Wanted: Dead’s launch trailer details a desperate world where the line between right and wrong is blurred
What happens when synthetics get pushed too far?
Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp 
Image via Soleil Ltd.
Today, the final trailer for Wanted: Dead was released, giving us a gory look at the close-quarters melee combat and the brutal world that makes up the game’s setting. While players might start the story knowing what they’re fighting for, they’ll quickly realize that not everything is as black and white as their superiors make it out to be.
In the latest trailer, an IGN exclusive, we see Zombie Unit, a police unit made up of rehabilitated war criminals, taking down those who oppose the police. Unfortunately, that police force is a private military company under the control of one of the world’s biggest corporations. This means that while players are fighting for a force that should be objectively good, they’ll come to see that they’re actually being manipulated into dealing with anyone that stands in this corporation’s way, including downtrodden workers.
Related: A new trailer for Wanted: Dead gives a rundown on the over-the-top foes you’ll be fighting
One scene in the trailer that gave us chills sees protagonist Detective Stone and a synthetic talking in a police station. Stone asks, “can you feel,” and the synthetic replies, “can you?” This moment gives the game depth beyond being a Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance clone, asking how it feels to be paid to kill those fighting for a cause, even if it doesn’t seem right. Furthermore, it sounds like the war criminals of Zombie Unit are stuck in Hong Kong since their pardons will be revoked outside of the city walls. They’re just as much under the control of a corporation as any of the people they’re killing. Part of the machine, feeding the corruption you’d think a police force would actively work against.
Based on previous trailers, we didn’t expect the game to deal with themes like this. Players will be able to see just how far it goes in tackling them, or if they’re mere token moments taken out of context when it launches on February 14.
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Wanted: Dead, from the creators of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden under developer 110 Industries, puts you into the role of a soldier in an Elite Hong Kong police force called Zombie Unit. This unit is tasked with keeping order in the city between the megacorporations and those who would oppose them. Ever since the great war, businesses like banks have become their own governments, employing vast armies to get their own way. When those at the bottom of society, synthetics, gangs, and more, have had enough, it’s down to Zombie Unit to step in, clear out anyone dangerous, and restore what little peace there is.
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