Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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"Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive" is the first strategy game ever to combine a movie-based and story-driven atmosphere of an adventure game with the intellectual challenge of a real time tactic game.In this western-style title, discover a game of strategy and tactics played out in exceptional real time.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive is a strategy, western and tactical game
developed by Spellbound
and published by THQ Nordic.
Released on November 20th 2013 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux
in 6 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain and Russian.
It has received 2,226 reviews of which 1,958 were positive and 268 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.4 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 4.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for 0.40€ on Eneba.
The Steam community has classified Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows XP/7/8/10 (32 or 64 bit)
- Processor: 1 GHz Processor
- Memory: 256 MB RAM
- Graphics: 3D graphics card compatible with OpenGL 3.1
MacOS
- OS: OSX: 10.7 Lion
- Processor: CPU 1 GHz
- Memory: 256 MB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible
- Storage: 2 GB available space
Linux
- OS: Ubuntu and SteamOS
- Processor: Intel 1.4 GHz
- Memory: 256 MB RAM
- Graphics: 3D graphics card compatible with OpenGL 3.1
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Requires: 32 bit architecture, SDL 2.0 32 bit
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
This is one of my favorite games. I love the graphics, the music and the gameplay.
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I played this at its original release which makes it fantastic. When I found that they built Linux compatible version of it. I bought it as nostalgia, but I admitted that it is still fantastic. Graphic details after over 20 years is unbelievably great. I recommended as they do not build this type game again which you buy a game and it is enough and no more money is needed.
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Perfect old school game! It's low price for the value it provides. If you are into Commandos or 2,5D games, cowboys and good story + gameplay - This is the game to try and beat for under 20 hours. Replayable too when you start loving the game.
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TL;DR A throwback to my childhood that's still enjoyable today, although it does have some hiccups due to its age. Story A gang of bandits have been raiding trains and no one dares go after them. Bounty hunter John Cooper is only one interested in apprehending the leader of the train robbers and he sets out to assemble a team for the job. Add some misdirection, framing for a murder, robbing the robbers and so on for some cliche drama and you'll have a serviceable plot to hold the game together. The story isn't really anything to write home about and the game doesn't overexert itself with more than just the bare minimum of a couple of so-so cutscenes in-between levels for some plot, but it's enough to have an overarching plot at least. You're probably here for some good ol' western shootouts rather than some groundbreaking-level plot anyway. Honestly, this was one of my favourite childhood games and I didn't even understand what the story was back then, since I was playing a version of the game that was in Russian... not one iota of which I could actually comprehend back then. Gameplay Desperados is an isometric real-time tactical game, where you control a team of bounty hunters against a map full of bandidos. The idea is that while you can just shoot everyone you see to get your mission objectives over with, you are by far outnumbered by the baddies and your guns overheat with use, so you have to be smart with how you eliminate the henchmen in-between you and your mission objectives. You can go with a stealthy approach and kill off enemies one-by-one (or in small groups) without alerting the entire map to your presence, but you can just as well go loud if you find a way to limit how many of them can get to you at a time. For example, you could place a snake at the top of a ladder so that the bandidos die from venomous bites each time they clamber up. Or you could draw them to an area with some noise and throw a bottle of sleeping gas at them. Or bait them into climbing to the second floor of a building and knifing/shooting them each time they come through the door. There's plenty of ways to go through each level, both for those who love pure stealth, and those who just want to go on a murder rampage. Each character is equipped with an arsenal of five weapons/items/actions. The first slot of every character is taken up by a firearm (except for one having a blowpipe) - each different in its ammo count, firing speed, range, damage output and so on - but all the other slots are unique. One character can throw a knife for a silent kill, another can draw attention with her thick thighs and then kick them in the balls when the poor fools get close enough, while a different character can solve a lot of problems with a good ol' rock throw to the face (turns out the humble rock is the sure-fire method to put people out of commission with the biggest range in the game). On the one hand, all of the characters are unique in what they can do; on the other hand, the characters can be horribly overspecialised for certain tasks. Only one specific character can saddle a horse (and he's the only character who can carry bodies for half of the game), only one other character can tie up unconscious NPCs so they don't get up again, you need another character to patch up injuries or unlock doors and so on. The game is rather clunky, as could be expected from its age. The controls could be more intuitive, and you can't run-and-shoot or do other concurrent actions with the same character. There is a feature that allows setting up actions for multiple characters to carry out at the same time, which is a nice way to set up a team strat for a specific situation, but it does have its hiccups... since closing in on a target and using an item are considered two separate actions, so you have to manually order the character to close in and then use this feature to quickly trigger the character's ability. Level Design There are 25 levels in this game. Most take place at new locations, through a couple of levels reuse the setting of old levels. Some levels take place during the night, some in rainy weather, but weather conditions don't change over time. The levels are all 2D with no camera rotation, which can make it horribly hard to notice enemies hiding behind corners, since most of the levels have tons of buildings scattered about. Overview The Good +Holds up well for a 2001 game; +Most levels allow both stealth and brute force tactics; +Nostalgia; +Quite a lot of different levels; +Cheap The Neutral *Enemies are frequently unpredictable *Soundtrack The Bad -A bit clunky; -No camera rotation; -Enemies deal far too much damage from long distance compared to you -A lot of character actions are useless or highly situational; -Characters are a bit overspecialised for certain actions (e.g. only one character can saddle a horse or tie up a guy) -Tutorials don't explain some basic features; -Transitions between levels are lacklustre; -Final character gets introduced so late into the game that you barely have time to use her;
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This game so awesome! It was my all time favorite 2D RTS game, still is now. Cause I'am a big fan of westerns. I had so much fun playing with it back then.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive is currently priced at 4.99€ on Steam.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 4.99€ on Steam.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive received 1,958 positive votes out of a total of 2,226 achieving a rating of 8.42.
😎
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive was developed by Spellbound and published by THQ Nordic.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive is playable and fully supported on Linux.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive is a single-player game.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive does not currently offer any DLC.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive does not support Steam Remote Play.
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive.
Data sources
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 26 July 2025 06:04 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 30 July 2025 15:49 |
| Steam price | 31 July 2025 12:43 |
| Steam reviews | 31 July 2025 06:03 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive compatibility
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Game modes
Features
Online players
19
Developer
Spellbound
Publisher
THQ Nordic
Release
20 Nov 2013
Platforms
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