It's going to finally come out and still have a trailer at every fucking game show.
i would risk it all for julianna blake
Ignoring the PC performance and optimization issues, Arkane simply did it again. A beautiful exploratory immersive-sim that shifts and morphs depending on the time of day and location. Was unexpectedly funny as well, will be playing well past completion.
obrigado arkane pela mitada
Deathloop more like Deathpoop.....................................naa but for real this game fucks reeeaaaally hard.
arkane try to make the most arkane game possible and, unfortunately, dont quite reach the mark. the level design is fantastic as always but unfortunately the four (4) levels dont quite live up to the 10 or so hours the game asks of them, and the game's strict linear nature doesn't quite live up to the endless marketing hyping it up to be a unique puzzle experience a la Outer Wilds where solutions would come to the player by natural exploration. instead, Arkane delivers the same waypoint based FPS experience with an interesting coat of paint and writing that is endearing when it comes out of Colt's mouth and cringe when it's anybody else. still fun, by virtue of being an Arkane game, but hard fails to deliver on its premise.
It's nice to play an Arkane game without them peaking over my shoulder
Less of an 0451 immersive sim like some of Arkane's other games, but it's just as incredible. Absolutely fantastic level design, gorgeous environments with crazy attention to detail, extremely fun gameplay, and just all-around excellence. It's an Arkane game through and through, and that's the best compliment I could give it. It's not perfect (The AI leaves a lot to be desired, the ending is disappointing and Julianna's invasions get a little old towards the end), but my God, what an incredible take on the time loop puzzle-solving genre. I would put it just below Outer Wilds in terms of how well the whole thing was executed. It's that good.
Deathloop shines when you fuck up and are forced to deal with the awful situation you've just put yourself in. Ducking and diving through windows, zipping around to different vantage point, taking a pot shot at an enemy before blasting everyone with a shotgun is so satisfying in a way only Arkane can pull off. These levels are a playground for goofy shit, beautifully designed to facilitate every possible approach you can think of, and adapt based on your own abilities.
It is a shame then that everything that isn't the core gameplay or the level design feels so half baked. Tutorials are the worst offender, which dump so much fucking text on you it's like you're playing a grand strategy game. Multiplayer invasions are a fun concept (and can be brilliant with the right opponent) but end up feeling more like a tacked-on gimmick than something integral to the structure of the experience. The way quests work is poorly explained and took me hours to realise that following them as closely as possible is the only sane way to get anywhere substantial. And the story, which should really be one of the highlights, is delivered so crudely you'll be lost for the entire first half and underwhelmed for the second.
I should emphasise again though: the game is still really really REALLY fun. No one does stealth like Arkane does stealth, and the core gameplay is so buttery smooth it feels effortless to play. It's just annoying seeing how close this comes to perfecting that formula before faltering right at the finish line.
It is a shame then that everything that isn't the core gameplay or the level design feels so half baked. Tutorials are the worst offender, which dump so much fucking text on you it's like you're playing a grand strategy game. Multiplayer invasions are a fun concept (and can be brilliant with the right opponent) but end up feeling more like a tacked-on gimmick than something integral to the structure of the experience. The way quests work is poorly explained and took me hours to realise that following them as closely as possible is the only sane way to get anywhere substantial. And the story, which should really be one of the highlights, is delivered so crudely you'll be lost for the entire first half and underwhelmed for the second.
I should emphasise again though: the game is still really really REALLY fun. No one does stealth like Arkane does stealth, and the core gameplay is so buttery smooth it feels effortless to play. It's just annoying seeing how close this comes to perfecting that formula before faltering right at the finish line.
Great gunplay, allows for more refined, varied, effortless builds than any other game I’ve played. Story is inspired and hilarious. Characters are amazing and their voice-work is brilliant. Multiplayer feels a little tacked on and the ending is too abrupt. Soundtrack is fantastic. Potential GOTY 2021
honestly the nancy drew games have a much better story and distracted me
There's some fun gunplay here and some great movement. I enjoyed the aesthetics a lot in this title as well. Everything looked fantastic and felt great to play. However, I felt that the game's premise was a bit of a let down in the story department.
I felt that they could have made the visionaries more interesting. I also felt that Julianna being made a multiplayer option took away from her overall character and significance in the story (weird complaint, I know). The game had potential for a great story, but its dialogue is too concerned with making Colt funny instead of an interesting character.
