Welcome to our review of Deathloop, the game that makes you want to die, die some more and then even more!
Take part in the eternal struggle between two extraordinary assassins. Take on the role of Colt as you search for a way to put an end to a timeloop trapping you in Blackreef while being hunted by the island’s inhabitants. Use powerful weapons and abilities to take out eight key targets across the stunning and chaotic island before the day resets. Lurking in the shadows is rival assassin Julianna whose sole mission is to take Colt out and keep the loop going. Learn from each cycle, try new paths and approaches to break the loop once and for all.
Experience the main story as Colt as he attempts to break the loop and earn his freedom. You can also take control of rival assassin Julianna, sneaking into another player’s campaign and keeping him imprisoned in the loop by killing him. The multiplayer experience is optional, and players can choose to have Julianna controlled by AI within their campaign.
Each new loop in is an opportunity to learn from the past and adapt. Finding clues and uncovering hints is key to taking out targets before the day resets. Discover relationships, learn schedules and do whatever it takes to gain the necessary knowledge. Apply what you’ve learned in previous loops to devise other new strategies and eventually reach your targets.
Explore Arkane’s artful world of multiple pathways and emergent gameplay as you immerse yourself in Deathloop’s stunning, retro-future, ‘60s-inspired environment. Blackreef is a stylish wonderland imprisoning Colt, a world ruled by decadence where death has no meaning, and delinquents party forever while keeping him captive.
As we waited for the game to become available, we all know what happened with Microsoft purchasing Zenimax and thus Bethesda and all its studios becoming part of the Microsoft family. With Deathloop originally being a Playstation console exclusive, this added some spotlight to this title which got more and more trailers as information slowly dripped onto the scene.
It was at this time, that I was most unsure about wanting to play the game, sure, I’d pop a download when it was hitting Game Pass, but was I really going to be playing? Well; one thing specifically changed my opinion: The 2021 Showcase. What Sony showed that day, just days before the actual release of the game, it finally sparked my interest. Showing more of the actual gameplay was what I needed to get going and let me tell you, I went all in…
Deathloop is a spicy game, to say the least and while the premise is incredibly easy, take out all visionaries in a single day to break the loop. Or if you really want, play as Julianna to protect the loop, but more on that later in the review. Deathloop is easy in principle but hard in execution because you will die, die and die some more. It is nearly incredible how complicated yet simple this game is.
The island Blackreef is divided into 4 parts and you can visit all places during 4 different parts of the day. Each combination comes with its perks and its downsides. From tons of enemies to special weapons or even Visionaries. Visionaries being the bad guys in this story and they also come with their own special moods. Moods or quirks depend on how you look at it. I actually loved battling some of them, especially Julianna who keeps popping up at the worst possible times, haha.
Now some advice, follow the menus to the letter or you will be playing like there is no tomorrow, pun intended. Also, it is important to really read everything on screen properly at first. Not the weird letters outside, I mean really, one of them said the easy way out which was a ledge to plunge to your death… But when information is given or when you are in the menus to pick your next fight, really read everything. I did not and ended up losing a lot of progress because of it.
Deathloop is a really tough game to play at first though. Jamming grey guns are such a pain in the ass and once I was finally able to keep my guns, I was actually able to really get progress going in the game. My fault and I will admit to it, I ignored the information and played the price for it (typo on purpose). I however still do not know what the ending holds at the time of writing, I feel like I am getting too distracted from the story at times. Like doing 1 simple task, it sometimes takes hours to succeed, but then again, this is maybe my desire to fully roam about and explore.
I also love how the codes in the game are randomized, yet the game will remember them for you. So no writing down or trying your hardest to get that code right, just pre-tap what the game says and you are fine. This also means you can stop trying when a portal does not show the code, you just have not discovered it yet!
Now let us talk about the two-player option where you can opt to become Julianna, it is fun but with a caveat. You kinda need an opponent of equal skills. We were lucky to try the game internally with a colleague of mine who does not play as many shooters as me. The advantage I had was legit and when I protected the loop, he had no idea that shot came from my Rapier.
I sincerely wonder what the added value will be in the long run for this aspect of the game? Will there be some sort of cheat mode where you can see the other move around? Because both players are in the dark and you can basically just camp at the radio, which is needed to be able to exit the game once Julianna joins, but risk at the same time to get snuck up on and be taken out?
In addition as the non-shooter-loving colleague: The online mode felt pretty much like the “Be the zombie” mode in Dying Light. As my colleague mentioned, I was nowhere near the level needed to be able to compete yet. As a concept, the online part is fine but in the end, I could entirely do without it as beyond a trophy and some bragging rights there is no real extra value in it. The only advantage I got from playing this mode was when playing as Juliana. Playing as the “bad guy” gave me the ability to roam the map without being attacked which was ideal to get some detailed info on the map without being chased.
