Game Review - Wanted:Dead

 

Wanted: Dead came out in 2023 and somehow feels like a lost PS3-era action game that resurfaced a decade later.

You play as Lt. Hannah Stone, part of the “Zombie Unit”, a Hong Kong police squad dealing with corporate conspiracies, mercenaries and general cyberpunk nonsense. The story mostly exists to justify switching between guns and a katana and violently dismantling anyone in your way, which is perfectly fine by me.

The combat is brutal. Enemies hit hard, bosses hit harder, and the game has very little patience for mistakes. I should probably admit something here: I still haven’t finished it. I get killed constantly and with impressive efficiency. (and for some reason i keep avoiding the "easy" mode)

But weirdly enough, I don’t care.

This is one of the rare PC games that made me drop the mouse and keyboard entirely, grab a controller and just lean back. No trying to optimise anything, no sweating over inputs, just playing and enjoying the ride.

And the ride is great.

The aesthetic alone is enough reason for this game to land on this blog: early-2000s cyberpunk, strange anime interludes, awkward dialogue, ramen breaks, karaoke, sudden bursts of extremely violent combat. It’s messy, a bit janky, and completely unapologetic about it.

Not everything works, but the game has personality in a way most modern releases don’t.

I still suck at it.

Still love it.