Deathloop Review: Live, Die, Repeat, And Look Good Doing It
Deathloop Review: Live, Die, Repeat and Look Good Doing it
RRP $ 60.00
"Deathloop is an incredibly stylish stealth action game that builds on Arkane's strengths, even when some of his creative gambling games fail."
advantages
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Creative premise
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Impeccable style
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Shooting feels great
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Fun forces
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Lots of customization options
disadvantage
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Objectionable multiplayer
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Frustrating roguelite systems
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Laughing AI
Every time Arkane Studios develops a game, it learns something new. His catalog is full of fascinating titles that build on each other's best ideas and further refine the strengths of the developers' level design. Deathloop is thematically a fitting next chapter for the studio. It may be a completely new IP, but it doesn't start from scratch. It's the product of an iteration – a process that encourages creativity in our favorite games.
The exclusive PS5 console draws a clear line through the story of Arkane. It's a first-person shooter that delivers exuberant action and supernatural stealth ala, ala Dishonored. It's also a time warp game where players experience the same day over and over and resort to the roguelite experiments in Prey's Mooncrash expansion. Prey himself owes Arcane's debut to Arx Fatalis (and System Shock from 1994, if we want to go beyond Arcane canon), making Deathloop seem like the culmination of several development loops. Decades of trial-and-error procedures are combined in a well-executed package – which, however, still leaves room for improvement.
Deathloop is a stylish spy thriller that features excellent shooting, satisfying powers, and gripping mystery powered by the game's addictive Groundhog Day premise. However, frustrating multiplayer mechanics and immature roguelite progression systems are already making me think about how this game will affect an even closer sequel. The cycle never really ends, does it?
A visionary project
Deathloop can be a little tricky to explain on paper. It's the latest entry in a burgeoning time warp genre that has become a bizarrely popular video game premise in recent years. A very confused and reluctant hero, Colt wakes up in the seaside town of Blackreef and quickly finds that he has to relive the same day over and over again. To make matters worse, that loop includes being chased by Juliana, who seems pretty pissed off with everything Colt has done in the past, who knows how many loops are ahead of him. After a brief introduction, Colt learns how to break the loop: he must murder the eight "visionaries" who created them.
Easier said than done, especially since Colt only has one day to land eight hits. The catch is that players will have to repeat as many times as necessary on the same day, dig up more information about each target, and come up with a perfect murder plan. It's an ingenious setup that puts as much emphasis on information gathering as it does on actually executing a hit. Imagine if Hitman 3 tasked players with defeating all of its villains in one domino-like move. This is the ultimate joy of Deathloop – a dozen hours of scouting makes up a slim 20-minute schedule.
Arkane builds on this spy movie premise, and that is most evident in the style of the game. Deathloop is a '60s-inspired pulp novel full of bright colors, creative retro-future design, and comic-book-like text that pops up on screen. It's a vivid departure from the muted browns and blues of the Dishonored series.
The cast of characters is just as diverse, with Colt particularly shining as the reluctant hero of the game. He's unhappy on his first round, but convincingly transforms into a confident mastermind in the last. It's a strong voice from Jason E. Kelley that mirrors the player's own journey as they slowly come up with a plan that would make Danny Ocean jealous.
When players stop to marvel at Arcane level design skills, they effectively envelop the joint. Technical admiration is also an important mechanic.
Aesthetics set it apart from Arkane's previous titles, the studio's strengths are still very much present. This is most evident in Blackreef's design, which doubles what the studio does best. There is always more than one way to sneak into a place, be it by finding a security code, climbing a roof, breaking through a ventilation shaft, etc. I have often sneaked through a building just around one that was still stealthy Input to discover point that I could use in my next loop. When players stop to marvel at Arcane level design skills, they effectively envelop the joint. Technical admiration is also an important mechanic.
Spy thrill
Action is as strong as exploration here, which shouldn't come as a surprise given the studio's pedigree. Stealth machete kills are incredibly satisfying, and guns feel downright fantastic to fire. Every weapon has a real sense of power, from a nail gun that can fire precise headshots in one hit, to space-clearing machine guns that feel like you're operating a serious power tool. While I've always tried to take a covert route, I was rarely upset when a plan went wrong – just a great excuse to show the Blackreef residents why they should be grateful that I operated in the shade.
Speaking of Colt's enemies, it must be noted that the visionaries hired some of the darkest muscle the video game world has to offer. Enemies are weirdly forgotten, which takes some of the tension out of the stealth gameplay. I could approach up to two people talking, killing one from behind, dropping their body directly into the other's line of sight, and still seemingly not attracting their attention. Call it a Bethesda Tax.
Colt also receives Dishonored-like supernatural powers which are an absolute joy to tinker with. Colt gains plates every time he kills an enemy, which gives skills like a teleporting blink and the ability to link multiple enemies together and take them all out by killing one. In addition, each plate can receive multiple upgrades, expanding the usefulness of each energy. In my final loop, I was a stealth machine that could teleport behind a visionary, quietly murder him, become invisible, and flee before a guard could find out what had happened. And that's just a style of play. I could have just equipped more aggressive plates and defeated swarms of enemies with a literal flick of my wrist.
