings made it difficult to enjoy as a whole. If you, however, like hack and slash, decapitating enemies, and are willing to die often to do it, then Wanted: Dead is the game for you.
While Wanted: Dead has some charm and some interesting gameplay and minigames to break up the pace, the terrible shooting mechanics, and lack of checkpoints in crucial parts of the game mean you have to really take up the game with its own broken-as-heck terms. At the very least, it's a 10-hour-or-less thrill ride so it's not a complete slog and it has its heart in the right place design-wise. It will toughen you up, if you give it a chance.