As the above soundtrack accompanies my key strokes, I'm trying to find words that describe what an experience 'Deadbolt' is. As I hit the 80% completed mark, I still feel like I am barely scratching the surface on how such a simple game can be also be so complex and nuanced.
First, the premise is pretty straight forward. You are Deadbolt, the living embodiment of death, a reaper whose sole mission is to send the dead back where they belong. You are helped in your mission with a fireplace whom gives you missions and Charon who is the ferryman of the dead and in this case, a merchant and arms man. Along the way you'll face zombies, vampires, skeletons, demons and more. You are armed to the teeth, equipped with the ability to travel as smoke through vents and manholes but there is one big catch. You die after one hit and its back to the start for you. No bonfires save points, no second chances resurrection, either you get it right or you die. Perfect for the guy who likes to die in video games.
The game made by Hopoo Games (of Risk of Rain 2 fame and how I found about it) in itself looks pretty simple and even tho its a bit old by today's standards (it came out in 2016) even when it did come out, it had a very simplistic approach that gave it a retro almost 16 bit feel. However it still feels like a modern game and that is the most important thing. You move as fast (or as slow) as you feel and everything is fine tuned to your reactions. Your trigger finger better be ready too cause a precise aim is always needed cause one miss and you'll likely ended up dead. Speaking of quick reactions, 'Deadbolt' is the first game where I've seriously invest in learning Keyboard & Mouse (K&M) for. Sure, I've played deck roguelikes like Indies' Lies (RAVE coming soon) and Iratus: Lord of the Dead but they were more simplistic and were not action centric games. With 'Deadbolt' you use the keyboard to move and the mouse to aim and shoot and I definitely had growing pains plenty. For awhile I was even going to give up on the game because it did not have controller support but I've stuck with it and now I feel much more comfortable playing it. My hands still get cramps occasionally but most playthroughs are short bite-sized mission and then I take a break.
However one of the reasons why this game gets a RAVE is because I always come back to it. I've been playing on and off for the last month and I just can't get enough of its mixture of stealth with all out guns blazing dual wielding face offs. All the while, the game pushes you to get better with a ranking system that ranks you based on how fast you completed a mission, how many times you died and more. Its a very addictive gameplay loop and once you really get the hang of it, you'll understand why you want to keep going until you beat that one stage that had thwarted you at every turn. That said mission took me a 100+ tries before I beat it and not at one point did I feel I want to quit. Its that addictive.
Another reason why I keep coming back is how each mission is structured to be something different every-time, so far not one mission resembles another to the point where it feels like a re-trend. Be in a mission where you got to kill 2 vampire sisters but they are each other's lifelines so you need to slay them back to back to prevent one from resurrecting the other one. Or the zombie kingpin who has an army of soldiers at his disposal which you need to navigate around. Or the trap master whose whole house is booby trap and your only way to get to them is to figure out what triggers what through painful death after painful death. Every-time the fireplace gives me a mission, I know its going to be something that pushes me to my limits and the elation when I beat it, it is similar to when I takedown a super hard boss in a Souls game.
Also, a lot needs to be said about the sound design. The crisp sounds of the guns, the loud bombs from a well placed explosive and the firm whack of a sledgehammer. Its all so perfect and when you combine the amazing OST provide by Chris Christodolou with bangers like the song above and also transcendent tracks like 'Blood on the Dancefloor' and 'Heynong Man' you actually don't mind hearing the same song because you keep dying. Once again, Chris Chris deserves his own RAVE and it's coming soon.
(peep this amazing artwork by Bluerogue)
Also as a low-key achievement hunter, this game definitely has some challenging achievements that'll keep me trying new strategies and some unique approaches to the game, for example; I recent completed the challenge where all my kills had to be headshots and that was fun and there are similar ones which I wish to attempt. 'Deadbolt' also has custom made levels created by fans that'll be fun to play around with and of course, like all my PC games these days, I definitely want to check out what mods are available.
All in all, for a surprisingly cheap game ($9.99 when its not on sale) if you like this type of game and challenge, you'll get a lot of playtime from it and have a lot of fun along the way. The last part is me shining the spotlight on a fan who wrote this in the comments for 'Blood on the Dancefloor' video and it resonated with me and really sums up how cool 'Deadbolt' is.
"The music is deafening and the strobe lights are blinding. They don't mind however, they died years ago. Their youthful visage is striking with their deathly pale skin. They dance and celebrate endlessly, thinking they cheated death. They haven't cheated death; they are merely in debt. For tonight, I come to collect." - veiga1000
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