EPT![[image loading]](http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/394970/header.jpg?t=1468428960)
There’s a bit from the Simpsons wherein Bart watches an episode of Itchy and Scratchy that he does not enjoy. There’s nothing wrong with the episode, Itchy dispatches Scratchy in a creative and gorey fashion like the psychotic git always does and whilst Lisa laughs it up Bart can’t muster the merest chuckle. Something had changed inside him that he hadn’t recognised at the time and he’s left profoundly perturbed. I bring this up since 2016’s crop of violent action games evoked a similar response from me, and unlike Bart in that one episode I hadn’t sold my soul (I have iTunes installed on my PC but that hardly counts I’m sure). I’d play DOOM, Dishonored 2 or Shadow Warrior 2 and every time I feel that sense of disconnect, this sort of thing is supposed to be fun, it had always been fun so why isn’t it working now? I thought it was part of some insidious maturation process but it turns out that, actually, I should fall to my knees and praise Christ for games like Deadbolt that come around once in a while to show me that violent action games can be the kind of thing I can enjoy just as long as they’re done right. If I were the kind of games writer who cared about doing a best games of the year list as opposed to being a bastion of credibility (read: unpaid) Deadbolt would definitely make the top 10 possibly even the top 5 of 2016, probably with a separate tagline award like “indie hipster game that you’ve probably never heard of”.
So here’s the sitch, you play as a dude with a non-human face. Every few days a mysterious voice contacts you in your dingy apartment to command you to drive to some residence full of murderous thugs who you must murder in a thuggish fashion. You arrive on the scene with a rather meagre arsenal requiring you to scavenge for new weapons on the fly, there’s some stealthing, some incredibly irritating dogs, you die in a single hit and the soundtracks pretty fucking cool. “What’s that?” asks the developers, “Hotline Miami? Never heard of it, also this is completely original since the 2d perspective is side on instead of top down”. But hey, creativity is mostly theft anyway, as any hack fraud will tell you, so the question is does Deadbolt stand out as it’s own thing? Pretty much, yeah.
The mark of a good game, and action games in particular, is when you can feel all the little elements working in proper conjunction. Deadbolt’s enemies are simple to outwit and murder but you die in one hit so even taking on one enemy feels tense because you can’t afford to be sloppy. Despite his astute professionalism the player character never seems to realise that guns can be reloaded, even though everyone else does, so you’re forced to conserve ammunition thus adding to the tension. None of this spraying and praying business, it’s quick precise shots to the noggin or or else you’re left trying to convince hordes of soulless monstrosities to perhaps consider giving peace a chance. Levels can feel quite daunting at first glance but once you take it in sections and start figuring out the specifics of a plan it doesn’t feel so bad after a few attempts. Kick down that door, knife those two guys, lure third guy over and shank him too, pick off two other guys at range with a pair of headshots, pick up sawn-off and splatter two guys with both rounds, pop through a vent, misjudge when other guy gets through the door and get slashed, curse softly, smash restart and slightly readjust the plan.
It reminds me quite a lot of playing the first few Halo games on Legendary difficulty, where getting from checkpoint to checkpoint required careful allocation of resources since trying to brute force your way through got you slapped down harder than Prince Joffrey at Winterfell. It’s all by the numbers, like a tightly choreographed dance whose steps you’ll just have to piece together for yourself after numerous failures. It’s a wonderful fusion of anticipation, tension, forethought and cathartic release which is most of what you can ask from a game. All that’s required for the largest and shiniest of my gold stars is a solid aesthetic, and this is where Deadbolt stumbles a wee bit, with some good ideas slightly marred by a lack of cohesion.
Good idea: let’s imagine a city where all the various criminal factions, all taken from a slice of particular American criminality, and have them played by a kind of undead. So the inner city urban gangsters are all zombies, the classier nightclub owners are vampires (because aren’t they always), and the 50’s greaser style motorcycle gang are demons. Then let’s cock it up by including Skeletons dressed like nobody in particular. Also, if all the enemies are meant to be some variety of Undead why have the Demons shown up? Perhaps the idea is that they lack a human soul but if that’s the case why is the Grim Reaper the one taking care of shit? Bit outside of his remit to be going after soulless husks, it’d be like going after Donald Trump’s cabinet. And doesn’t it affect the tone for all the faces to be drawn in such a way as to suggest everyone in the game is mentally vacant? It’s possible all of this actually does make a kind of sense if you read into it properly but I find myself unable to get into the game’s writing and themes, too busy kicking the door down and informing people’s intestines they have very urgent appointments regarding being splattered across the wallpaper.
Games like this and Sang Froid (my 2013 “indie hipster game you’ve never heard of it” winner, basically Orcs Must Die by way of Dark Souls) are the sort of games I love. They remind me that no matter how many shiny graphics and death animations you cram into a big expensive game it’s hardly going to compare to something that manages to pressure the player from a variety of different angles and isn’t afraid to rap my knuckles with its yardstick for doing things even just a teensy bit wrong.
Have a pleasant 2017 everyone.
