Deathloop

Deathloop defies expectations.

As a player who has keenly watched the numerous trailers for Deathloop since its announcement I went in expecting a number of things.

When I first saw Colt teleport across a surface I thought, “Oh, that’s Blink from Dishonored.” When the cyclical, time-looping plot was revealed I thought, “Oh, that’s the trippy narrative from Prey.”

Deathloop is those things, yet it’s more.

Arkane Lyon has done more than simply make a “greatest hits” of the studio’s acclaimed narrative and gameplay stylings. Players who have been with the studio undoubtedly will recognize those intrinsic qualities in Deathloop. But here they are refined and utilized in a brilliant way. Those familiar elements are given a narrative and gameplay justification to allow them to properly breathe.

Take, for example, the ever-divisive aspect of these roleplaying shooters, the Deus Exes and Bioshocks of the world. Games such as these feed players guns like a cheap buffet. Opponents are fleshy and robotic heaps for bullets to fly into. But the player character is not always strong. And there is always the option to sneak past danger. Why play these games like a typical shooter when there’s stealth mechanics to take part in?

When given the option, I prefer to invest upgrade points into making my characters stealthier and less lethal. A good chokehold over a headshot any day. Developers design levels in such a way that the numerous vent ducts and underground tunnels make these options viable. But when taking these paths, gunplay is left by the wayside, making the shooter part of an FPS an afterthought for part of the audience. For me, the stealth option takes more time, often feels harder, and has a tendency to be vastly rewarding. But not everyone wants that and neither do I all the time.

Deathloop thrives on its numerous options.

As Colt, players are stuck in a constant, one-day time loop until they kill eight Visionaries–humans with boss-like tendencies and extreme personalities. Information learned during loops is categorized by the game and, hopefully, indexed in the player’s memory.

Take, for example, the ever-frustrating Frank. When Colt first tasked himself with killing Frank he trekked along the coastline to Frank’s recording studio/club. Want to walk through the front door? Well Frankie boy forced Colt to wear a ClassPass that removed his ability to use Slabs–you know, the supernatural powers we’ve all seen in the trailers–so the security doors would allow for passage. That means Colt couldn’t use his signature Reprise slab, the one allowing him to die twice and come back to life, or any other acquired along the way.

Eventually I climbed to the top of the recording studio and killed Frank. Along the way, I discovered about three entrances into the building that weren’t doors. Entrances I unfortunately had found only after massacring most of the people inside because I flubbed being stealthy. Inside the building there were objects to climb on top of to get to open windows to navigate around security. Doors could be hacked that removed the necessity of the ClassPass, allowing Colt to stroll in nonchalant.

Suffice it to say, there were many ways to access Frank. A number of ways to kill him.

This arithmetic applies to every Visionary in Deathloop and nearly every situation a player may find themselves in.

Initially, there is no “right” option in Deathloop. The only way Colt can break the loop and players can presumably “beat” the game is by killing all eight Visionaries in a single day. In the first few hours of the game, it’s virtually impossible to complete this task–but get back to me after a second playthrough and we’ll talk.

Blackreef, the island where time matters not, features countless locked doors, password protected consoles, and unknown questions. How can you kill eight people when only a few of them appear at certain points during the day? Blackreef features four main areas and Colt can visit only one during a given part of the day. Morning, Noon, Afternoon, and Evening. Those are the time frames. Traveling from one part of Blackreef to the next will advance time.

What does this mean? Well, it means that Colt can spend as much time as he wants in one part of Blackreef, scouring that location for any details that might add a new, trackable lead for players to latch on to. Is there another way to off Frank that isn’t at his studio. Yes, yes there is. But players will have to work for it. There’s plenty of documents and audio logs that may hint at new clues for players to sniff out.

But I want to get back to the player’s options first. If the mission to kill Frank were one level in an Arkane game or by any other studio, players would work on their favorite approach, take out the target, and move on never to think about the level again. You snuck in? Cool. You went in guns blazing? Alright.

There comes a point in Deathloop where parts of Blackreef require the player to be intimately familiar with them. Whether it’s because they eventually house multiple Visionaries at a time or because you want to get a complete story of the world, players need to learn these locations and how best to navigate them. Going in guns blazing the first time might work because you can do a clean sweep for discoveries without worrying about resistance. But what about when the day resets? You want to take the time to kill everything again just to get to one target? Hell no.

A second, third, fourth, or fifth time around, players won’t want to put Colt through the ringer and will have deduced the best point of insertion to maximize their time in an area.

