- Publisher: 110 Industries
- Release Date: Feb 14, 2023
- Also On: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
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- Critic score
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- By date
- Unscored
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Feb 15, 2023Wanted: Dead is a punishingly-difficult bloodbath that’s a joy to play. The stages are a brutal mix of swordplay and gun battles with a combat system that’s rewarding once the timing is mastered. In between stages there are several minigames that offer a sense of levity to help break up the violence against the corrupt corporate overlords, whether it be through karaoke, an eating contest or a good old fashioned arcade game. The style of gameplay feels like a modern take on third-person action games from the early 2000s which isn’t a bad thing at all. Wanted: Dead pulls no punches when it comes to challenging the player, but that’s what makes finally completing it feel so satisfying.
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Feb 14, 2023It’s without a doubt that Wanted: Dead is oozing with style and glamor thanks to its immaculate art direction and addictive hybrid combat system. The cherries on top are the included shmup, claw machine, and karaoke minigames that simply add more drip to the overall experience.We don’t get enough games like these nowadays and I’m all for it. Unfortunately, there's just a ton of technical performance issues at launch that need to be addressed immediately.
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Feb 15, 2023Wanted: Dead successfully captures what made action games incredible in the sixth and seventh generations of consoles. Its combat options are deep and due to this, cutting up enemies never gets old. While the narrative shifts into beautiful hand-drawn anime, the voice acting and dialogue halt interest in the unremarkable narrative. However, fans of third-person action games who want a gameplay-focused experience should take stab at this one.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: Dead is going to annoy a lot of players. It’s also going to please plenty more. Soleil has made a game that leans heavily into its PS2-era inspirations, and that includes an unforgiving difficulty level. Without any real way to make things easier, some players may never see the ending of an otherwise enjoyable campaign, outside of watching a streamer perhaps. For those who can manage to hone their skills, however, the time put into Wanted: Dead will be worth it because this slasher-shooter offers so much visceral joy when things go your way that it makes all the painful death worth it.
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Feb 14, 2023A hangover of abandoned game design, dressed up in unruly aesthetics and powered by cyberpunk Pat Benatar. The unforgiving gameplay and changeless, repetitious action will leave some appalled, but the radiant cast of reprobates, silly mini-games, baffling dialogue, and shameless commitment to the bit results in one of the most bewildering, hypnotic releases in some time. Simply put: Wanted: Dead is a fucking train wreck, and you better get your ticket punched.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: Dead is a commendable effort from this team and a sign of much better things to come. It is unapologetic in what it wants to be, and so despite all of its quirks and faults, it offers a charming and memorable action game experience that is backed by a captivating presentation. Come for the brutally effective combat but stay for the utterly surreal game world filled with fun distractions and addictive carnage. With this debut title, 110 Industries takes us back to a time when a standout vibe made up for a lack of polish.
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Feb 22, 2023Wanted: Dead is a game that lacks many things, its gameplay is very strict and not very enjoyable. The repetitive action will leave some utterly dismayed. The characters are well-developed, the dialogue is somewhat disconcerting, but the story feels very original. Many will enjoy this exotic mix of good and bad things at the same time.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: Dead trips over itself trying to tell a coherent story, but its intense blood-spattered limb-slicing combat is satisfying, rewarding and demands mastery. It’s full of ambition and ideas, drenched in personality, but stumbling to deliver. Despite its quirks and failings, it’s got cult classic written all over it.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: Dead may not hit the mark in every area, but it still serrates the cut between hybrid slasher/shooter gameplay perfectly and I knew that it would be revisited by me for a long time to come even after the credits had rolled.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: Dead is a game made to entertain, and while it does have some inconsistencies and imperfections, it does just that.
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Feb 14, 2023Quotation forthcoming.
