West Of Dead is a damned twin-stick western starring Ron Perlman
Hellboy goes to Purgatory
Even Purgatory needs cops, apparently. West Of Dead, a tense twin-stick shooter about keeping the dead where they belong, was announced at last night's XO19 show, and it looks a right stunner. Hellboy (the good one) himself Ron Perlman lends his gravel-filled throat to a protagonist who's part supernatural sheriff and part Marvel's Ghost Rider. Y'see, sometimes the dead just don't stay dead, end up in a cursed land forgotten by gods and demons alike - Wyoming.
Bit daft calling your town Purgatory there, lads. That's practically asking for some supernatural shenanigans to go down.
West Of Dead is a bloody stylish procedural roguelike where you gun down skeletons by the dozen. Taking cover's the name of the game here. Like Enter The Gungeon, you can dive over tables and tombs to take cover - though it looks like that'll be more necessary with West Of Dead's slower, seemingly harder-hitting pace.
This is the debut project from developers Upstream Arcade, a studio formed of a bunch of ex-Lionhead folks. Weird jump, that, going from Fable's saturated fantasy to a terrifying hyper-stylish shooter, but I reckon it could be neat. Always up for a good twin-stick.
Xbox folks can play it in open beta right now (boo, hiss), but we'll get a chance to travel West Of Dead on PC sometime next year. It'll hit Xbox Game Pass when it does, so expect a listing on the Microsoft store. Other storefronts haven't been confirmed.