Overall, I enjoyed Deathloop, but I don't see myself ever really returning to this title much unless some friends pick it up for some multiplayer hijinks. Even then though, I was honestly a little disappointed in this game. Kudos for those that are loving it though.
I felt that they could have made the visionaries more interesting. I also felt that Julianna being made a multiplayer option took away from her overall character and significance in the story (weird complaint, I know). The game had potential for a great story, but its dialogue is too concerned with making Colt funny instead of an interesting character.
Overall, I enjoyed Deathloop, but I don't see myself ever really returning to this title much unless some friends pick it up for some multiplayer hijinks. Even then though, I was honestly a little disappointed in this game. Kudos for those that are loving it though.
Arkane has finally managed to make a version of Dishonored where open combat doesn't suck, hooray!
Deathloop is cobbled together from a lot of familiar parts. Throwing bottles, blinking, drop assassinations, a totally-not-supernatural double-jump. Anyone who has played the Dishonored games will find the tools available to the player to be very familiar, and yet playing Deathloop felt different enough from Dishonored that I was able to find it new and thrilling. Part of that is owed to the aesthetic, which is about as textbook 60s retro-future as you can get without completely drowning you in wild technicolor designs a la We Happy Few. But the other part, the more significant part, is that you are completely unable to manually save - a complete inversion from Arkane's other games.
Taken on its own the central concept of Deathloop is intriguing, as playing with time is something that I think is uniquely suited to games, where you get to be the agent of change. Arkane Lyon have already proven to be capable developers when messing with this concept, but Deathloop’s whole-hearted commitment to the idea is where I found real excitement. As you’re only given one day, you will never see anything as dramatic as the years of change from Dishonored 2’s “A Crack in the Slab”, but there are so many more locations and little details here that the end product is still satisfying.
One of the most notable changes if you’re playing this right after the Dishonored games is that this Corvo is named Colt, he has a voice, and he is absolutely not afraid to speak his mind, even if it’s dumb as shit (and it usually is). Colt being one of the few people who can remember earlier loops works fantastically as a game mechanic and as a source of comedy. Bringing it back to manually saving - the complete inability to do so incentivizes just taking risks and hoping you don’t get looped right as you’re trying to do some important shit, but the loop itself means that failure isn’t catastrophic. In fact, abusing this loop and its quirks to gather information in little bite-sized chunks makes revisiting the same levels feel much less tedious than it might sound on paper, as mastering the loop is as much a goal for Colt as it is for you as a player.
Gathering upgrades across loops doesn’t feel like a chore the way it could in Dishonored, and despite most of the powers making their original appearance in a stealth game, getting into firefights can be a lot of fun (and is viable!) - I had a build that let me create a bunch of poison clouds and then blow myself up to ignite them. Nexus - this game’s version of “Domino” - still feels pathetic and useless, but it's entirely possible that I'm too peabrained to use it effectively. There is a real sense of growth as you acquire more upgrades for your powers, and it’s exciting to tear through a level that you know like the back of your hand - up until a player-controlled Julianna tries to place landmines and snipe you in spawn. Yes, this game has an invasion mechanic, and although you can turn off player-controlled invasions (I recommend doing so) it’s still on by default, and as such is one of the game’s prominent weak points.
As you progress through the loop and listen to tens of “are they angry, enjoying this, or... both?” conversations between Julianna and Colt, these little fragmented bits of story, character quirks, and exploitable weaknesses coalesces into a real plot that has real momentum behind it. The game staggers a bit at the end - I won’t spoil anything - with the way it handles this, and it’s the other “big” drawback of this game. I suspect an ending with more playable elements would be more satisfying, but in an immersive sim every additional piece of gameplay adds tens of ways for things to break, so I don’t blame them for keeping things scripted. It’s not even really a let-down - it’s an adequate ending - it just can’t match the hype the previous 20 hours have built up. The mission preceding it (where you acquire enough information from the leads to go through the final loop) also has too much guidance, and I think that it would’ve been an excellent opportunity for the player to demonstrate their knowledge and mastery of the levels and nudge everything into place one last time. All the information is already in the journal so players who take a break from the game can still consult it for reminders, meaning there’s not really a reason for it to be so hand-holdy this far in. Again, this complaint is fairly minor and doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the game in any huge way.
