Playing through Doom Eternal for the first time, I was admittedly taken aback by how drastic of a change it was from Doom (2016). The shift towards arcade-y action, the layers upon layers of mechanics and abilities that ensured you were always doing something at all times, the surprisingly punishing increase in difficulty, it all amounted to a widely-polarized response from fans of the series. Those who enjoy this technical, fast-paced approach to the FPS genre absolutely adore it. Those who don’t, conversely, absolutely loathe it.
I felt a similar sense of surprise when I played Deadlink, as it can be bluntly described as a Doom Eternal clone. But while Deadlink lacks the blockbuster budget and established brand name brought to the table by id Software’s poster boy, it more than makes up for it by distilling that experience into a brisk, infinitely-replayable roguelike. It certainly helps that its borrowed cyberpunk elements also give it a sleek, futuristic polish.
Originally entering the Early Access program on Steam in 2022, Deadlink has finally left Early Access as of July 2023. Developed by indie Polish studio Gruby Entertainment and published by Super Good Games, there’s really no better time to examine what this exciting new cyberpunk shooter has to offer and how it compares to other games in the genre.
A Cyberpunk Journey
Deadlink doesn’t take its cyberpunk elements lightly. Set in the distant future, you play as a talented operative in the “Deadlink” protocol — a system in which someone’s consciousness is duplicated in order to control a combat shell android. With four different combat shells to choose from, you’ll be sent to dingy slums, research labs, warehouses, and luxury high-rises in order to disrupt the operations of competing corporate interests. Of course, your own company — the government-backed Corporate Security Agency — has its own motives, and they’re not exactly shy about hiding it. If the idea of a remote-controlled assassin with no identity carrying out illegal assassinations and subterfuge isn’t dystopian enough for you, don’t worry: the cybernetically-enhanced guards, autonomous drones, and wanton disregard for collateral damage will fill in the gaps.
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Being a roguelike, the game’s story is gradually doled out to you as you collect upgrades and successfully complete the game’s content. The story itself is less of a focus here, though you can frequently talk to other members of the CSA in addition to hearing their chatter during your violent exploits. A codex is also available that gives a brief description of the game’s many locations, items, enemies, and characters. It’s all about the actual playing experience here, and it sure is something to behold.
A playthrough of Deadlink can, theoretically, be finished in as little as an hour. But the journey will be far from easy. A typical run in this roguelike will see you picking a combat shell best suited for your play style to start, whether you want a turret-deploying Engineer or a Soldier outfitted with a grappling hook. From there, you’ll traverse several stages divvied up into combat arenas or interstitial hallways, with each arena locking you inside until a group of enemies is defeated. After surviving, you’re given a choice of one to three exits to take, with each one providing an upgrade or benefit of your choice: health refills, weapon upgrades, combat shell upgrades, and more are all for the pickings. The most common upgrade you’ll find comes in the form of implants.
Implants and Combat
Each combat shell comes outfitted with a handful of implant slots, with each one directly tied to four abilities: switching weapons; destroying constructor balls, which are floating orbs that are found in every combat arena; and either one of the combat shell’s dedicated abilities. Implants can be attached to these abilities to both activate the implant’s active effect while activating its passive effect in perpetuity as the implant is equipped. For example, the Recon Pack implant has the active effect of launching a projectile at an enemy, inflicting the “marked” status on them if it lands. The passive effect gives you an additional jump on top of the double-jump you already have. If you equip this implant in the Switch Weapon slot, every time you switch weapons, you’ll launch the aforementioned projectile while also gaining a third jump as long as the implant remains equipped.
Most implants also come with an “energy cost,” where if they cost more energy than the implant slot can provide, their active effect will be completely disabled. You’re forced to put some thought into the implants you can effectively use as a result and whether or not taking a powerful implant with an ineffective active ability is worth the trade-off. You can also occasionally discover hidden implants throughout the game, which then make them available to select in future runs. Just be sure to keep your ears out for their respective audio cue.
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These implants work in tandem with your combat shell’s abilities to get you through the game’s short but intense combat arenas. Three elemental effects — fire, corrosion, and shock — work in tandem with all your weaponry to deal damage over time. Floating constructor balls exist to pull you out of a rut, refill your ammo, or serve other utilitarian purposes. All enemies have defined weak points that inflict extra damage when targeted, and their hit-boxes are often more than generous. Along with your abilities, “marking” enemies is key to your success, as this accomplishes one very important goal: refilling your shields and ammo.
Your health bar is a luxury, as it’s the only resource you can’t typically refill during combat. Therefore, you’re stuck with your shields, which will take the brunt of the damage dished out in your direction. Similar to Doom Eternal, the quickest and most efficient way of refilling your shields and ammunition is to mark enemies before defeating them. This can be accomplished by utilizing your combat shell’s abilities or by lobbing a grenade at them, with all three having the added benefit of dealing damage. It’s not uncommon to simultaneously defeat an enemy as you mark them, perpetually refilling your weapon’s magazine without ever having to actually reload. Combined with implants that manipulate how marking enemies interacts with your abilities, you have a game that frequently encourages you to fully master your combat shell’s ins and outs in order to use them effectively.
Deadlink Play Style
Over time, your mastery of each stage’s arenas will also play a key role in your success. Positioning, utilizing constructor balls, and making space between the thousands of enemy projectiles flying your way are the only things that will consistently keep you alive. Suffice it to say, if you prefer your shooters to be a little slower, Deadlink may not be for you.
If there’s anything to dislike about Deadlink, it’s that it demands so much out of you. The comparisons to Doom Eternal are absolutely warranted, as any time you’re not actively shooting, marking, dashing away, or using abilities, you’re in an incredibly precarious spot. This is doubly so for every one of the game’s four main boss fights, as swarms of enemies will continually flood in for the entirety of the fight, acting as hostile distractions more than anything else. It gets to be mentally draining after a certain point, with the final stage, in particular, feeling more like an endurance test than anything else.
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You’re tasked with taking on at least one of five separate bosses before taking on the final boss, and you’re encouraged to do all five for multiple reasons. Not only do you get extra upgrades for defeating them, but each one also knocks the final boss’ total health pool down by half its total size. However, combining the perpetually respawning enemies that never let up and a final boss that has two separate phases, with the latter dropping in the game’s most obnoxious enemies, ultimately just feels like too much at some points. There were more than a few moments where I’d spend almost minutes on end scrambling to get shields before trying to lob some attacks at the boss, only to quickly lose them and return to the same rat race.
While you can reasonably coast through Deadlink with your raw skills compared to your upgrades, it’s also worth noting that, at the end of the day, it is a roguelike. If you’re opposed to the idea that luck can make or break a run, you may want to look elsewhere. Some upgrades dramatically change how you approach combat, and their absence absolutely changes the difficulty of the game’s various battles.
Still, if you have some fast reflexes and want some genuine challenge, there’s a chance that Deadlink is the game for you. It has come a long way since its Early Access debut, and there’s hopefully more to come from its up-and-coming Polish studio. If Deadlink is anything to go by, we’re pretty excited about what they have in store next.
Deadlink is available exclusively on Steam for around $20. A free demo of the game, titled Deadlink: Prologue, is also available to try before you make a purchase.
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