Back in the days when there weren’t dozens of indie games releasing to sift through every single day, we had to make the most of the games we got. Back then I spent countless hours playing Hotline Miami over and over again, because its fast paced gunplay and banging soundtrack were just so moreish. So few games have managed to capture its action and vibe in the thirteen years since this modern classic was released, and whenever a game tries to, my little ears prick up. DeadWire is the latest title to attempt something in this delightful style, but with a rather big puzzling twist.
In DeadWire you play as a hacker called Wire, who has made it their mission to take out the scumbags who are making this cyberpunk city their home. Gang activity and drug dealing seems to be commonplace here, so what better time to grab a gun and start painting the back alleys and crack dens with their blood. It’s not a particularly complex narrative but it’s certainly a drive to get shooting.
Once the first level starts you’ll have your pistol at the ready to take down enemies. DeadWire is a twin stick shooter, so as is tradition you’ll be moving with one stick, aiming with the other, and blasting with the shoulder buttons. If your reactions are really impressive and you don’t mind dying a lot then this might be enough to take down the criminals lurking in the game’s 30+ levels, but there’s a better way to play this game.
Whereas most games that feature hacking have little minigames to complete that’ll help you open doors, DeadWire is much more hands on. By pressing the left shoulder button you’ll slow time to a crawl and activate hacking mode, which you can use to connect objects together. At a basic level you might use this to connect a switch to a door, and when you shoot the switch the door will open. There are much more creative ways to use this power though, and experimenting with them never gets old.
Perhaps there’s no switch for the door, so instead you link a guard to it. If you kill the guard the door will open, which is great because you wanted him dead anyway. Cars were a personal favourite hackable for me, because once triggered by a switch, murder or explosive barrel they’ll charge forward mowing down anyone in their path.
Some stages are more packed with enemies than potential hacking traps though, and you’ll have to make the most of your powers in more ruthlessly efficient ways. You can actually link bad guys to each other, and create a chain of criminal scum that all die if you shoot one of them. Doing this from a distance was my go to murder method, because although it’s not flashy it’s damn effective.
It won’t take beating many levels of DeadWire for you to start to see the puzzle elements of the game, which require you to link elements in certain ways to progress. Linking doors so they open at the right time and using limited guards to turn off lasers and other hazards is all part of your deadly mission, and can take some getting used to. There’s a handy retry button you can use if you softlock yourself, and it certainly got a lot of use from me.
DeadWire is an entertaining and creative video game, but it’s also an incredibly hard one. With only limited health it’s so easy for even a basic enemy to completely pulverise you, and that’s before you start worrying about side objectives. It’ll take a lot of patience to make it through almost all of the brutal stages of this punishing game, and for some managing this will be too much.
I probably wouldn’t have minded the difficulty of DeadWire so much if the controls felt better. It’s the hacking especially that’s a problem here, because when using a controller there’s no easy way to target objects quickly. You only have a limited amount of slowdown to link things together, and because there’s no way to snap between items I constantly ended up flailing around and missing the tiny switches and enemies. With a game this punishing you don’t want the deaths to feel unfair, and when they’re caused by aim issues they absolutely feel that way.
DeadWire is a massively creative twin stick shooter, which will absolutely wipe the floor with you every chance it gets. Using links effectively to deal with enemies and hazards makes you feel like a genius and badass in equal measure, I only wish the controls didn’t fight you every step of the way.