Taken as an entire experience, Deathloop is one of my favorite games this year, and barring some completely bonkers release in the next few months (it’s possible) I suspect this will be my GOTY. It is so far up my alley that it’s scaling the wall at the far end: an imsim where being loud doesn’t feel like a sin, where the characters are as fun as the gameplay, and where you will never have to quicksave.
Deathloop is cobbled together from a lot of familiar parts. Throwing bottles, blinking, drop assassinations, a totally-not-supernatural double-jump. Anyone who has played the Dishonored games will find the tools available to the player to be very familiar, and yet playing Deathloop felt different enough from Dishonored that I was able to find it new and thrilling. Part of that is owed to the aesthetic, which is about as textbook 60s retro-future as you can get without completely drowning you in wild technicolor designs a la We Happy Few. But the other part, the more significant part, is that you are completely unable to manually save - a complete inversion from Arkane's other games.
Taken on its own the central concept of Deathloop is intriguing, as playing with time is something that I think is uniquely suited to games, where you get to be the agent of change. Arkane Lyon have already proven to be capable developers when messing with this concept, but Deathloop’s whole-hearted commitment to the idea is where I found real excitement. As you’re only given one day, you will never see anything as dramatic as the years of change from Dishonored 2’s “A Crack in the Slab”, but there are so many more locations and little details here that the end product is still satisfying.
One of the most notable changes if you’re playing this right after the Dishonored games is that this Corvo is named Colt, he has a voice, and he is absolutely not afraid to speak his mind, even if it’s dumb as shit (and it usually is). Colt being one of the few people who can remember earlier loops works fantastically as a game mechanic and as a source of comedy. Bringing it back to manually saving - the complete inability to do so incentivizes just taking risks and hoping you don’t get looped right as you’re trying to do some important shit, but the loop itself means that failure isn’t catastrophic. In fact, abusing this loop and its quirks to gather information in little bite-sized chunks makes revisiting the same levels feel much less tedious than it might sound on paper, as mastering the loop is as much a goal for Colt as it is for you as a player.
Gathering upgrades across loops doesn’t feel like a chore the way it could in Dishonored, and despite most of the powers making their original appearance in a stealth game, getting into firefights can be a lot of fun (and is viable!) - I had a build that let me create a bunch of poison clouds and then blow myself up to ignite them. Nexus - this game’s version of “Domino” - still feels pathetic and useless, but it's entirely possible that I'm too peabrained to use it effectively. There is a real sense of growth as you acquire more upgrades for your powers, and it’s exciting to tear through a level that you know like the back of your hand - up until a player-controlled Julianna tries to place landmines and snipe you in spawn. Yes, this game has an invasion mechanic, and although you can turn off player-controlled invasions (I recommend doing so) it’s still on by default, and as such is one of the game’s prominent weak points.
As you progress through the loop and listen to tens of “are they angry, enjoying this, or... both?” conversations between Julianna and Colt, these little fragmented bits of story, character quirks, and exploitable weaknesses coalesces into a real plot that has real momentum behind it. The game staggers a bit at the end - I won’t spoil anything - with the way it handles this, and it’s the other “big” drawback of this game. I suspect an ending with more playable elements would be more satisfying, but in an immersive sim every additional piece of gameplay adds tens of ways for things to break, so I don’t blame them for keeping things scripted. It’s not even really a let-down - it’s an adequate ending - it just can’t match the hype the previous 20 hours have built up. The mission preceding it (where you acquire enough information from the leads to go through the final loop) also has too much guidance, and I think that it would’ve been an excellent opportunity for the player to demonstrate their knowledge and mastery of the levels and nudge everything into place one last time. All the information is already in the journal so players who take a break from the game can still consult it for reminders, meaning there’s not really a reason for it to be so hand-holdy this far in. Again, this complaint is fairly minor and doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the game in any huge way.
Taken as an entire experience, Deathloop is one of my favorite games this year, and barring some completely bonkers release in the next few months (it’s possible) I suspect this will be my GOTY. It is so far up my alley that it’s scaling the wall at the far end: an imsim where being loud doesn’t feel like a sin, where the characters are as fun as the gameplay, and where you will never have to quicksave.
Lo jugué menos de dos horas y me pedí un refund. No creo que sea un juego malo, pero es un juego de stealth que funciona mejor si entras a los tiros en vez de ir escondiéndote, y la inteligencia artificial no está preparada para eso.
