Deadlink Review

I’m generally a bit mixed when it comes to Roguelike games; I get the appeal of the loops, and yet I tend to waver off of them quickly as I’d much prefer a more traditional, linear progression structure. There have been a few that have got their hooks into  me over the years, mind you, and it’s with this hope I went into Deadlink. Well, I’m still not the biggest fan of the genre, but if there was any game that truly had a hope of changing that, it’s Deadlink.

Hooollyyy Shit, is Deadlink a lot of fun. The gameplay consists of first person gunplay and melee, with a heavy dose of brutal feeling weaponry and powers that make each new run an actual joy to play, combined with a stunningly vibrant artstyle and kick ass soundtrack. 

Each new run sees us back to square one (as you’d imagine) with one of four unlockable ‘combat shells’, each coming with their own starting weapons and two base abilities. The first offers a grapple hook and an area of effect stun paired with a shotgun and pistol combo that even starting out feels brutally awesome to use. Later unlocks offer a varied set of skills, from decoys to teleportation, rail guns to grenade launchers and more. By clearing set challenges, we can unlock new variants on the starting guns too, for that added extra chaos. I’ve preferred the second of the four shells so far, the mix of guns and abilities suiting my style brilliantly.

Entering an arena sees the enemies spawn in, and all hell breaks loose. Start blasting and the bodies explode in gloriously cyberpunk-aesthetics, all neon lights and sharp edges. We need to be mindful though, as although we have unlimited ammo for our pistol, we still need to reload every few shots, which takes time. We also only have a limited number of shots for our secondary, more powerful gun. Ammo is replenished by melee attacking one of the C-Balls  (orbs dotted around the arena), so we end up in a constant dance of shooting, replenishing, and dash-dodging around the arenas at a blistering pace. 

Initially, it can be quite overwhelming to keep up with it all. I was forever running out of secondary ammo, and I couldn’t find a rhythm that meant I’d be topped up frequently. I only made it to the fourth arena before dying, and having to start again. However, there are extra helping hands both along the way and in starting a new run to consider as we play. 

After each arena we get an option of exits, each with their own perks. Some might offer us a health boost, others a new weapon, skill point, or credits, while the main sort offer us temporary new skill set, with both passive and active bonuses.

Each of these must be paired with one of four moves we have available to use at all times (swapping weapons, using each of our two powers, and hitting the C-Balls), and match the indicated power output too, from one to three bars of energy. For example, we may be offered incendiary damage to our next bullet, but only after we’ve swapped between our weapons. This would need one bar of energy to be active in our inventory. Whereas, granting us more powerful grenades needs to be paired with our C-Ball attacks and takes up three bars of energy. We can still make use of passive abilities without pairing them in the right place, but to get the most we need to balance where we put each upgrade. 

It’s a slightly confusing idea at first, but one that forces us to explore the breadth of the combat rather than just relying on one or two tactics, and once I got the hang of it (and unlocked some powerful abilities in the randomised offerings) it proved to be a fun way to let all hell break loose. 

Before each level’s boss fight we can use the shop to spend credits for new abilities, or permanently unlock extra slots for them to go into. It’s well worth sacrificing a few runs to open up these slots, as once we start reaching the later stages we end up with more abilities than we can use. 

Other permanent upgrades can be bought back at home base with XP gained in the levels, with a large amount of buffs to choose from and unlock. This XP can also be used with random characters between arenas for more temporary gains, though again it’s wise to upgrade our base stats early on.

So there’s a surprising amount of depth to the tactics of Deadlink in terms of how we play, what we choose, and which avenue we go down for upgrades, powers and guns. But no matter the set up, I can’t say I had anything less than an awesome time playing. Even at our weakest the combat is supremely satisfying to power through, and the enemies – although numerous and powerful – are all fun to fight. Some can be a bit overbearing at first, but that made it all the more satisfying when I came back with better guns and powers and blew them away without a second thought.

Marking enemies with ability hits also means they drop health, credits and armour too, adding in another element to the constant need to use everything at our disposal. Honestly, to the observer it may look like there’s just unmitigated chaos going on on screen most of the time, but Deadlink has had me find that oh-so-rare these days zen-like flow state; dash, punch, teleport, shotgun, grenade, jump, reload, smash, bang… it’s been a wondrous feeling. And because we’re not required to do pixel-perfect headshot (the general range of explosions and bullets is pretty forgiving) it’s so easy to pick up and have one more go without feeling completely defeated after yet another loss. 

There is, of course, still that Roguelike element to Deadlink. If, like me, you’re never quite fully sold on that style of gaming then Deadlink is unlikely to  change your mind. But, when it’s as much insanely fun action as this, I – and you – should be willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Conclusion

Roguelike fan or not, there’s a lot of fun to be had in Deadlink, with explosive action that encourages us to experiment with the full arsenal, and makes even our failed runs feel rewarding simply by being so damn joyous the play.