They got the main selling point for the game bang on: excellent, top-class gunplay and combat feel. For me, if a game nails the fundamental combat, everything else follows, and while Deadlink isn't reinventing the FPS roguelike genre, the gameplay loop is enough to keep me hooked.

I never found build variety a particularly strong part of the game, but saying that, I felt that the 4 different classes all played differently enough to feel like a fresh enough experience, so the main variety comes from doing a run on another class.

If you appreciate super crunchy, satisfying guns paired with slick but grounded movement and meaty headshots, Deadlinked will be your next FPS obsession; if you're here for in-depth build variety and every run feeling new, it's probably not going to click as much.

There's not enough going on here on top of the combat to maintain my interest. You have randomly generated maps consisting of interconnected square rooms. A bunch of jerks come in, you kill them all, and then you go to another room to kill all the guys who are in that one. You can dodge a bit, use your grapple hook or adjacent gadget, you can get +5% damage, you can unlock new characters, but in the end you're just going and killing guys in drab square rooms while you try not to fall asleep IRL. This game made me realize that boomer shooters aren't for me and I will refrain from buying them ever again so I might not sully the good name of another dev. I'm sorry for my negative review; this game just wasn't for me.

Basically Doom Eternal: Roguelite edition, and as a fan of Doom Eternal, it's everything I wanted, taking the chaotic yet tactical core combat loop and rendering it in a compact, endlessly repeatable form with interesting character/build variety. Love to pop this in from time to time and get into the zone: it's an intense yet meditative experience!

I don't have any complaints on my end, but if I had to warn of anything, it'd be of the usual roguelite trappings which are not everyone's cup of tea, that being that metaprogression can feel like fluff you need to sacrifice runs to in order to get abilities you should have at the start, randomization can suck when you don't get the fun abilities you want for your build, lack of a strong story motivation, and so on. I love this game though and can't recommend it enough!