Though swordplay is undoubtedly Wanted: Dead's biggest strength, players can also mix things up a little bit with the help of a few guns. As well as the pistol, which effectively serves as a secondary melee weapon and can be used to counter enemy attacks and mix up combos, players will also have access to an assault rifle.
Sadly, a poor cover system, a distinct lack of ammunition, and enemies that can eat an entire magazine's worth of headshots make gunplay in Wanted: Dead somewhat useless most of the time, but there are a few rare occasions when opting for the rifle over Hannah's katana can be beneficial to players. As such, they may be interested to learn that it's possible to unlock a brand-new rifle after gaining access to the shooting range mini-game.
How to Unlock Gunsmith's Rifle in Wanted: Dead
In order to unlock Gunsmith's rifle, players will first need to beat the Spider Tank boss to complete the first stage. After that, they'll be given a chance to explore Police HQ, at which point, they'll be able to find the Shooting Range mini-game on the third floor opposite Gunsmith's office. To get their hands on her rifle, players will need to beat her high scores in both the Time Attack and Score Attack modes, which is a lot easier said than done.
In order to get the leaderboards to update with Gunsmith's new scores, players will need to exit the Shooting Range mini-game . Doing so will lead to them getting a text message from Gunsmith, after which, her new scores will be on the leaderboards the next time players enter the shooting range.
To make matters worse, Gunsmith will twice improve her scores, meaning that players may have to beat her multiple times before they can unlock Gunsmith's rifle. Thankfully, these new high scores are fixed, so if players perform well enough early on, there's a good chance that they may have already beaten her new scores when the leaderboards are updated. The final score that players will need to beat is 14,110; both in Time Attack and in Score Attack mode.
Mode | Score #1 | Score #2 | Score #3 |
|---|---|---|---|
Time Attack | 12,604 | 13,630 | 14,110 |
Score Attack | 13,604 | 13,630 | 14,110 |
How to Beat Gunsmith's Scores in Wanted: Dead
Beating Gunsmith's score in Time Attack mode is relatively straightforward. Players simply need to take their time and make sure that all thirty of the targets that they hit are headshots. The further back the target is, the higher the score players will get, but the difference is negligible enough that players can just take out any and every human-shaped targets that appear (it's much easier to score headshots on the human-shaped targets than it is to hit bullseyes on the circular ones). Also, switching to semi-automatic firing mode by pressing Up on the D-Pad can help an awful lot with accuracy.
It's important to note that players will only be able to unlock Gunsmith's rifle while at Police HQ between missions, not when playing the shooting range mini-game via the title screen . Also, players will need to set their high scores using Stone's rifle, as although they are tracked on the leaderboards, scores achieved while using other guns will not count for whatever reason.
Beating Gunsmith's score in Score Attack mode is a lot more challenging, though can be accomplished with a little bit of practice. Again, it's a good idea to switch to semi-automatic mode by pressing up on the D-Pad, both to improve accuracy and to conserve ammo. Reloading at the wrong time can be very costly in this mode, so players should definitely customize Stone's rifle to use the Double Magazine if they have it unlocked.
It's also a good idea to unlock the Bullet Time Aim skill, which is the bottom-left ability on the Utility skill tree. Once unlocked, the skill can be activated by pressing in the right analog stick, though when exactly it can be used and how long it lasts can be a little random. Using Bullet Time Aim does not slow down the timer either, so players should be sure to deactivate it during moments when there are no targets on the screen. This can be done by depressing the left trigger for a split second to unfocus Stone's aim.
Is Gunsmith's Rifle Better than Stone's Rifle?
Sadly, Gunsmith's rifle is worse than Stone's in just about every way. It's uncustomizable, for starters, and, although they are fairly well-balanced, its stats are noticeably lower than those of Stone's rifle once players have unlocked a few attachments for it. As such, Gunsmith's rifle serves more as a badge of honor, albeit, a very pretty-looking one. Players will not get a Trophy / Achievement for unlocking Gunsmith's rifle either, though they will at least unlock the Quickshot, Deadeye, and Sore Loser Trophies / Achievements along the way.
Wanted: Dead is available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, and PC.