West of Dead finds you playing as an unnamed specter, returned from the dead, and placed in Purgatory, Montana. No memory as to how you got there, and nothing to do but hunt down a preacher who might have the answers you seek. To find the preacher though you’ll have to work your way through an ever-changing labyrinth of enemies with only your guns and whatever items you can procure along the way.

In other words, West of Dead is a narrative-based roguelite which, in my experience, is always a gamble with the deck stacked against you. To that end I can’t help but feel like the game itself is stuck in a purgatory of its own making, caught between two genres that stand at odds with each other. It’s neither a raving success nor a miserable failure, but it definitely has some frustrating elements.

Review: West of Dead screenshot

Read more…

Source: Destructoid Review: West of Dead