West of Dead Reviews
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 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 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 has a great premise and manages to deliver a fun combat that certainly has its layers. As any good roguelike, you must master the mechanics of the game and go through a good number of runs before you can expect any success. However, there is a feeling of lack of polish thanks to some poor game design choices that prevents the experience from being truly memorable.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Overall, the game itself is smooth enough to play but not unique or different enough to keep me engaged compared to other games in the genre.
If you have Xbox Game Pass, it's worth checking out. Otherwise, rogue-lite fans should find something that they'll enjoy here.
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.
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.
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.
While the game’s style is like a Homeric epic seen through the panel of a comic book, the soundtrack of melancholic twanging guitar complicates the theme to something new and unexpected, a kind of undead western. It’s slickly compelling stuff, if repetitive after a few hours and, invariably, punitive.
Though there's fun to be had with West of Dead, cruel difficulty spikes, bugs, and unruly aiming prevent the game from achieving greatness.
If you pumped hours upon hours into Enter the Gungeon then chances are you'll find a similar grab in West of Dead, but be fair warned that there isn't as much polish here. If it helps, it is launching day one on Xbox Game Pass so if you have that you can try it as soon as it launches.
With all bugs fixed, West of Dead could be a frustratingly motivating game for fans of the genre and procedurally generated games.
Review in German | 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.
West of Dead is constantly at odds with itself and, while that doesn’t make it a bad game, it does make it harder to love.
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 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 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.
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.
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.