Es decir, todos los enemigos tienen un path predeterminado, y podes ir lentamente escabulléndote, bajándolos de a uno y tardar quince minutos, o podés hackear una torreta, y ver como van todos caminando a pararse enfrente y que los maten en 30 segundos.
Quizás le vuelva a dar una chance cuando este un poco más optimizado y lo vendan de rebaja. No lo quise seguir jugando porque ya no me gustaba y quería aprovechar el refund de steam.
Es decir, todos los enemigos tienen un path predeterminado, y podes ir lentamente escabulléndote, bajándolos de a uno y tardar quince minutos, o podés hackear una torreta, y ver como van todos caminando a pararse enfrente y que los maten en 30 segundos.
Quizás le vuelva a dar una chance cuando este un poco más optimizado y lo vendan de rebaja. No lo quise seguir jugando porque ya no me gustaba y quería aprovechar el refund de steam.
Deathloop is an interesting game that starts incredibly strong, and then cools notably over the course of the game as the loops start getting to you in the same way they do our protagonist.
The basic idea of the game is to find 8 people and kill each of them in a single day in order to break the loop, so you spend much of your game finding information about the targets and/or setting them up to be near other targets in order to break the loop in your limited not bad in execution, but some of the tasks the game sends you on can feel rather monotonous after you've done very similar things shortly before. The story is okay. Colt is an excellent protagonist, but he's the only character I could say that I liked without reservation. The ending itself is solid albeit quite abrupt.
Gameplay itself is the highlight. mixing upgrades(or trinkets) with guns and Colt can lead to some fun customizability, and it's fun to see what kind of loot you can get as you explore. Initially, I was confused on whether the game was supposed to be a roguelike in a similar vein as something like Returnal or Hades. It distinctly is not. It has similar concepts, but it's very easy to carry progression, and there is always a "new" task to be doing even if you are retreading previously explored locations.
All in all, the game is a good time, and I'd say to give it a try, but maybe not at full price personally.
The basic idea of the game is to find 8 people and kill each of them in a single day in order to break the loop, so you spend much of your game finding information about the targets and/or setting them up to be near other targets in order to break the loop in your limited not bad in execution, but some of the tasks the game sends you on can feel rather monotonous after you've done very similar things shortly before. The story is okay. Colt is an excellent protagonist, but he's the only character I could say that I liked without reservation. The ending itself is solid albeit quite abrupt.
Gameplay itself is the highlight. mixing upgrades(or trinkets) with guns and Colt can lead to some fun customizability, and it's fun to see what kind of loot you can get as you explore. Initially, I was confused on whether the game was supposed to be a roguelike in a similar vein as something like Returnal or Hades. It distinctly is not. It has similar concepts, but it's very easy to carry progression, and there is always a "new" task to be doing even if you are retreading previously explored locations.
All in all, the game is a good time, and I'd say to give it a try, but maybe not at full price personally.
a power fantasy version of thief but with guns this time is apparently even less of my thing
and there's really only so many times i can entertain thinking "huh, maybe there's a sneakier, secondary entrance besides this front door" before it starts feeling played out, especially when it gets as reductive as displaying that as cutesy internal monologue from your character physically over these things. dishonored 2 improved on this pattern with inventive level design in its second half, and i know prey does from what i've heard of it (and i should really give it a second chance), so i'm not sure why this seems to go backwards. maybe that changes as it goes on? we don't get imm sims often, so i'd hate to end up slandering this, but deathloop's first few hours are just so weak that i couldn't be bothered to find out
unfortunately, it also has severe frame pacing issues unless you can maintain 60/120 fps, and that's hard to manage with dips in performance anytime the AI starts doing anything besides standing around. another problem was that playing as julianna is marred by the game seemingly not trusting your client at all: the few matches i played were nearly unplayable as i'd rubberband with every step i took. i'm guessing this is a kind of rudimentary anti-cheat for a game with a light multiplayer component, but it definitely hurt my experience since it's such a core part of the game. i'd maybe wait for patches before playing if you're not a huge arkane fan
and there's really only so many times i can entertain thinking "huh, maybe there's a sneakier, secondary entrance besides this front door" before it starts feeling played out, especially when it gets as reductive as displaying that as cutesy internal monologue from your character physically over these things. dishonored 2 improved on this pattern with inventive level design in its second half, and i know prey does from what i've heard of it (and i should really give it a second chance), so i'm not sure why this seems to go backwards. maybe that changes as it goes on? we don't get imm sims often, so i'd hate to end up slandering this, but deathloop's first few hours are just so weak that i couldn't be bothered to find out
unfortunately, it also has severe frame pacing issues unless you can maintain 60/120 fps, and that's hard to manage with dips in performance anytime the AI starts doing anything besides standing around. another problem was that playing as julianna is marred by the game seemingly not trusting your client at all: the few matches i played were nearly unplayable as i'd rubberband with every step i took. i'm guessing this is a kind of rudimentary anti-cheat for a game with a light multiplayer component, but it definitely hurt my experience since it's such a core part of the game. i'd maybe wait for patches before playing if you're not a huge arkane fan
I just finished this game so it's not really a review and moreso just my thoughts coming off of it. This is probably gonna read pretty disjointed as my thoughts are just bouncing around.
