DeadWire Review

DeadWire is a brutally difficult top-down tactical shooter developed by Shotgun Anaconda and published by The CoLab. Prior to the review, I was given a warning by the developers that this game wasn’t for everyone and that it has DARK SOULS levels of brutal difficulty. And you know what I say to that? Bring it on. I may come to regret that later on (I played but never beat DARK SOULS), however I might as well try.

You play as Wire, a hacker living in the high-tech, crime-riddled city. You’re on a mission to take down every gang that stands in your way. The story isn’t the most complicated, but I liked the writing with all the l33t lingo, and there were a few good jokes.

As for the graphics, I really liked the art style; heavy pixelation and distortion really sell the whole hacker vibe. You might feel a little overloaded by all the flashing colours, especially when you’re in a gun fight, but you can change the intensity of everything in the settings. However, the real star is the music. Done by Remancer (who also did the soundtracks for Ether and Skies Above), a lot of the sounds used certainly fit the dystopian city. A pumping synthwave soundtrack that strikes the right balance between calm and calculating to heavy and intense beats.

But enough about that, let’s get into the gameplay… which is basically Hotline Miami but with extra bells and whistles (heck, you even fight Jacket). Each level will task you with a different objective, ranging from hacking computers and planting bombs to killing everyone in the area. Wire will always have a pistol by their side, but you can pick up shotguns, SMGs, molotov cocktails, assault rifles with auto-aim, and more to take care of whatever ne'er-do-well you cross paths with. You also unlock special abilities as you progress through the levels, such as dashing (which probably should’ve been a base ability) and throwing an armour-piercing sword. You’ll have to be very careful, though, as you can only take three bullets before you go down (four if you pick up armour). Don’t worry too much, as levels are fairly short and there are some checkpoints to mitigate any tedium.

You’re more than just a thug gunning down other thugs, however; you’re a hacker, and in a cyberpunk world, the world is your weapon! You can even the odds by hacking the environment, connecting interactables to each other and setting them off in spectacular fashion. For example, by connecting an explosive barrel to a car, shooting the barrel causes the car to floor it. Heck, you can even connect enemies together for chain kills. If you’ve played Gunpoint, you can already imagine the sort of chaos you can create just by hooking up one or two things. I hope you have quick wrists because you’re expected to hack in the middle of a firefight.

Levels can have multiple ways to beat them. Going in guns blazing is a valid strategy despite your extremely fragile body, but it can be more satisfying to ghost your way to the objective and leave behind nothing but some very confused guards. Each level is essentially a puzzle that requires the ability to think ahead and shoot fast. If you want more of a challenge, you can try and do some of the bonus objectives that are in each level. Do them, and you’ll unlock cheats to play around with, like switching your starting weapon. If you’re really struggling, though, God Mode is always available. As far as I know, there isn’t any punishment for activating any cheats, so go nuts if you want.

That being said, some levels are incredibly annoying when playing as intended. The game doesn’t hold your hand at all, and if your skills aren’t up to snuff, you will die and die again until you either achieve some heightened sort of enlightenment or give up. Seriously, boss fights and survival encounters can be a serious pain, even if you know what to do.

Now, onto performance, and as expected for a pixel art game, it is as smooth as it can be. 60+ FPS all throughout my playthrough with very little stutters, even when everything was exploding around me. Unfortunately, I did run into some… weirdness. I couldn’t beat a level because it glitched, softlocking me and making me restart from the very beginning. Also, when I took screenshots, it brought up a window for DevTools. That’s a unique issue that probably shouldn’t be in the full release.

You know, despite dying over and over and over again, sometimes wanting to beat my monitor with my collection of water bottles (most of them are metal), I quite liked my time with DeadWire. Don’t be fooled though, as this game will punish you for even the most minute mistake. Once it clicks, it clicks. If it doesn’t, it really doesn’t.