Action is as strong as exploration here, which shouldn't come as a surprise given the studio's pedigree.
Weapons have equippable mods too, but things have a twist: players have to "infuse" items to hold them between the loops. Grab enough money and you will be able to keep weapons, plates and mods permanently … otherwise you will lose everything in the morning. It's a roguelite mechanic that encourages players to explore Blackreef rather than simply following target markers, but it can cause frustration. I was struggling to maintain the game's telekinesis power and only permanently locked it on my penultimate loop. While the system makes sense for mods that drop randomly while defeating an enemy, it's annoying to work through a story beat for a specific weapon or power just to get it back to base and not have the money to do it keep.
The roguelite dynamic can feel a little underdeveloped at times, although Arkane is careful not to make it too overwhelming. Colt gains three lives every time he enters a new area or jumps forward in the day, so players can experiment, die, and try again without wasting a run. Deathloop encourages players to put themselves in a dire situation and test the limits of their power. If that goes terribly wrong, there is always an option to try Plan B.
Interruption of the loop
The experimental mechanics are appropriate, because Arkane throws ideas against the wall and sees what sticks to Deathloop. Some of these ideas really land, as they do with the game's stylistic choices. But others are not quite as successful.
That brings us to the bizarre multiplayer component of Deathloop, which is easily the most polarizing aspect of the game. Players can play as Colts rival Juliana and “protect the bow” at any time. In the process, a player can literally invade someone else's game (friend or random stranger) and try to kill them. Similar mechanics appear in some of the Souls games, though it's a startling addition here.
For one thing, the game never offers a good reason to play as Juliana. There's little ambiguity about whether or not the loop is good or bad, so there's no real narrative motivation to stop Colt. It is a pure grief tool that encourages players to sabotage a real person's single player experience for laughter and rewards that don't carry over to Colt.
Playing as Juliana isn't that much fun either. The only major difference between her and Colt is that she can dress up as an NPC to trick players. I spent a lot of time wandering aimlessly around the map for minutes just to find Colt. As soon as I did we would have a shootout that lasted seconds. Additionally, I found it difficult to even get into a friend's game as there are (luckily) rules about how many times a player can be attacked per cycle. My friend kept showing up as "unavailable" even when playing an intruder free game. It hardly seemed worth the fuss.
On the Colts side, Juliana invasions worsen. I broke into a house in one run and spent 10 minutes carefully sneaking past cameras and guards. Suddenly a message appeared on the screen informing me that Juliana was on the hunt. Within a minute she stormed into the room and started throwing grenades, which ruined my plan. The first time it was kind of weird … and then it happened again. And then again. To make matters worse, Juliana "locks" the level exits each time they enter, which means Colt has to go to a location and manually unlock it before he can leave. Why should I want to go through another player, let alone experience it for myself?
It is purely a grief tool that encourages players to sabotage a real person's single player experience for laughs or small rewards.
It doesn't help that the mode feels ripe for tampering. When testing it with a friend I got some quick kills on Colt and a ridiculous amount of experience for it. In one game, I unlocked dozens of items, including high-level weapons and mods. It would only take a few such runs to leave Juliana in an overwhelming condition and devastating strangers.
There is also no way to unsubscribe from it. Switch to offline mode and the game will just randomly throw in a computer controlled saboteur. The only way to bypass the mechanics was to switch to Friends Only mode (since I was playing an early copy, I didn't have any friends to drop by). It just feels like a forced system meant to add arbitrary replay value to the mix.
It's a frustrating idea, although it's hard to be too upset. Arkane has always been known for its single player experiences and it is clear that the studio wants to expand its toolset here. The mode is a bit of a failed experiment, but I see it as a first draft of something better. In 10 years, I wouldn't be surprised to write a review on a new arcane game that expands the ideas of Deathloop, just as I am writing here about how Deathloop expands Dishonored.
And the loop goes on.
Our opinion
Deathloop isn't afraid to take experimental turns, and a lot of them pay off. It's a stylish action game that is entertaining in every aisle. Players never have to choose between clandestine exploration and frantic shootouts; You are encouraged to approach a situation in as many ways as possible in order to contrive a perfect crime. It's less successful when it comes to its forced multiplayer component, though it's hard to blame Arkane Studios for trying something new. There is no innovation without iteration.
Is there a better alternative?
Dishonored 2 is a little more consistent in the end, even if Deathloop creatively dwarfs it. Hitman 3 is also a killer option for those who want a pure stealth game.
How long it will take?
It takes around 10-15 hours to hit, depending on how long you spend exploring side lanes. Multiplayer adds game time, although it's hard to imagine a lot of people getting too involved with this site.
Should you buy it?
Yes sir. Despite its uneven creative gambling, Deathloop is a confident stealth action game with an excellent sense of style.
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