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West of Dead

West of Dead Game Cover
71%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
stability, grinding
69% User Score Based on 1,162 reviews
Critic Score 78%Based on 2 reviews

Platforms

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West of Dead Game Cover

About

West of Dead is a single player survival shooter game with a horror theme. It was developed by Upstream Arcade and was released on June 18, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

Step into the boots of the dead man William Mason and descend into the grim and gritty world of Purgatory in this fast-paced twin-stick shooter that'll put your skills to test. Dodge behind cover as you try to outgun your enemies in the unknown procedurally generated hunting grounds. The Wild West has never been this dark.

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West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
West of Dead screenshot
+4
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69%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,162 reviews
gameplay177 positive mentions
stability73 negative mentions
  • Unique and striking visual art style inspired by Mike Mignola comics with a strong Wild West supernatural theme.
  • Engaging cover-based twin-stick shooting gameplay with satisfying gunplay and tactical combat mechanics.
  • Excellent voice acting by Ron Perlman that enhances the atmosphere and storytelling.
  • Controls and cover system feel clunky and sticky, often causing frustrating movement issues.
  • Game is plagued by numerous bugs and technical glitches, some of which can break or softlock runs.
  • Lack of depth and variety in roguelike elements results in repetitive runs and limited replayability.
  • gameplay
    509 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    West of Dead offers a unique blend of twin-stick cover shooter and roguelite mechanics with an atmospheric dark Western setting and satisfying core gunplay. However, the gameplay is frequently criticized for clunky, sticky cover mechanics, sluggish controls, occasional bugs, and a lack of variety or depth in progression, which together can make the experience feel repetitive and frustrating over time. While some enjoy the tactical, methodical pacing and innovative lighting-based combat, many find its execution unpolished compared to contemporaries, limiting its overall appeal despite strong style and sound design.

    • “I love this game, the gameplay is really fun and quick and the story is compelling making you want to play more to progress the narrative.”
    • “The core gameplay is enjoyable. The combat flows smoothly with a decent blend between attacking, moving, and dodging mechanics that create a sense of satisfaction when you outwit or outgun a particularly tricky group of enemies.”
    • “West of Dead is a fantastic mix of roguelike mechanics and twin-stick shooting, all wrapped in a gritty, supernatural wild west setting. The gameplay feels smooth and tactical—using cover and timing your shots is crucial, and the dynamic lighting adds a unique layer of strategy.”
    • “The controls and cover mechanics are a little bit janky, but for £4 on sale, I can't complain, plus it has a voiceover from Ron Perlman, so what's not to like.”
    • “Gameplay and mechanics like the hiding, rolling, and vaulting all feel a little clunky, and the loop is very repetitive quite early on.”
    • “Much of it is down to the basic gameplay - movement and combat walk a fine line between deliberately slow and mechanically clunky but often end up being the latter, particularly the sticky cover system and the uncontrollable camera hampering your ability to aim.”
  • graphics
    329 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game’s graphics are widely praised for their unique, striking, and comic book-inspired art style reminiscent of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, which effectively establishes a grim, atmospheric Wild West purgatory setting. Ron Perlman’s narration complements the cel-shaded visuals, enhancing the overall aesthetic appeal. However, some users report issues with excessive darkness hindering visibility and occasional graphical glitches, which slightly detract from the otherwise highly regarded artistic presentation.

    • “West of Dead stands out with its unique atmosphere and a visual style that feels straight out of a Hellboy comic or Mike Mignola’s artwork.”
    • “The game’s striking comic-book art style and Ron Perlman’s gravelly narration bring the eerie world of purgatory to life.”
    • “The art style is striking, evoking a gritty, atmospheric feel that perfectly matches the game’s wild west theme.”
    • “I've had graphical corruption at least twice, and users are reporting more.”
    • “Garbage graphics and style - game plays literally black which makes enemies effectively invisible.”
    • “The aesthetic is all it really has going for it, and even then they tried (and failed) to extend that to the UI and only succeeded in making it look and function poorly.”
  • story
    232 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in this game is atmospheric and effectively enhanced by Ron Perlman's voice acting, creating a compelling dark western vibe with gradual narrative reveals through memory fragments. However, many find it fragmented, somewhat minimalistic, and too brief, leading to a sense of incompleteness and limited character development. Overall, while the narrative adds flavor and mystery, it is considered secondary to gameplay and sometimes feels underdeveloped or overshadowed by roguelite mechanics.

