West of Dead Reviews
It may take a while to learn how to play West of Dead effectively but the journey is ultimately rewarding and a ton of gunslinging fun.
West of Dead has plenty of great gunplay and a fascinating setting, but be prepared to die over and over and put up with an unrelentingly unfriendly continue system.
West of Dead is full of style and brooding atmosphere, but the clunky controls and a lack of polish overshadow a few of its original ideas.
West of Dead is an interesting game with mechanics that look good on paper. However, many of these mechanics are poorly implemented and make rage-quits a regular occurrence! Fortunately, the game excels in some parts like the boss fights, and there are workarounds for minor issues. As such, there is a good chance this game can improve immensely with some titles. Maybe it would have been better if this title was released in Early Access first, so that player feedback could have played a bigger role in development
Review in Persian | Read full review
West of Dead borrows a lot from Dead Cells and blends it with nice twin-stick shooter with covers mechanic. But it really suffers from lack of variety.
Review in Russian | Read full review
While West of Dead makes only a fleeting pass at innovation, it is still enjoyable for a time and does a great job of nailing a sense of personality that will resonate with fans of the good ol' Western. It's only avid rogue-like players, though, that will find much here to keep themselves invested. The repetition in the core gameplay quickly saps it of its charm, in turn requiring a concerted effort to see this title through to the bitter end.
West of Dead does most things right as far as roguelites go. The random nature of almost every element of every run can cause some large difficulty spikes, but the overall difficulty evens out in the end. The premise works fine even if it means having to hear it countless times over multiple runs, and while the measured combat feels fresh for a Western, the zoomed-out camera angle doesn't help you appreciate it. Overall, West of Dead is a solid roguelike for those who aren't burned out on the genre yet.
It’s just a shame that the game is undeniably clunky. The PC port is pretty poor in terms of controls, and there really isn’t any reason why it should be. With some improvements here and there, West of Dead could become a really good entry to the roguelite genre. I still had enough fun to recommend it, just be prepared for some janky controls and mechanics here and there.
Thanks to a moody atmosphere and precise mechanics, West of Dead perfectly wraps the tense feeling of cover shooting around a solid roguelike core.
A run-of-the-mill procedural twin-stick roguelike that has a unique aesthetic and premise, but little else. Without more content, more variety, and more exciting unlockables, West of Dead is dead in the water. Or will remain in gaming purgatory. Either way, I have very little faith in West of Dead's future.
It's a shame. Put into a different, more traditional action game structure, West of Dead would be a satisfying RPG flavoured shooter with a truly inspired combination of gameplay mechanics. What's here offers plenty of great, timing driven moments, but when saddled with conventions of the genre it has chosen to adopt, it quickly becomes an exercise in frustration and simply doesn't hold up to the scrutiny.
West of Dead isn’t without its standoff moments of frustration, but a squint of the eye and a sweat-bead zero-flinch will see you standing tall post-Purgatory call out.
West of Dead on Xbox One is a beautiful and entertaining western shooter that you'll probably enjoy playing it if you are into roguelikes. The game doesn't waste its potentials when it comes to gameplay mechanics, however, unbalanced and unrewarding level design are major issues that the game suffers from.
Overall I'd still encourage people to get West of Dead. It would be one of the most enjoyable roguelike games I have played in a long time, and if those little niggly issues are ironed out then I think a lot of people are going to enjoy the challenge and story of this really cool game.
West of Dead adds enough new elements to an overdone genre to keep things interesting and the visual design is truly stunning. If it had more to offer in terms of exploration and map size along with some more enemies to shoot, this would be even better.
West of Dead is a game that conceivably had a lot of potential. However, on PlayStation 4 at least, the game is far too broken in vital areas to ever let players discover whether there was any substance to back up its undeniable style.
West of Dead provides an adequate challenge set across an intriguing premise.
West of Dead isn't going to win any originality contests, but it knows how to draw with the best of them and it's quick enough to hit you with six rounds of stylistic fun. Beneath the obvious comparisons, there's a game that plays out like a passionate high noon homage to the best of film, games and comic books.
West of Dead is a refreshing take on multiple genres. It's a great cover-based twin-stick shooter. It's a different kind of roguelite. And it's just a solid all-around action game that's a joy to play. It's highly challenging, and it rewards smart play, so what you ultimately get is a satisfying experience that's fun and invites you to put the time into learning its intricacies.
While West of Dead is subdued in many ways, I find it to be an easy recommendation for any fan of roguelike titles.