Wanted: Dead

Wanted: Dead

Released Feb 2023

A cult classic love letter to PS2 era action from ex–Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive devs. Slice and shoot your way through a neon Hong Kong conspiracy as the Zombie Unit featuring brutal combat, over-the-top gore, and a ramen break between the carnage. Proudly not for everyone.

67% positive · 2,163 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
Medium confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
Medium confidence

Where to buy

Steam $29.99
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Evaluation

Wanted: Dead launched on February 14, 2023 as a complete, self-contained action game. The developer, Soleil Ltd., has since released two post-launch patches: an Anniversary Update (version 1.12) on February 12, 2024 — celebrating the game's first year — and a Combat Overhaul Update (version 1.13) on April 9, 2024, which overhauled the skill tree, rebalanced weapons, and added new abilities. Both updates were quality-of-life and gameplay improvement patches rather than new story content or DLC. There are no DLC listings on the store, no announced or unreleased expansions, and no developer statements promising future content. The developer has not communicated publicly since April 9, 2024, and the game's news history shows zero major content drops or announcements at any point. The store description presents the game as a complete, standalone experience with no mention of future additions. With no post-launch content pattern established, no outstanding commitments, and over two years of silence since the last update, the game appears to have shipped as a finished product and reached its final state with the April 2024 combat overhaul patch.
Evidence
Combat Overhaul Update 1.13 released — the most recent developer communication, adding skill tree rework, weapon rebalancing, new abilities, and bug fixes. No mention of future content or planned updates.
news post · Apr 9, 2024 source ambiguous
medium
Anniversary Update 1.12 released on the game's one-year anniversary with gameplay improvements and bug fixes. Framed as a celebration of the game's first year, with no roadmap or future content announcements.
news post · Feb 12, 2024 source ambiguous
medium

Media

Details

Developer
Publisher
Viv's Final Day Off Ltd
Achievements
55
Platform
Windows
Controller
full support
Steam Deck
Playable
Players
Single-player

About this game

A cult classic that knows exactly what it is.

Wanted: Dead is a hybrid slasher-shooter made by veterans of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive. It's a hard, weird, good-looking action game with a devoted following and no interest in being for everyone. Sorry! It plays like a lost PS2 disc someone finally decided to finish and features razor-sharp swordplay and third-person gunfire wrapped in neon, grime, and buckets of blood.

Combat with teeth.

Chain melee and gunplay into brutal combos. You will parry, dismember, and end fights with over-the-top executions. You can also slow the chaos to a crawl in bullet time and then punish everyone on screen. The fights are demanding, occasionally unfair, and completely unique. This is combat craft for people who miss when action games actually fought back.

A week in the life of the Zombie Unit.

Play Lt. Hannah Stone leading an elite Hong Kong police squad through a neon rich corporate conspiracy. Enjoy a story-rich campaign that lurches without warning from grim ultraviolence into something even stranger.

Gloriously, unapologetically weird.

This is a game where you finish a savage boss fight and then sit down to a lovingly rendered ramen-eating minigame, or karaoke, or an arcade cabinet. It's scrappy, pulpy, self-aware, and cool in a way polished AAA can’t fake.

Rough around the edges. On purpose.

Wanted: Dead is niche, distinctive, and proud of its jank. If you grew up on Deadly Premonition, Vanquish, and Lollipop Chainsaw and you've been missing games with this much attitude: welcome home.

Niche, distinctive, and proud of its jank. If you grew up on Deadly Premonition, Vanquish, and Lollipop Chainsaw and you’ve missed games with a lot of attitude: welcome home! 

Key Features.

  • Melee that means it: A deep hack-and-slash system with a huge move set and finishers built to slice, dice, and dismember.

  • Guns in the same breath: Flow straight from the blade into a handpicked arsenal of assault rifles, SMGs, LMGs, and grenade launchers. Melee and gunplay are one nasty rhythm.

  • 50+ brutal finishers: Over fifty unique execution moves, each more grotesque than the last. Deeply unnecessary and yet absolutely the point.

  • Neon and grime: A cyberpunk Hong Kong where high-tech hardware collides with retro '90s futurism.

  • A story that swerves: Ride with the Zombie Unit as they pull apart a massive corporate conspiracy in a dystopian Hong Kong. Linear, story-rich, and prone to going somewhere strange.

  • Genuinely hardcore: These fights will not be kind to you. Steel up and use everything around you to cut through hordes of mercenaries, synthetics, and private security who very much want you dead.

  • Old-school beat 'em up, modern edge: Wade in, take everything down, keep moving. It's the beat 'em up you grew up on dragged into the present with more blood and better toys.

  • A love letter to the sixth console generation: Made for anyone who still misses the PS2 era when action games were weird, scrappy, and cool.

Last evaluated Jun 21, 2026
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