    • “The story is engaging - much more than I expected from an indie title, and Ron Perlman is a perfect fit for the role.”
    • “Hand drawn art that's dripping with style, a western dark-fantasy plot narrated by Ron Perlman, and great soundtrack all come together to form an immersive atmospheric experience.”
    • “The storytelling is minimalistic, but Ron Perlman's voice acting gives it weight and impact.”
    • “The story is bland, not interesting, barely even there I guess, so nobody complains about it.”
    • “Finally, it seems you need to finish the first run of the game to unlock other aspects of the game, basically requiring you to go for 2 playthroughs; it's ok because the game is fun, but at the same time it feels like a bit of cheating in order to artificially increase the play time of the game; I would rather have more original content... also, the end of the game (chapter 4) is too abrupt and the storyline feels incomplete.”
    • “The story makes no sense and is entirely forgettable.”
  • music
    176 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in "West of Dead" is widely praised for its fitting western-inspired acoustic soundtrack that enhances the game's dark, gritty atmosphere. Ron Perlman's narration complements the music, creating an immersive experience, though some players note the soundtrack can become repetitive over longer play sessions and occasional audio bugs disrupt the experience. Overall, the music and sound design are key strengths that contribute significantly to the game's unique mood and aesthetic.

    • “From the moment you drop into the world, the soundtrack sets the tone perfectly and complements the gritty visuals and gameplay style beautifully.”
    • “The music really plays a phenomenal role in this game and sets a great mood for the 'wild west' grunge that the game imbues so well.”
    • “Casting aside the great voice acting from Hellboy himself for a second, we have the best soundtrack I've ever heard, and the very tasteful cell-shaded graphics as well as the gameplay and the story, both of which are not too hard to grasp and feel great to engage with.”
    • “The developers are very stingy with both the soundtrack and the narration for some odd reason, and any sound at all beyond combat can be sparse enough to make the world feel quite empty at times.”
    • “Each area only has one dedicated track and while they're all very well done, hearing the same song over and over, especially in the earlier levels that you’ll inevitably revisit more often, can get a bit old.”
    • “The music gets repetitive too soon.”
  • atmosphere
    89 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its dark, moody, and immersive Western-inspired style, enhanced by striking cel-shaded art, a fitting soundtrack, and Ron Perlman's distinctive voice acting. The blend of supernatural elements with a comic-book aesthetic creates a unique, haunting ambiance that draws players into its purgatory setting. Though some cite repetitiveness and minor gameplay issues, the atmosphere remains a standout, making the experience memorable and emotionally engaging.

    • “The art direction and the atmosphere it's able to create are amazing, properly creating a post-death world with western elements.”
    • “The atmosphere is incredibly immersive, thanks to some well-crafted audio work that really brings the sullen, supernatural western vibe to life.”
    • “Hand drawn art that's dripping with style, a western dark-fantasy plot narrated by Ron Perlman, and great soundtrack all come together to form an immersive atmospheric experience.”
    • “Whereas the voice work and the atmosphere are the game’s highlights, it is time to examine the other side of the coin.”
    • “Even though there doesn’t seem to be much variety it still provides a rather gloomy and dark atmosphere with the visuals.”
    • “These do provide a tense atmosphere while demanding cautious traveling, but these moments play opposite of what West of Dead does well, which is delivering a fast-paced shootout.”
  • stability
    76 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is widely criticized for being very buggy and unstable, with frequent glitches such as input lag, camera issues, enemy AI malfunctions, and run-ending softlocks. These bugs often disrupt gameplay, causing frustration and making the experience feel unfinished and poorly polished. While some players find it occasionally playable or enjoyable, the pervasive technical problems significantly hinder its stability and overall appeal.

    • “Runs great on Steam Deck.”
    • “Even runs great on my laptop with a NVIDIA NVS 4200M!”
    • “With almost 10 hours at this point, I can say I've only encountered one bug where my character got stuck walking slowly, so I can't relate to all of the reviews claiming this game is buggy or not buggy.”
    • “I really, really wanted to like this game, but the gunplay is so clunky, the game is buggy as hell, some enemies are locked in place and do nothing because of bugs, and as soon as I beat the preacher, my game softlocked and I had to force quit.”
    • “The game has many bugs and glitches that can end runs or force a restart, such as your character becoming invisible and unable to shoot, or lost souls required for the ending being impossible to collect.”
    • “Nvm just found more run breaking glitches.... forget this game for the next 2 years in which maybe they will have a real functioning game to bring to market.... I try to play this game to blow off steam but it just keeps frustrating me and enraging me.”
  • grinding
    44 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The grinding in the game is widely criticized for being excessively slow, tedious, and repetitive, with long runs, slow travel between levels, and grind-heavy achievements that feel more like chores than fun challenges. While some praise the level portal system and progression design, many find the pacing sluggish and the forced repetitive tasks detract from the overall enjoyment, making the grind feel frustrating and uninspired.

    • “The gameplay loop is great, the metaprogression and unlocks aren't too grindy, and you feel very powerful in a glass tank-y kind of way.”
    • “The waypoints are perfectly distributed so that it's not tedious to walk and backtrack, although it loads every time you teleport.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Unlocking items is tedious, moving across the various levels takes far too long, and most of the time I was just looking for an exit out of an arena once I understood how the game worked.”
    • “The rate at which you unlock new things to play with is pitifully slow, making the game feel more like grindy work than an actually fun game to experiment with.”
    • “I had already committed to 100%ing the game after beating it, but the hours it took grinding were so boring and there is no way to track progress, so I kept thinking 'surely this will be the last one before the achievement pops' to no avail.”
  • replayability
    34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Replayability in the game receives mixed feedback, with some players finding it fun and engaging enough to replay multiple times due to varied combat strategies and enjoyable mechanics, while others feel it falls short compared to leading roguelikes, citing limited content, short playtime, and diminishing value after completing the main endings. Despite its stylish presentation and solid gameplay, issues like bugs and grinding for achievements hinder long-term replay appeal, though a well-polished sequel with enhanced replay elements is anticipated by fans. Overall, the game offers moderate to good replayability but may not satisfy those seeking extensive roguelike depth and variety.

