We went hands on with possibly the wildest ride Gamescom 2022 had to offer when we picked up a controller and got trigger happy with Wanted: Dead.
When Wanted: Dead arrives on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms be ready for a bloody blinding ride. A hack and slash action shooter where ramen fuelled rhythm games sit happily alongside cover shooter mechanics. This smorgasbord of utterly off the wall ideas and cutthroat action came tumbling into Gamescom 2022 and we’ve not stopped thinking about it since we got hands on.
While it’s been a few weeks since Gamescom 2022 close its doors and we all got back to reality, a few titles have really managed to stay with me through the Kolsch and computer games. Rogue Trader might be a masterful update on existing RPGs and Gori seems silly enough on its own, yet I’m probably most hyped to grab a katana and jump back into Wanted: Dead. This action-packed adventure inserts players into a future world where an elite police unit, known as Zombie Squad, are out to uncover a vicious gallery of corporate criminals, and they’re packing some serious artillery of their own. Over the course of one week, you’ll follow this team, guide its members through various missions, and cut down a conglomerate of cyborgs.
Bright Lights And Bloody Action
Wanted: Dead is, at its heart, a cyberpunk adventure that leans heavily on the work of luminaries of the genre. We’re not talking Cyberpunk 2077 here. Instead think a little closer to Ghost in the Shell. A neo future Hong Kong sprawls out in a rage of instanced missions, blending machinery and neon edges among the hustle and bustle of daily life. Characters that you wouldn’t expect to see on the office run come brisling with combat armour, street wear, and biomechanical enhancements that make the same nods to this genre defining franchise as the cool electronic tinged soundtrack. Yes, it could be cliché, but Wanted: Dead does way more than simply replay the hits of another series, and that’s clear from the minute combat kicks off. Coming straight out of the minds that made Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, this near future fantasy is a hybrid hack and slash shooter where skills, reflexes, and decapitated body parts are all prominent. We got up close with one of the many Zombie Squad missions and this adrenaline-soaked experience comes with oodles of visceral action. Taking charge of the team lead in this encounter Soleil and publisher 110 Industries led us through an early in game encounter where we needed to take a team and flush out a target from a Hong Kong hideout. Starting out with a team of support characters and firmly in control of our central protagonist, we waded through a range of cyborg henchmen armed with blunt instruments, ranged weapons, and the odd deadlier explosive device. What instantly becomes apparent when cutting through this super stylish encounter is that combat seems to sit somewhere between utterly manic and deliberately poised.
Soleil Ltd. create a series of tight and focused encounters, so don’t expect open world shenanigans here. Instead, this is a hub-based game with story and mission instances that fan out as the game progresses. IN this instance, this means our goal was to cut through anything that moved, dicing across a fast-paced blood bowl of hand-crafted encounters that brim with explosive enemies and a delightfully fluid set of combat controls.
The central character in our hands on, one Lt. Hannah Stone, is fully capable of wielding a range of armaments during the chaos of an encounter. Anything from a viciously sharp sword to an SMGs will still make a mess of a flesh bag after all. A quick tutorial gave us an overview of an unexpected mix of ideas that turns gameplay into a ballet of butchery. Melee combat mixes stance-based sword skills, blocks, counters and a medley of combos with a sort of gun kata. This gives close quarters stand offs with private military contractors a frantic feel and a hugely satisfying pay off when dispatching limbs or simply exploding body parts. Combos don’t just make you look cool and ratchet up the damage here either. They are also the first steps leading into an array of finishing moves that, while not game changing, are one of the highlights of staring down the enemy.
Still, this game wasn’t finished mixing up combat. While plenty of games would happily tie off battle systems and consider themselves a hack and slash with a bloody flourish, Wanted: Dead diversifies and allows players to take the close quarters gun kata to another level. Anybody stepping through the shadows or diving for cover among the reign of incoming enemy fire won’t simply need to doge and dash to get up close. Equip the odd grenade launcher or automatic rifle and the entire experience can be just as easily played as a decent cover shooter. What’s even more astounding is that in both approaches Wanted: Dead manages to feel fully engaging. Whether it’s brain dead merc, enhanced grunts, or cannon fodder with projectile weapons coming out to greet you and your team any option that is available feels viable. Where melee combat provides ample opportunity to build up combos, a range of different long-range weapons give a solid level of variety too. Sure, blowing the limbs off an opponent isn’t quite as satisfying as the many many slices and dice moves that Hannah has in her repartee, but how you cut through your opposition is entirely up to you.
Missions Hubs And Off Bat Adventures
We’re not going to get too far into the tale of how I ended up being cut down mid instance, except to say that Wanted: Dead dives headfirst into seemingly chaotic encounters, each spinning off from a central hub and designed to test you. When you’re not back at base configuring your loadout, there are plenty of other things to do. For example, we tried out a ramen eating rhythm game. During down time it seems reasonable to eat if you’re not busy playing through a multi-level 2D platformer, which is a real mini game within the game. As one of several surreal additions to the main instance, a ramen eating mini game gave us an opportunity to clean the blood from our sword and grab some food. Like any decent rhythm game we bashed, slurped, and hammered the buttons across the controller in a manic and ultimately futile attempt to keep in time. These mini games are not anywhere as important as the main narrative but are the sort of offbeat indulgence that screams of a Yakuza esque eccentricity and a knowing nod to quite how outrageous this entire escapade is. It is utterly brilliant too.
Just take a look at the bizarre set of teaser trailers that have steadily made their way online since Wanted: Dead first appeared on gaming sites to get an idea of just how the team behind this outrageous looking brawler are out to overturn expectations. Wanted: Dead is far from genre breaking but it manages a brilliantly cutthroat take on combat, and a game that is as merciless as it is silly. With a heart forged in combat, Wanted: Dead was a successful take down of our expectations filled with a flexible and surprisingly diverse action combat system all wrapped up in a stylish cyberpunk aesthetic, and never falling into the trap of taking itself too seriously. I can’t wait to get more than a quick 30 minutes in the field with this squad of misfits out to eviscerate any ne’er de well that stands in their way. Check out more on the official website now.
