Deal | Steam is giving away a well-reviewed retro shooter inspired by Quake and Doom

Deadshot's premise isn't particularly original: Players wake up in a world that has been overrun by mutants overnight. The game doesn't initially explain why this happened – but that hardly matters. What matters is that the mutated creatures make excellent targets. Players blast their way through abandoned cities, tunnels, laboratories and building complexes.

And this is exactly where Deadshot plays to its strengths. The game clearly takes inspiration from early genre classics such as Half-Life, Quake and Doom, offering straightforward, fast-paced gunplay without character builds or other modern bells and whistles. Success mainly depends on using the different weapons effectively, although Deadshot also sticks to the basics when it comes to its arsenal. Pistols, shotguns, assault rifles and rocket launchers are among the weapons available. Attachments and alternative firing modes add at least some extra variety. There are also secret rooms, keys and mission items to find, as well as boss fights.

With 86% positive feedback from around 380 reviews, Deadshot has been fairly well received on Steam overall. Players particularly praise the fast and direct gameplay, the retro atmosphere and the relatively extensive selection of weapons. One review even describes the game as a “love letter to retro shooters.” However, the sometimes rather poor enemy AI, weapon balancing issues and fairly uninspired story have attracted criticism.

All in all, these shortcomings should be fairly easy to overlook, considering that Deadshot is currently completely free on Steam. Anyone who adds the game to their library by September 23 can keep it permanently. Steam Deck compatibility is currently listed as “Unknown.” ProtonDB, however, gives the game a “Platinum” rating, suggesting that Deadshot should run on Valve's handheld without any major issues.

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