    • “There's a real sense of replayability here, especially since you can approach levels with a more aggressive or defensive strategy depending on your setup.”
    • “Went back into it and absolutely no love lost, it was like reuniting with a long time best friend of yours, always fun, always exciting, not too challenging and the wide variety of guns offers great replayability.”
    • “Fantastic roguelite, some of the levels are incredibly challenging, but the game offers lots of replayability and it's a very fun experience.”
    • “Nevertheless, even though the variety is there in a technical sense, the replayability doesn’t always hold up.”
    • “This makes the replayability very low compared to other roguelikes, especially considering I got the 'true' ending in about 10 hours.”
    • “However, there were a ton of bugs, and there is absolutely no replay value once you've beaten it (something that's pretty important for a roguelike).”
  • optimization
    24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Optimization for the game is widely criticized, with many users reporting poor PC performance, frequent crashes, unresponsive and clunky controls, and frame rate issues that significantly impact gameplay, especially during chaotic scenes. Some note the game feels slow and buggy, detracting from the overall experience despite decent aesthetics and voice acting. A few users mention acceptable optimization, but the consensus leans heavily toward needing substantial improvements.

    • “Well optimized, great aesthetics and good controls.”
    • “(thanks for those performance tweaks)”
    • “Everything stylistic about the game, from Ron Perlman's casting and performance (Halo and Fallout series), the gorgeous cel shaded artstyle, distinctive sound effects, the score, and method of handling the story help me distinguish this title from any other rogue lite or twin stick shooter for that matter.”
    • “Horrible optimization where the game itself begins to tank, chugging along at near slide show in the more chaotic fights, which can cause you a lot of extra damage.”
    • “Game has horrible polish and optimization that painfully makes it almost no fun.”
    • “Bosses will be invulnerable at 0 HP, the game will randomly crash 1/3 runs at random points when you enter a room, the PC optimization is garbage with controls and crashes when clicking off screen; the game plays slowly, unresponsively, and causes random damage, feeling like slow motion.”
  • character development
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The character development is praised for its distinctive and stylish designs, with well-differentiated characters that complement the game's dark, atmospheric setting. While the overall concept and aesthetic are strong, some users feel the execution could be more polished.

    • “The whole game oozes with style - from the "ghost rider" main character, to the western weaponry and character designs, to the dark, menacing descriptions of the various levels that instill an epic sense of foreboding.”
    • “Character designs are great and are easy to differentiate from one another.”
    • “I love the lighting, character design and setting.”
  • humor
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor aspect is mixed, with some players finding bugs and AI issues unintentionally funny, while others are frustrated by annoying enemies and game-breaking glitches. Overall, jokes and humor emerge more from the game's flaws than from intentional comedic design.

    • “There's a bunch of bugs, with some that are quite destructive, but it's mostly funny stuff.”
    • “The AI is hilariously poor.”
    • “I can't think up a funny review so I'm going to copy and paste a recipe I found on the internet instead. I am extremely funny.”
  • emotional
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users have mixed feelings about the game's emotional delivery, noting inconsistent voice acting that sometimes lacks direction, while at other times effectively conveys the protagonist's emotional state. The repetitive gameplay evokes a strong sense of emotional weariness akin to purgatory, enhancing immersion. However, interface issues with menus sometimes disrupt the emotional engagement.

    • “There was never a game that made me feel like I was in real-life purgatory, doing the same grindy chore over and over until I earned my way to heaven (or hell, since I feel like a rotten corpse grinding this achievement stuff).”
    • “Though not a huge fan of the guy, I must admit he provides just the right amount of inflection and tone, giving the player a stronger connection to Mason's emotional state throughout the game.”
  • monetization
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization is widely criticized as a greedy cash grab that lacks consideration for gameplay experience, particularly on mouse and keyboard.

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78%Critics’ scoreBased on 2 critic reviews
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6h Median play time
6h Average play time
3-9h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 11 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

West of Dead is a survival shooter game with horror theme.

West of Dead is available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5 and others.

On average players spend around 6 hours playing West of Dead.

West of Dead was released on June 18, 2020.

West of Dead was developed by Upstream Arcade.

West of Dead has received mostly positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked West of Dead for its gameplay but disliked it for its stability.

West of Dead is a single player game.

Similar games include West of Dead Beta, The Light Brigade, Soulslinger: Envoy of Death, Dust & Neon, RAD and others.