With the latest Steam Next Fest still going on right now, it might be relevant to remind people that a game demo can be important at times, as it helps set the stage for what people might expect from the game in the end. Take Wanted: Dead, for example, whose demo I had the pleasure of experiencing a while back. I was especially excited to check it out after its rather eye-catching Gamescom 2022 trailer, which promised the type of insanity that only former Team Ninja employees could deliver, alongside a blend of melee combat and third-person shooters. After getting my hands on it, though, I still walked away believing that this could still be a good game, but with some concerns over what was presented.

The demo featured our heroine Lt. Hannah Stone, part of the elite Zombie unit that helps protect the citizens of a futuristic cyberpunk Hong Kong. For the mission in the demo, Hannah and her team had to travel to a public park in order to take on a robot uprising in progress. That all sounds like the perfect recipe for some gonzo action, but in the end it was...well, perfectly fine. The cover-based shooting worked perfectly, melee combat was also fun as well, the enemies attacked in such a way that required a nice blend of both styles while putting up a good challenge, and there were even a ton of unique finishing moves to see. The graphics were also great and the characters seemed likeable.

So what was the problem? Well, maybe it was just my expectations, but there seemed to seemed to be gap between what was seen of the game prior and what the demo presented. As mentioned back during Gamescom, Wanted: Dead's trailer featured glimpses of live-action cooking bits, animated segments, rhythm mini-games and more. And the demo had Hannah and the Zombie unit smashing up some robots, and...well, that was it. This may be a tribute to the sixth generation of gaming, but what was presented felt like some of the more dated parts of the era, when publishers felt that stuff like cover-based shooting alone was enough to sell a game.

It's possible that I'm being too harsh on the game, though. After all, the combat is still good, and another section shown off featured a one-on-one boss battle from later on where Hannah has to deal with an opponent that can turn invisible, utilizing some convenient rain to track them and immediately countering and deflecting attacks when they popped back in for an attack. It was some rather intense and clever stuff, and felt like a better indicator of what to expect in the end. There's also thestory and the relationships between the Zombie unit, which apparently includes hanging out between missions and engaging in various activities, such as an entire original shoot-'em-up arcade game that's included within things. It was fun, so if nothing else, Wanted: Dead will certain be delivering at least one quality game.

So Wanted: Dead may not have had a demo that suggested an absolute gem of an action game, but was there still showcased some solid mechanics, and other bits still showcased that there is potential here for a rather exciting and somewhat bonkers game in the end. And we'll see if it fully makes the best of that potential when Wanted: Dead come out next year on Valentine's Day.