West of Dead (2020)

West of Dead does most things right as far as roguelites go. The random nature of almost every element of every run can cause some large difficulty spikes, but the overall difficulty evens out in the end. The premise works fine even if it means having to hear it countless times over multiple runs, and while the measured combat feels fresh for a Western, the zoomed-out camera angle doesn't help you appreciate it. Overall, West of Dead is a solid roguelike for those who aren't burned out on the genre yet.

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.

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.

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.

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.