Beat it in about 13 hours although I did start to rush a bit for the last few hours. I wouldn't say it's worth the 60 bucks but if you can get it on discount for sub-$40 later down the line(which you definitely can cause Arkane games always go on sale) then give it a go. Also Arkane game so expect some of that eurojank.
Generally alright:
Gunplay was serviceable but not really anything great, at least they made the pump shotty and what was essentially an elephant gun satisfying to use.
I enjoyed seeing that the trinkets actually ended up being pretty straightforward with most of them actually being useful upgrades, there were maybe only 6-7 trinkets(counting both player and weapon trinkets) that I had never considered using. The weapon modifiers were also good too, I actually ended up almost never using the special guns cause I found guns with modifiers that were actually useful(suppressed smg, pump shotty shoots twice before needing a pump)
I didnt actually utilize half the abilities given and just teleported around but it was nice to see that you could freely use those abilities without worry of having to play more conservatively for the sake of maintaining power considering the energy for them regenerates without need of consumables.
This is one of those games that gives you a real nice sense of growing power that isn't an rpg.
Things Im iffy on:
The fact that this is an immersive sim works well with the timeloop stuff but its pretty obvious that the game ends up really only giving you one true solution by the end of game. It keeps it cohesive but ultimately repetitive and I can't see this game having much replayability besides playing the ending quest again to see the other endings.
The visionaries also end up being just a bit more than the average grunt with how it might take an extra point blank shotgun blast to off them and sometimes they have a special ability.
The dialogue can come off as pretty reddit depending on who you're talking to but I didn't really mind it and just chalked it up to the largely facetious tone the game has.
I wouldn't say I'm disappointed with this game like I've been with some other game releases I've played the past few years but I do wish there was just a bit more. I was loving it, until I got to the ending. It felt a little rushed and while I enjoyed the cheeky tone the ending I got had, I just feel that my time with the game was a tad too short. I beat the game practically the same day I got it, I can really only say that for resident evil games and those are actually meant to be replayed. Also if I didn't have work today I would've beat it on the 14th, I was really only like 20 minutes off from being able to say I beat it the exact same day.
I will say that the game's length helps with the rather repetitive nature of the game as it doesn't really feel like you're wasting too much time considering the game is less than 20 hours long.
Anyway, flawed but definitely enjoyable
Didn't really get the performance issues that other people got although I didnt touch raytracing cause fuck that dumb meme. Only real performance thing I have to note is that the game occasionally has that Far Cry 5 effect where you'll have 70-90 fps but it still kinda feels like 60ish. If you played FC5 on pc with decent enough specs you might know what Im talking about.
Afterword: If you actually are reading this at the time of writing I just realized I forgot to talk about the mp but Imma go out for a cig before I start writing that.
Anyway, the invasion shit was just ok. Seemed like an afterthought/last-minute gimmick they added so they could give the game a bit more of an identity as its own thing but I ended up playing single-player/friends only so I dont have to deal with that bullshit. The invasion thing just boils down to who can magdump or juke each other out better and by juke I mean be a Goddamned nuisance to the other player by blinking, strafe dodging, or double jumping all other the place. P2P connection so have fun rubberbanding cause you connected to some sorry bastard who probably took more than 7-8 hours installing a 30 gig game cause they live in Columbia, Missouri or anywhere else where you can't actually get good wifi.
