Deadzone: Rogue Review

When there are dozens of indie titles hitting stores each week across various platforms, it’s sometimes difficult to choose what to pick up. If you’re into fast-paced roguelite shooter experiences, then Deadzone: Rogue isn’t one to be missed. It’s just celebrated its full PC release and is now available on Xbox Series X|S and Playstation 5. Bringing full cross-play support between all three platforms, online players can buddy up and play together or go solo.

Weaponry & Elemental System

Deadzone: Rogue has a total of over 30 weapons, from assault rifles, shotguns, sniper and LMGs. These can eventually have elemental effects that can be combined. Cryo freezes enemies, Void pulls them towards a vortex, Shock damages clusters of enemies, whilst Chroma appears in the later zones or higher difficulty areas.

Between rooms, you’ll be able to use resources gained in-game to upgrade your armour, weaponry and gear and also heal up. There are also certain perks which may increase your shield regen, provide faster movement or ramp up your elemental powers. You’ll lose these upon death, so be reminded that they are temporary. However, between runs, you’ll be able to keep upgrading all elements of your character build to make yourself stronger.

Cross-Play & Co-Op

Whilst you can totally play the entirety of this game alone, there is the bonus of playing with friends. Up to three players can play together with full crossplay functionality if your friends are on the other platforms. During my review, I jumped into some public lobbies, and I was chuffed to see a fully functional server browser. But you can keep it completely private amongst friends so you can slay enemies undisturbed.

It is handy, however, to try to communicate as loot isn’t shared amongst the squad, and whatever you pick up is yours. I found it handy to ping certain loot for players I recognised leaning towards certain weapons or elemental types. If you or a team member dies, then they can’t be revived, but will come back once the room has been cleared and you move to the next. I did find that the strength of enemies is in line with how many are in your squad, and if you want a real challenge, you can attempt Nightmare mode.

Gameplay

Each run is started aboard the ISS-X space station and can last way over half an hour, depending on your pacing and the difficulty level. The premise is to survive for the entire run, going through procedurally generated rooms that could contain any mixture of enemy types with varied aggression. It can be challenging to always survive, and it often follows the same style as other roguelite titles, where if you die, you upgrade and return stronger.

There are three main zones, and each has you wading through 30 different waves. I liked that when you enter each room, you do so in stealth mode until you make your first attack. It allows you to survey each room and plot how you want to proceed. You can, of course, go all guns blazing like I did the majority of the time if you wish to.

Visuals & Audio

During my playtime with Deadzone: Rogue, I had zero issues with the performance on Xbox Series X. The presentation across the game is fantastic for a game that obviously doesn’t have a triple-A budget. Procedurally generated arenas, rooms and corridors keep the layouts fresh, and whilst you’ll see the same enemies appearing on repeated runs, it never seems to get stale for me. Environments are well designed with some excellent lighting effects. Experimenting with different weapons and explosives makes for visual variety.

Sound design is equally as great as the rest of the game, with a soundtrack that will get your adrenaline pumping. Weapons sound punchy, and the sound effects throughout the rest of the experience blend in well within the sci-fi atmosphere.

Final Thoughts

Deadzone: Rogue is an incredibly moreish rougelite shooter that I can’t get enough of. So much so that I’ve played it for a week straight at every opportunity I could get, and I still want to keep playing. The game features exceptional gunplay and cross-play co-op, allowing players to drop in and out with randoms. For the reasonable price of £19.99, it is well worth it