we need games like wanted: dead
i beat wanted: dead the other day. i've mentioned it before, but this is a game that should be on your radar if you at all claim to be a Weird Game Enjoyer. there has not been a game with this sort of budget that has turned out this weird and strange and utterly unique in ages. i don't want to say if it's a "good game" or a "bad game", because in this case i genuinely don't think it matters at all.
no, the plague that wanted: dead is the salve for is the scourge of the mediocre. i'm not even really referring to quality per se, more so just the general feeling that so many games, especially once actual money is involved, have any sort of quirks or idiosyncrasies scrubbed off. any ludicrous one-off idea nipped in the bud due to it being a waste of resources. anything potentially strange or off-putting cut due to an overwhelming sense of self-importance.
wanted: dead has no such baggage. there's no universe in which the team making and publishing the game made the decisions they did because they thought it's what The Market would want. they made the decisions they did because they're insane, they're self-aware, and they're completely genuine. there's no denying that this is a true creative vision, whatever the hell that vision truly is.
i love this game. i think it sucks, and it truly pissed me off on multiple occasions. i think has genuinely inspired character designs and animation work. i think the combat is more than just serviceable while also incredibly repetitive. i think it's genuinely funny on purpose. i think it's genuinely funny on accident. i think it's everything i could want from a game right now. it's probably riding a new wave of nostalgia. i don't really care.
if this game sounds at all appealing to you, even conceptually, i implore you to take a risk and give it a try. i bought it on the steam sale after wanting to play it since it first released. even on sale, it is a big ask, especially for a game that i will straight up admit isn't, in any sort of objective sense that can exist (especially when talking about a game like this), "good". but i think it's worth the risk.
i'll also include here the trailer that first sold me on the game. it is, somehow, genuinely representative of the game.