The invasion mechanic is honestly more fun functioning as some ghetto ass coop where you connect to your buddy for a single segment of their loop and help them take out a target or potentially 2/3 and then let them kill you so they can get the extra 10k residuum and whatever gun/slab you were using.
Beat it in about 13 hours although I did start to rush a bit for the last few hours. I wouldn't say it's worth the 60 bucks but if you can get it on discount for sub-$40 later down the line(which you definitely can cause Arkane games always go on sale) then give it a go. Also Arkane game so expect some of that eurojank.
Generally alright:
Gunplay was serviceable but not really anything great, at least they made the pump shotty and what was essentially an elephant gun satisfying to use.
I enjoyed seeing that the trinkets actually ended up being pretty straightforward with most of them actually being useful upgrades, there were maybe only 6-7 trinkets(counting both player and weapon trinkets) that I had never considered using. The weapon modifiers were also good too, I actually ended up almost never using the special guns cause I found guns with modifiers that were actually useful(suppressed smg, pump shotty shoots twice before needing a pump)
I didnt actually utilize half the abilities given and just teleported around but it was nice to see that you could freely use those abilities without worry of having to play more conservatively for the sake of maintaining power considering the energy for them regenerates without need of consumables.
This is one of those games that gives you a real nice sense of growing power that isn't an rpg.
Things Im iffy on:
The fact that this is an immersive sim works well with the timeloop stuff but its pretty obvious that the game ends up really only giving you one true solution by the end of game. It keeps it cohesive but ultimately repetitive and I can't see this game having much replayability besides playing the ending quest again to see the other endings.
The visionaries also end up being just a bit more than the average grunt with how it might take an extra point blank shotgun blast to off them and sometimes they have a special ability.
The dialogue can come off as pretty reddit depending on who you're talking to but I didn't really mind it and just chalked it up to the largely facetious tone the game has.
I wouldn't say I'm disappointed with this game like I've been with some other game releases I've played the past few years but I do wish there was just a bit more. I was loving it, until I got to the ending. It felt a little rushed and while I enjoyed the cheeky tone the ending I got had, I just feel that my time with the game was a tad too short. I beat the game practically the same day I got it, I can really only say that for resident evil games and those are actually meant to be replayed. Also if I didn't have work today I would've beat it on the 14th, I was really only like 20 minutes off from being able to say I beat it the exact same day.
I will say that the game's length helps with the rather repetitive nature of the game as it doesn't really feel like you're wasting too much time considering the game is less than 20 hours long.
Anyway, flawed but definitely enjoyable
Didn't really get the performance issues that other people got although I didnt touch raytracing cause fuck that dumb meme. Only real performance thing I have to note is that the game occasionally has that Far Cry 5 effect where you'll have 70-90 fps but it still kinda feels like 60ish. If you played FC5 on pc with decent enough specs you might know what Im talking about.
Afterword: If you actually are reading this at the time of writing I just realized I forgot to talk about the mp but Imma go out for a cig before I start writing that.
Anyway, the invasion shit was just ok. Seemed like an afterthought/last-minute gimmick they added so they could give the game a bit more of an identity as its own thing but I ended up playing single-player/friends only so I dont have to deal with that bullshit. The invasion thing just boils down to who can magdump or juke each other out better and by juke I mean be a Goddamned nuisance to the other player by blinking, strafe dodging, or double jumping all other the place. P2P connection so have fun rubberbanding cause you connected to some sorry bastard who probably took more than 7-8 hours installing a 30 gig game cause they live in Columbia, Missouri or anywhere else where you can't actually get good wifi.
The invasion mechanic is honestly more fun functioning as some ghetto ass coop where you connect to your buddy for a single segment of their loop and help them take out a target or potentially 2/3 and then let them kill you so they can get the extra 10k residuum and whatever gun/slab you were using.
pretty good it's a truly immersive sim and I cannot wait to play this in another year and a half writing varies but it's not dogshit the ending is weak and some of the design choices are odd to say the least but it's a great game
I've played about 3 hours of this game and I honestly don't feel like playing any more. I'd rather put time into voicing why this just doesn't work.
And the core of it is control. It's probably not the case but all of Arkane's games feel like they have some horrendous input lag, and the whole control experience is pretty stilited and lacks any flow. Aim Assist is rough, the control scheme on PS5 is laughable, the menus are a nightmare and blast you with paragraphs of text every 5 seconds. For what's basically a Dishonored Gaiden it feels an awful lot more complicated for no reason.
