West of Dead Beginners Guide

west of dead beginners guide

Roguelike games are generally designed to have you die a hell of a lot before you get good at the game. Sometimes they can be cruel enough to let you walk into a trap and die just to learn not to do it again. West of Dead is not the most difficult roguelike game on the market, but it is a challenge when you first get started. This beginners guide will provide you with some useful tips and tricks for getting started. Help to get over the initial learning curve. 

Levelling Up

Since we are dealing with a game that has permadeath, levelling up is limited to a playthrough. When you die and start again, you are starting from scratch. The longer you survive the more powerful you will become.

To level up, you will need to look out for upgrade stations like you see in the image below. When you find one, you will get to upgrade one of three stats. When you do this, you will see a number next to the item on the UI to let you know what level that currently is. 

west of dead beginners guide
The upgrade stations will appear randomly in levels. Interact with them to upgrade some character attributes

Improving Your Accuracy

You may notice that rifles, in particular, are very inaccurate compared to a pistol or smaller firearm. This is intentional, there is actually a shooting mechanic that will determine this. The mechanic is trying to replicate the class western style shooting where you can whip a pistol out of its holster and take someone out quite fast. You can’t do the same with a rifle, however. 

When you hold down the trigger buttons to aim the gun, you will need to hold it down a little longer. If you look at the cursor on the floor that shows the direction you are aiming, you will see the line is in two parts and is coming together. Once the lines have joined, you will be able to perform a proper shot with perfect accuracy. 

weapon accuracy marker in west of dead
The cursor in front of the chracter shows that the aiming is not complete. Keep holding the button until the arrow is joined

Dealing With The Darkness

The lighting levels in this game are very low. Some rooms are almost pitch black. You will need to light them up if you are to stand any chance of finishing the level. Each room will have one or more lanterns inside it that hang from the roof. You will need to run over to these quickly and activate them. This will cause a big flash of light to appear, stunning nearby enemies and bringing light to the area.

You can also use sin points to purchase a lantern item which you can use on-demand. It has a cooldown but it can be useful when you are facing a room with some tough enemies and can’t risk running inside blindly.

Difficulty Level Is Fixed

If you are hoping there might be a way to switch the game to easy, there is not. The game has one difficulty and you are stuck with it. You will need to learn how to get better at the game if you want to be able to progress further. 

What do the Green Circles on the Floor do?

You will definitely ask yourself this. Are they checkpoints, no this game has permadeath. Do they heal? Nope. You will not figure out what they do until later in the game when you will obtain an ability to fast travel. This will allow you to teleport between these green pads on the floor, making it quicker to get through the levels. 

Use a Melee Attack When Ammo Is Out

If you have run-up to an enemy with guns blazing and are now in a difficult position where you have to reload but he is almost dead, you can use a melee attack. When up close to the enemy, press one of the trigger buttons on either of your guns, even if the ammo is gone. This will result in you kicking the enemy. It is often enough to finish off an enemy once you have shot them enough to take out the shield.

Getting Past The Yellow Lines On The Floor

This stuff will show up when the stone golems appear. These enemies are hard to kill and they cause this yellow growth to quickly spread around the floor, often cornering you in the room. If you touch it, you will take damage. If you roll, you will be able to get over these lines without taking any damage. 

How To Heal Yourself?

This is definitely a pain in the ass at the start of the game. 100 health points and no way to heal when you take damage. Now and then, a green health orb will appear in the game. Consuming this will heal you a small amount.

If you have been collecting sin points, you will be able to spend them each time you complete a level. The witch room before the bar, you will be able to spend them toward a flask. There are multiple sizes which you can spend the points on. Once you get the small, you will unlock medium and so on. These flasks can be used on-demand while you are playing in order to heal yourself. 

west of dead help healing
The flasks do a lot to help out when your health is low. Purchase these upgrades at the end of each level using sin points.

When you complete a level, you will return to the bar. From here, you will be able to interact with a large big barrel. Interacting with this will heal you completely and will also fill up your flask.

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