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Feb 14, 2023If you can buy into what Wanted: Dead is trying to sell, you'll have a good time. Just be ready for fragmented chunks of story, random voice work quality, and quirky concepts. Gameplay can win the day with its gorey, visceral delivery. Just be ready for an over-the-top game that takes itself seriously.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: Dead is a simple and straightforward yet challenging action game. The story is bad, there are few levels and the minigames are generally uninteresting. On the other hand, the gameplay is pretty good once you get the hang of it. If you don't care about the plot, overlook some technical problems and have the patience to learn the game, you might end up finding a good source of fun.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: Dead feels like a B-grade relic of a bygone era, released about 20 years too late. Combat can offer a satisfying rhythm once you understand it, but it’s also too basic to be truly exciting. The story is charming if nonsensical, but its stiltedness also leads to plenty of intentionally and unintentionally funny moments. Missions typically only task you with moving forward in uninspired environments, but the action -- and trying to stay alive -- means you may not notice.
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Feb 27, 2023Wanted: Dead, put simply, is mediocre through and through.
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PLAYMar 8, 2023If you’ve fond memories of the early noughties, this might find a place in your heart, but its disjointed style and slogging stretches won’t appeal to all. [Issue#25, p.93]
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Feb 22, 2023What Wanted: Dead lacks the most is identity. It could be fun to some extent but in general, nothing is outstanding about it. Everything from shooting elements, gameplay, narrative, mini-games, and even voice acting falls between bad and mediocre and the final product just not worth 60 dollars.
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Feb 14, 2023New game from Ninja Gaiden's creators offers an interesting combat system and an old-school gameplay, enough for a few pleasant hours of fun. However, a large number of bugs and flaws makes it hard to describe Zombie Squad's adventures as something more than average.
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Feb 15, 2023Wanted: 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.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: Dead brings with it a series of non-negligible problems that touch all game sectors, from the very dated technical one, to the design now out of our time, up to crucial aspects such as AI and balance of the combat system . Hardcore players of the action genre will certainly find attraction from such a game concept, but they will have to deal with all the enormous limitations shown in the review.
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Feb 19, 2023After much struggle to survive and poor implementation of gaming mechanics, you get a game that is as difficult as previous titles on which the developers worked, but with little chance of taking the fight back to your opponents and winning it fairly. Wanted: Dead is definitely not worth your time, as there are many other games today that do a much better job at balancing challenge and difficulty.
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Feb 14, 2023If 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.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: 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.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: 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.
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Feb 14, 2023Below average from A to Z: Trashy action mix of katana fighting and shooting - technology and game mechanics undercut modern standards.
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Mar 9, 2023Wanted: Dead had great potential but was utterly bogged down by poor gameplay choices and bad technical design. It crashed twice on PS5 in a two-hour play session. All in all, you are better off playing any Ninja Gaiden game until this goes on sale.
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Edge MagazineFeb 24, 2023It's true, they don't make 'em like this any more. Unfortunately, Wanted: Dead only demonstrates why not. [Issue#382, p.104]
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Feb 14, 2023Even 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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Feb 14, 2023As someone who considers themself an action game buff, Wanted: Dead let me down on just about every front. Its combat may be fun for a few hours, but eventually I realized that it was just a pool of shallow water to splash around in. The fights never evolved in any interesting or meaningful way, the minimal enemy variety never challenged me to change up my tactics, and worst of all I always felt weak, even when I fully maxed out the skill tree. Add on bland visuals, a distinct lack of personality and charm, and frequent crashes, and it all amounts to one of the first big disappointments of 2023.
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Feb 14, 2023Wanted: Dead does not live up to its self-created expectations. There may have been people who worked on the game who also made Ninja Gaiden and its sequel, Soleil's game falls far short of this quality.
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Feb 15, 2023Wanted: Dead is a total failure.
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Feb 20, 2023Nearly 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.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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Feb 14, 2023All the confusing yet irresistible energy of early-noughties double-A gaming, marred by awful writing and a core gimmick that doesn't ignite.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 42 out of 61
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Mixed: 2 out of 61
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Negative: 17 out of 61
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Feb 16, 2023
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Feb 18, 2023
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Feb 15, 2023