031PREVIEW
A massive no-no in games usually
is having creatures that you just
can’t see,” co-founder and coder at
Upstream Arcade Adam Langridge
tells us, “[...] [but our art style]
looks its best when you have
things emerging out of just darkness.”Borrowing from the shadowy works of Mike ‘Hellboy’
Mignola and the high-contrast panels of Frank ‘Sin
City’ Miller, this western-infused cover shooter
quickly instils a justifiable fear of the dark. It’s
impressive work from a two-person art department,
composed of studio co-founder Imkan Hayati and
Patrick Martin. Gwilym Rees rounds out the four-
man-band as a second coder, and makes the studio
a Lionhead reunion.
Langridge tells us how supportive publisher
Raw Fury has been throughout West Of Dead’s
development, expanding the scope of what was
originally intended to be “a little indie thing” and
making one particular developer dream come true.
“[Our publisher] started suggesting, ‘If you could
choose anyone [to voice the protagonist], who would
you choose?’” Langridge tells us, elaborating, “We
were a little bit insulated from the process [...] So,
we had a short list and at the very top was ‘Ron
Perlman.’ But it was one of those things that was
like ‘Well, put it in. It’s not gonna happen but put
him in anyway.’ [...] Every now and then I’d get an
email and go ‘It sounds like Raw Fury is talking to
Ron Perlman! No, that must be a mistake!’ And thenWEST OF DEAD
A roguelike that glares down at you
and asks “Do you feel lucky, punk?”
FORMAT PS4 / ETA TBC
PUB RAW FURY / DEV UPSTREAM ARCADE“WE HAD A SHORT
LIST AND AT THE
VERY TOP WAS
‘RON PERLMAN.’”