Deadlink Analysis – A Quite Addicting Roguelite

Light inspiration from Doom Eternal for frenetic action with cyborgs

Gruby Entertainment and the publisher Eating koalasthey bring us cyberpunk FPS Broken linka tap shooter roguelite and some frenetic action slightly inspired by Doom. Truth be told, roguelikes aren’t usually my strong point, but this softer-touch FPS is pretty addictive.

This is a single player game in which we will have to advance through certain areas until the end, but if we do not succeed we will have to start over.

What is Deadlink about?

In the dystopian future of Deadlink, we are tasked with restoring the peace that the world’s most powerful and evil corporations have shattered. Aboard our cyborg or neurally-linked combat shell, we will have to crisscross the outskirts of the city.

With the support of the Headquarters team, you must immerse yourself in a battle in which a military operation of dubious legitimacy can turn things around for a fraction of the cost of a trial. This is the premise that invites us to shoot waves of enemies controlled by the evil Corporation.

Visually striking

With a cartoon style, Deadlink uses bright colors, neon, and eye-catching enemy designs, although it’s not something that visually impacted me in any significant way. 4K resolution and pretty good optimization made for a satisfying visual experience.

On the other hand, the sound does not stand out too much, and although it is compliant, I think it is insufficient both in terms of sound effects and the music that accompanies the gameplay.

Frantic gameplay with hints of Doom

One of the things that draws the most attention and matters the most in Deadlink is the gameplay and the design of the progression in the adventure. If you know games like Hades, this title makes you advance through areas until reaching a final boss. If you manage to defeat it, you will move on to another stage and get great rewards.

But let’s start at the beginning. At the beginning, we only have the soldier armor available, which has specific weapons and abilities like the other 3 unlockable classes in the game. This first armor or chassis that we control remotely thanks to the Deadlink project, is equipped with a shotgun, a missile launcher and two special abilities.

We have a hook to quickly approach the enemy and a gadget to stun and hit him at will. With each advance of the zone, we can collect an object, a skill, a weapon mode (electric, fire, etc.), life, etc. Through a system of reward points, we can buy vitality, weapons and other objects as we pass through these zones.

Shooting is very enjoyable and our best asset is to collect ammunition, armor and other advantages on the stage. We will have to move with agility, a feature inspired by Doom, although we will not be able to restore life in combat. At the beginning we will only have 40 health points, but we will be able to add more as we unlock them.

With each death we learn and evolve, as happens in other roguelike titles, but in a more friendly way and as the scenarios progress we can unlock other frames, such as the hunter, the engineer or the mastodon. All this in urban environments, dark laboratories, office buildings or dusty warehouses.

Fun and many ways to play

As we have already mentioned, roguelites have the peculiarity of returning you to the beginning if you die, and Deadlink is no exception. As we advance and gain experience, in addition to obtaining new improvements and equipment, we can choose, once unlocked, up to 4 frames.

The hunter is used to playing in a more stealthy way, with abilities such as making himself invisible or exchanging positions with the enemy. The weapons also change, in addition to the special abilities, so we can repeat the missions with another character and extend the life of the title in a fairly well-measured way.

We also have 2 other classes, such as the engineer, capable of summoning allies, or the mastodon, with enormous strength and a lot of resistance. You choose the best option to overcome the areas and advance in the story, so Deadlink gives us enough hours.

Maybe if you don’t like the subgenre, something repetitive can be done, so this frantic and addictive replayability might put off other types of players.

Conclusions

Deadlink is a game that when you start it you can’t stop doing “runs” always trying something different, using all the advantages and types of damage you will get. It is a quite frenetic shooter for roguelite lovers, but also for those of FPS style Doom (with its limitations)

However, it can get a bit repetitive if you don’t like those restart mechanics, so think about that before you start. On the other hand, once you get more forever skills and other builds, it’s easy to get addicted and not stop until the end.

Broken link It is available on Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 5, and PC via Steam.