If you’re a fan of fast and furious, DOOM-esque shooting on PS5, Deadlink earns itself an easy recommendation. This is a cyberpunk-themed blast-’em-up with a roguelite structure, where the goal is to run through preset levels that dish out randomised rewards upon completion. It’s frantic, often sweat-inducing fun, held together by tight controls, smooth gunplay, and a thumping electronic soundtrack.
In this dystopian future, you play as an operative who controls remote combat shells — humanoid killing machines that your corporate sponsors want to utilise in real-world war. Indeed, Deadlink’s levels are set across a series of simulations — each more deadly than the last — while a sinister cyberpunk storyline bubbles away in the background.
But even though the typically murky plot does intrigue, you’re playing Deadlink for the near non-stop carnage, and the adrenaline rush that comes with tearing through an arena in especially stylish fashion. Essentially, combat shells are your character classes, each of them equipped with their own unique weapons and abilities. Most of these abilities operate on cooldowns, and so a lot of the game’s tension stems from finding a sustainable rhythm as you run and gun against increasingly dangerous opponents.
As you progress, you’ll steadily unlock new implants and weapon mods, and if you’re lucky, you’ll stumble across potent character builds that are capable of catapulting you to later levels. While these upgrades are lost upon death, Deadlink still provides a rewarding sense of progression thanks to a slew of permanent unlocks, which can be claimed in exchange for the resources that you gather during runs.
There’s a lot of cool stuff to work towards, and once you’ve pushed beyond the game’s initial learning curve, the upgrades really start racking up. Eventually, you’ll get to a point where survival actually seems pretty straightforward — and that’s when you knuckle down with higher difficulty settings, and even a dedicated time attack mode.
Deadlink is a blast. At its pulse-pounding best, it’s a breakneck shooter that rewards skill and tactical thinking, and keeps you hooked with a range of run-altering unlocks. A must for fans of relentless and often brutal action.
