West of Dead Reviews
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
West of Dead is an excellent, action-packed, Western twin-stick shooter that features smooth gameplay and striking atmosphere.
West of Dead is a very interesting action game, very punitive, as dying is definitive, but entertaining. If you manage to tame its camera angles, you'll find a pleasant alternative to Hotline Miami.
Review in French | Read full review
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.
Upstream Arcade and Raw Fury bring us this fantastic shooter where you find your self doing several runs trying to discover why you end up in the Purgatory. The game is difficult and requires the player to keep trying and understand the mechanics in order to master it. Your allies will be the twin-stick controls and tactical cover to overcome all the terrors you will find in Purgatory. After every run, you will fell more powerful and uncover mysteries that will help you to understand how you end up there.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Roguelikes are a dime a dozen nowadays, especially in the indie scene. A lot of them end up falling flat because they don’t understand what makes the genre so addicting to begin with. That wasn’t the case here. Aside from a few issues and its slow beginning, West of Dead sits at the top of the pile, being one of my favories games in the genre.
The shootings are not bad for West of Dead, because after all, that’s where it has to stand out. What we have here is a twin-stick shooter with an aerial camera that stands out almost entirely from the frenzy that characterises this type of game. It’s not about moving very fast, shooting at full speed, and dodging thousands of enemy projectiles. On the contrary: West of Dead is a slow and methodical game.
West of Dead brings some interesting ideas to the well-trod Rogue-lite scene, but lots of technical and design flaws make it hard to enjoy them.
West of Dead elevates its experience thanks to to the storytelling and art design. Some aspects of the game can be frustrating, but the total package is generally rewarding in its gameplay and beautiful in its design.
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
While West of Dead is subdued in many ways, I find it to be an easy recommendation for any fan of roguelike titles.
Striking visuals, fun combat and a lot of love for the supernatural western folklore.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
West of Dead is a compelling and enjoyable challenge, helped along by Ron Perlman's undeniable charisma and a handful of interesting new ideas.
West of Dead it's quite a classic twin stick shooter roguelike with a twist: it chooses tactic and thoughtfully action instead of frenzy. The gameplay is quite derivative and basic, though everything works and it's overall a fun game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
Upstream Arcade’s West of Dead is an impressive roguelike. With a solid twin-stick shooting system, West of Dead has a more than serviceable gameplay loop. However, the game is truly anchored by it’s incredible visuals and art design. Add on top of this an excellent voice performance and unique sense of worldbuilding, and you’ve got a roguelike formidable in any standoff.
West of Dead offers a satisfying blend of tactics and rogue-like gameplay that I didn’t expect. Levels offer plenty of options for how you want to approach a situation, the gunplay is fast and precise, and the execution of creating a wild west style shoot out is perfect. The game is dripping with personality and Ron Perlman delivers each word with purpose and meaning. Every aspect of gameplay and aesthetic is tailored to telling the story of Mason in a way that feels natural and unique. It’s a blast to play over and over again despite issues with the geometry interfering with aiming and dodging not quite feeling as useful as it ought to.
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.
For as trite as the roguelike genre might be at this point, West of Dead tries its best to take a different approach, whether it’s through its incredibly stylish presentation, or the way that it injects dual-stick shooting into the mix.
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.