Here, the magic of Deathloop starts to work its intoxicating spell. This is just as much puzzle as it is shooter. I’ll grant that like any game of its type, players can be violent or silent through nearly every portion. But there is a logic to changing things up, approaching a situation violently one time and then silently the next.

Players have the ability to equip trinkets that modify and improve their weapons’ capabilities and the abilities of Colt. Weapons can have better reloading, have less damage falloff, or better hipfiring. Colt can double jump, use his hackamajig from farther distances, have increased health, slide farther, and countless more. Weapon trinkets focus on doing damage with Deathloop‘s diverse cast of guns. From snipers that can track enemies to nail guns, weapons appear in more valuable rarities that feature unique perks and more trinket slots. Shooting is great in this game, it always has been in Arkane’s games but feels tightened to a higher degree.

Let’s think about character trinkets, though. Are players always going to want Colt equipped with a double jump when they can use the Shift slab and teleport greater distances? Is the Aether slab necessary when violence is the smarter answer? As players find Slabs and trinkets, they can change Colt’s loadout between Blackreef locations.

Equipped with previous knowledge of an encounter and guided by a potential new lead, players can approach Deathloop‘s many avenues better than most games of its type. The cyclical nature of its core conceit may sound exhausting on paper but is a thrill to behold in practice. In the hunt to find out how to kill all eight Visionaries in the same day, I continued changing up my approach not out of necessity, but just because I wanted to. And when a game allows that much freedom, it’s difficult to find a complaint.

Fueling Colt’s improvement across each loop is Residiuum, a substance that can be used to keep gear between loops. The system felt a little obtuse at first because I was never certain if items were staying in subsequent runs or just for the one right after. But once working out how trinkets, weapons, and slabs can become permanent fixtures, I felt more comfortable sacrificing what I wouldn’t need to gain more Residiuum to infuse my best loadouts. Perhaps this mechanic is the one that will closest align Deathloop to the roguelite genre, but it’s only a loose attachment at best.

I also can’t argue that one of my chief reasons for falling in love with Deathloop is the world Arkane has created. The mystery of Blackreef and the Loop twist and turn in such a way that I was shocked that it doesn’t crumble under the weight of so many fascinating threads. In fact, it may be one of the best time fuckery narratives in gaming. The drip feed of new documents and conversations with a few key Visionaries deepen the mystery until the very end.

Arkane Lyon has also infused a unique style to Deathloop, paying homage to 60s spy thrillers. Watching words appear out of thin air taunting or aiding Colt never got old and added further questions during my time with the game. Of exceptional note are the voice performances of Colt and Julianna, whose violent, playful relationship morphs into one of the strongest “partnerships” in recent memory.

And, of course, Deathloop would not be complete without the splinter that is Julianna. She is the proverbial fly in the ointment, or soup, wherever you prefer your flies. From the opening seconds of the game to its climax, Julianna is both antagonist and skewed protagonist. She taunts Colt across his journey to break the loop and as time goes on, it becomes harder to pinpoint her motivations.

Julianna can also invade the player’s game as either a computer controlled opponent or another player online. A Julianna invasion is signified with a flourish of vocals and Colt’s exit being temporarily locked. While the computer can occasionally be dumb, I’ll admit to being killed by an AI Julianna. Being invaded by another player, however, is a tense game of cat and mouse. Wondering where the other player may emerge from, if they are silently stalking you and waiting to attack with other NPCs.

As an invader, players can equip Julianna with a loadout of Slabs, trinkets, and weapons to stalk Colt with. Julianna’s signature ability Slab is Masquerade, which allows her to look like any other generic enemy. By accomplishing specific feats as Julianna, players will raise their Hunter rank and unlock new outfits and loadout opportunities. In the limited review period, I only invaded and was invaded a few times. Still, those encounters made me sweat and it was engaging to see how differently Blackreef could be approached when being hunted or watching another player work through puzzles as Colt. It’s my hope that this experience with increase the longevity of Deathloop and perhaps be something Arkane Lyon will build off of in a future update.

Deathloop is a fascinating and brilliant game. It subverts expectations out of the gate, providing players with a deep mystery that is solved by compelling, diverse gameplay. While being similar to Arkane’s previous work, it is almost like anything else you may have played while still housing familiar, recognizable elements. A whirlwind of intrigue, action, and style crafts Deathloop into a melting pot of smart, bold choices. Thankfully, Deathloop transcends its shackles as an amalgamation of “Arkane’s Greatest Hits” by offering players a thrilling take on shooters. Combat puzzles involving webs of untruths and harrowing escapes turn Blackreef into a time loop you won’t want to break from. And a definitive candidate for one of the best shooters in years.