Deadlink Review (PS5) -Link To The Fast
I mentioned recently in another review about boomer shooters, the retro stylings and the nostalgia they bring. What I didn’t mention, not that I needed to, was the influence they’ve brought to countless genres and titles over the years. Yet whilst I’ve not played a whole load of them, I can see and respect the style that they bring, which is very apparent in Deadlink.
We’ll get to that, but first I’d imagine you want to know what kind of game it is. On the surface, it’s a roguelite arena shooter with a cyberpunk overlay. Going room to room, wiping over waves of enemies and bosses, only to die when it gets overwhelming. That’s all pretty par for the course now, in the ever-growing rogue’s genre.
Is it doing enough to differentiate from other titles vying for rogue appeal, or is the link too dead to keep interest? Let’s plug in and find out.
Shelling Out From The Corps
Thanks to the likes of Hades and such, storytelling has now become an integral part of the rogue genre. It wasn’t absent before, per se, but it wasn’t as strong. Now, it’s become a main draw in the reason to persist in these games, and thankfully, Deadlink isn’t slacking in that regard.
You, the player, are a nameless entity. You are a host, fitted into combat shells for the mega-corporations that employ you to test them out. It’s the player’s mission to disrupt any dodgy dealings going out, snuff out opposition and dissent, all under the cover of “plausible deniability”. For you see, a destroyed robotic shell could be anyone’s, officer, absolutely nothing to do with the zaibatsus behind them.
Naturally, things start to go awry, you wonder if you’re being shoehorned into a Syndicate plot, all of those familiar beats are here. Yes, I’m glossing over it, mostly not to spoil but partly down to one reason: it’s not that deep, it’s all about the action.
Jumping Jacked-In
I said at the beginning that this heavily reminds me of Quake III Arena. Now, if you’ve played that, firstly well done for being old and secondly, you’ll get the gist of what I mean. If you haven’t, don’t fret. I’m going to layman’s this as well.
Basically, Deadlink doesn’t want you to stay still. Much like any first person title, shooter or otherwise, just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it won’t hit you. So the emphasis here is on movement, a lot of it, and being extremely nimble to boot. Okay, for a more recent analogy, let’s go with Overwatch in terms of some of the verticality.
Players will go room to room, taking out waves out enemies as they go. Some rooms later, by the last one, it’ll be a boss fight. The first, pictured above, is a giant robo-spider that’s quite formidable. Expect to die at least… twice to it, unless you’re lucky.
In terms of gameplay overview, that’s essentially it. It’s a roguelike, so expect repetition. However, that’s not a dig, it’s literally the main tenet of a rogue. One dies, one upgrades, one bangs head against the wall again with a slightly stronger head each time. It’s how it draws you in that is the appeal.
Guns Don’t Kill People, Hosts Do
Naturally, what makes any kind of rogue fun, overall, is the variety. Would Hades be as fulfilling if Zagreus had just one weapon? No, of course not. Thankfully, Deadlink is a game brimming with variety, which spices up each run. To start with, there’s a selection of shells to choose from.
These are your character “classes”, as it were. There’s only a basic soldier-like one to begin with, with more opening up as players progress. These all come with their own weapon loadouts, but the first one you’ll get familiar with is the shotgun-and-rocket-launcher combo. These can be upgraded on a run, for more damage or ammo capacity, with the occasional spicy upgrade in the mix too.
Then there’s the grappling hook, which can be used to hurtle towards enemies or reach hard-to-grab ammo drones. There’s also a cyber-pocket-sand attack, used to disorient enemies to either bring the pain upon, or scarper and regain some health. These are all on a cooldown system, as are grenades. But that’s not all in your arsenal.
Glitch In The Core
The other trick that Deadlink has up its sleeves are varying buff and status effects/afflictions. The former is more the passive, things like an extra jump or shield regeneration cooldown. The latter is where it gets nasty: burn and poison effects, the kind that deal damage over time to assist in battle.
These are usually found after clearing a route and picking a mod route, or purchasing from mid-run shops. But how they work is a nice little caveat: rather than be tied to say, just firing a gun, they can be equipped to a number of features. Reloading activates more bullet damage for that weapon, for example, or an active buff triggers when players swap weapons.
Grappling hook need a little spice? Add a mod that has a chance to set enemies alight when you’re yoinked towards them. Distraction attack that grants a shield recharge? Can’t say no that. As times goes on, players will soon be working out their own Borderlands-lite builds. Personally, I go guns blazing, hopping about with as many destructive effects as possible. Others might prefer a long-distance, poison-like build. It’s possible, with some grind.
The Sound Of The Future
If a game looks beautiful, I will rightly heap praise on it at length. Similarly, if it looks awful, I will tear it to shreds with aplomb. Thankfully, Deadlink doesn’t look awful. Nor does it look spectacular, as we’d say about God of War Ragnarok or Nobody Wants To Die (which you should check out, by the way).
It’s very pretty, don’t get me wrong. Yet it’s simple in its almost cel-shaded, neon-and-brightness aesthetic. The guns and effects all look cool, but it’s enemies that suffer. There could be more variety, as it soons gets pretty murder-by-numbers. Granted, it’s a rogue, you’ll be seeing the same enemy a lot. Just some extra palette/colour swaps wouldn’t go amiss.
That would be my only major criticism of the game: it’s very middle of road, entry-level with its graphics. But don’t take that as a detriment, just my observation on the graphics, is all. It does have a rather tasty electronica/synthwave soundtrack though. Which is nice.
Deadlinked-In
To conclude, I really like Deadlink. However, I will personally admit to a little bit of rogue fatigue at the moment, so maybe I’m not as hooked as I’d like to be on it. That being said, I have been dabbling on it between my scattered work shifts. The benefit of these kinds of games is that you don’t have to sink hours in at a time.
As for the actual gameplay, as I said earlier, it echoes the boomer-arena-shooter style with modern elements well. For that, it cannot be faulted. I’ve had a riot hookshotting and rocket-jumping my way around, plugging fools with cool overhead shots. I could try another playstyle… but I probably won’t, and that it doesn’t force me to is a good thing.
Yes, it smacks of smaller studio with the enemy design and locale variety, or lack of. But hopefully, Gruby Entertainment won’t pull the link on this and keep it fresh. If you’re hankering some first person shooter rogue, you can’t go wrong with this. The story won’t blow your cyber-socks off, but the gameplay makes it exciting to persevere with.
A shooter that echoes the old school with modern sensibilities, Deadlink will scratch that roguelike itch if you let it. A little lacking in variety, hopefully time and TLC will prove us wrong on that front.
Deadlink is available now on PlayStation 5 (review platform), Xbox Series S|X and PC via Steam.
Developer: Gruby Entertainment
Publisher: Crunching Koalas
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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