I honestly hadn’t heard of West of Dead, or it’s developer Upstream Arcade but the trailer above sold me to try and get into the beta. It looked like it was going to be a top down shooter which is a genre I love because of the frantic play style while still containing some split-second planning.

So, how does the West of Dead Beta Actually play?

Graphics:

I really like the visuals and animation. The world tells each environment apart very well. Everything related to fire looks really good; from flaming head on the main character to the lamps that you have to ignite are great to look at. The guns leave a fire trail which is impressive, bullet contact on enemies is also really nice.

When It comes to the enemies you can’t expect much, but West of Dead does an acceptable job even at this early stage. All enemies are easily identifiable; be the wolves-like, gunners or anarchists. It all works well enough. All character animation in general is well done.

The weak point in the graphics is how the game shows cover points. I can’t tell how badly damaged a cover portion is and that annoys me, it would be nice if there was a more obvious style for the damage on each cover.

Sound:

The only worthwhile point about the sound is the main characters monologue and that is good, I love the lines delivered but a counterpoint is that there is no music in battles or anything else for that matter.

Gameplay:

Twin stick shooters usually make you take cover by running behind an object and staying still but West of Dead changes that by implementing a cover mechanic. It is like going from Doom, to Gears of War. It works, although it does have a bit of a learning curve to get used to taking cover in these kinds of games. Once behind cover, it becomes a game of rapidly pressing the fire button till your guns are dry and then hoping for a quick reload. There is also a dodge mechanic but it is only really good for getting between cover points or fighting bosses since they have an area of impact and cover is worthless against them. The final combat mechanic is that enemies get dizzy when lights come on or they are shot enough. The problem is, you need a weapon that does good melee damage to finish them off, since the default melees are stupid.

The world seems randomly generated and that is a pain point since it is not always fair. I have had incursions of enemies waiting by the door ready to shoot me the second I break in and that feels unfair (at this early stage you can be hit through walls). Some areas are dark and they need you to ignite a lamp but because of the random generation you have no clue if there is cover or enemies hiding in the darkness. Even finding routes to health and upgrades is painful, since one wrong choice could be game over.

West of Dead adds another pain point from modern shooters and that is a limit of two guns and 2 bombs at a time. This time though it is acceptable since the guns have unlimited ammo. The guns themselves don’t feel like much, they have little to no punch. That would be fine if there was a way to upgrade your guns to make them feel better but there isn’t. You find guns in the world and replace your existing guns with them. This is annoying since it would be much better to upgrade guns that you like.

The upgrades are pretty poor. You can find a terminal of sorts that lets you pick an upgrade between health, gun damage and recharge time upgrades but they don’t do enough. The worst part is that all the elements that you gain in one playthrough can’t be carried over, so you are stuck at your starting skill every time you die.

There are two types of currency “Iron” and “Sin” out of which I don’t think “Iron” is implemented yet. “Sin” let’s you buy high value toys like a healing kit that you can use when you want, see screenshot below:

Lastly, the game seems to get easier after each run. I don’t know if that is just me getting better or there is something in place to make it easier.

Conclusion:

Since this is a beta, I’m not going to do the usual stuff of a pros and cons list but just a list of what I would like to see before release:

• A tutorial that explains everything better 
• A base story
• Music that changes in and out of combat
• Better markers for the strength of the object you are hiding behind
• A way to ignite lamps from range that you get at the start or reasonably early
• Better gun upgrade system (I’m guessing this is already planned for the “Iron” currency)
• A melee weapon from the start or early on
• A persistent currency or upgrade system that continues through playthroughs
• Better keyboard and mouse support would be nice, but not mandatory as long as it is mentioned on the store page

West of Dead needs a good bit of work before it launches, but since there is no launch date mentioned, I have no problem with them taking their time to get it right. It shows good promise.

I suspect it will be a budget title with a cost of upto $15 or ₹600 but it already looks good and I wouldn’t mind paying 50% of those prices if it gets to a bit of a better place.

I would recommend it since it is a game that I can play anytime.