Deadbolt:
Deadbolt: Hunting the Undead From the Shadows
Deadbolt: A Mystery Worthy of Illumination
Time to Beat, Normal: 5 Hours, 39 Minutes
Time Played, Hard: 1 Hour, 7 MinutesDeadbolt has skulked in the dark corners of my Steam wishlist for a long time. It's one of those games with an Overwhelmingly Positive review on Steam. Such a recommendation doesn't mean a game is to die for, because Steam only offers two options to reviewers; thumbs up or thumbs down. Deadbolt's 96% positive review only proves that people like it. To some players this is a quandary worthy of resolution. Once I'd considered it, I needed to know why people enjoyed this simple looking game. One mark in its favor. Deadbolt was released by Hopoo Games in 2016, three years after their hit Risk of Rain, and followed four years later by equally praised, Risk of Rain 2.
The player controls a skeletal hitman called the Reaper. Though he appears as a skeletal head atop a brown trench coat, he isn't an undead monster. I think. I could do more research, but I generally prefer to go with what I learned during the game, instead of spending hours trying to figure out the subtle plot points on the Fandom/Wikipedia/Steam/Reddit. The Reaper moves into a one floor room, with cardboard boxes piled about. As the game progresses the furniture replaces the boxes. On the first day/night the Reaper's only company are the gramophone, a door, a bed (which the Reaper doesn't need because he has no eyelids and can't sleep), and an armchair by the fireplace. A ledger lies on a nearby table, and an empty weapon rack hangs behind it.
When the Reaper sits in his
leather, wingback armchair, a fire billows upwards. It speaks to
him, providing intel and assigning missions in a poetical lilt. The Reaper works for
The Flames, and its organization, The Candles, assassinating undead.
Deadbolt is divided into three
story sections. The first is The Zombie Kingz, the low level drug
dealers who push “ash”. While some zombies take ash themselves,
they presumably deal to humans (though no humans are ever seen in
Deadbolt). The second level of the organization are the
vampires, featured in 1,000 Years Royale. The third section, The
Dredged, characterizes the top level of the drug operation, skeletons
and demons. It's an interesting twist to place skeletons as the
leaders, because normally they are low level monsters. Instead,
their lack of flesh seems to highlight their greater distance from
humans compared to zombies or vampires. Zombies and Vampires are
formed out of human emotions; need, desire, and despair.
A final battle unlocks hard mode (new
game plus). Hard mode reruns the same maps with more enemies.
With his orders the Reaper drives his
Rolls Royce to the apartment, night club, or facility. The level is
shown like Gunpoint or Ronin
(both of which share a number of similarities with Deadbolt). That
is, the building is shown as cutaway from the side. The player sees
all the objects and enemies on all the floors. Before entering,
the player rummages through the trunk of their car to choose two
weapons. Weapons are divided into two categories; primary and
secondary. The player can't choose two primary weapons (or two
secondaries either). The primaries are the hard hitting pistols,
shotguns, and rifles, while the secondaries are a knife, flashbang,
or tiny pistol. Once the Reaper steps through the front door, even
if they don't fire a weapon, they can't change them again. 
Missions fit into one of three
styles: kill all the undead, kill a specific undead, or find
information (get to a specific computer, desk, or cabinet). Even if
a mission doesn't specify killing all enemies, it's recommended to
safely complete the mission. Undead infest every inch of buildings,
and the protagonist has a glaring weakness, a single bullet kills him
(exception; the initial aiming bullets from the Demon's minigun don't
– maybe other exceptions as well). The Reaper starts with a six
shot .32 revolver. They unlock more powerful pistols, silenced
weapons, automatic and semi automatic guns, a hammer, and even a
scythe. Unfortunately the scythe is a primary weapon, not a
secondary, and though silenced, doesn't do enough damage to replace a
powerful gun, though it does have unlimited ammunition. The scythe
seems like a challenge from the developers to the hardcore players.
Ranged weapons display a circle wherever the player moves their mouse
pointer. The circle widens if the range is too far for the weapon,
and shrinks to a point when the player can expect pinpoint accuracy.
This ensures, that even in early levels, the player can land
headshots. Headshots do double damage, and are necessary to manage
the Reaper's limited supply of ammunition. Some ranged weapons also
pierce floors and ceilings, allowing the player to take out enemies
without ever being seen. Melee weapons allow for precision kills at
close range. They can also be thrown at nearby enemies. Naturally
melee weapons are silent, but they have drawbacks. Rarely do they
kill in one hit. When the player is stabbing a hulking green
monster, it does cause them to flinch, reducing their attack speed.
But if the Reaper doesn't kill them quickly, they will pull the
trigger, spreading his black blood across the room. And while
throwing kills most low level enemies in a single hit, even the
weakest zombie still has time to scream while being disemboweled.
More on Deadbolt next week.
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