On top of that the structure of the game just feels really off. In the first few hours of this game it legitimately requests you go down the same path, stealthing or murdering the whole way, legitimately 4 times, like i'm playing Flower Sun and Rain again - Because despite this being an immersive sim where you're expected to go to and from the entrance all the time, Arkane have bafflingly made the levels long and thin. And the level structure itself is just bleh. Go to the great big spot on the map where it tells you to, kill, rinse repeat.
And maybe worst of all, the game just undercuts it's own core. Within minutes of starting the game you get a cheat death card that lets you die 2 times per location, practically 8 times per Day, with basically no consequence. It's like a studio mandate legitimately taped to the first door before you get into the game.
I was expecting I might not vibe with the game, I often don't with immersive sims, the only one I really, really like is Cruelty Squad, which you should probably just play instead.
And the core of it is control. It's probably not the case but all of Arkane's games feel like they have some horrendous input lag, and the whole control experience is pretty stilited and lacks any flow. Aim Assist is rough, the control scheme on PS5 is laughable, the menus are a nightmare and blast you with paragraphs of text every 5 seconds. For what's basically a Dishonored Gaiden it feels an awful lot more complicated for no reason.
On top of that the structure of the game just feels really off. In the first few hours of this game it legitimately requests you go down the same path, stealthing or murdering the whole way, legitimately 4 times, like i'm playing Flower Sun and Rain again - Because despite this being an immersive sim where you're expected to go to and from the entrance all the time, Arkane have bafflingly made the levels long and thin. And the level structure itself is just bleh. Go to the great big spot on the map where it tells you to, kill, rinse repeat.
And maybe worst of all, the game just undercuts it's own core. Within minutes of starting the game you get a cheat death card that lets you die 2 times per location, practically 8 times per Day, with basically no consequence. It's like a studio mandate legitimately taped to the first door before you get into the game.
I was expecting I might not vibe with the game, I often don't with immersive sims, the only one I really, really like is Cruelty Squad, which you should probably just play instead.
the longer you play this game, the more it starts to fall apart at the seams. i loved this game for most of the time i played it (i even wrote a very positive 4 star review), but i did a complete 180 about 3/4 through.
a blend of so many fantastic ideas into one incredible, memorable, and jaw dropping experience. So so much to love about this game. The combat and guns are chunky, brutal and incredibly satisfying, each with their own distinctive feel and worthwhile perks. Enemies felt navigable while still threatening. The stealth is stellar, keeping with arkanes well crafted levels that change realistically and interestingly between time periods. normally useless data logs are turned into important, detailed clues that both deepen the world-building and are useful to furthering your quest. The mysteries of blackreef cut so much deeper than it's time loop and I'm incredibly excited to learn more about this world and it's characters as I continue playing. the invasions are so incredibly fun, and while it's stressful to be invaded (I failed the final mission thrice because of an invasion) it's incredibly gratifying to overcome an opponent with real skill and interesting plays and traps. your playtime as colt informs your playtime as julianna as well traveled routes become spots to watch or lay traps. your knowledge of both attacker and defender weave into one another so seamlessly as this living world you're tasked with exploring and controlling becomes a battlefield of two equally powerful hunters scouring for each other. It's fantastic.
the aesthetic and sound design/soundtrack of this game are all incredible. everything is infused with this 70's 80's aesthetic that gives everything so much more energy and personality.guns feels powerful, like one shot could blow someones head to pieces.
the characters in this game are phenomenal, each target has mountains of personality, and colt and julianna's discourse is funny, interesting, and provides more insight into the mysteries of blackreef. every character is masterfully voice acted.
I can't find anything to dislike about this game. even after finishing, I plan to continue discovering it's mysteries, controlling it's world, and especially invading other players
the aesthetic and sound design/soundtrack of this game are all incredible. everything is infused with this 70's 80's aesthetic that gives everything so much more energy and personality.guns feels powerful, like one shot could blow someones head to pieces.
the characters in this game are phenomenal, each target has mountains of personality, and colt and julianna's discourse is funny, interesting, and provides more insight into the mysteries of blackreef. every character is masterfully voice acted.
I can't find anything to dislike about this game. even after finishing, I plan to continue discovering it's mysteries, controlling it's world, and especially invading other players
I think that a good time loop game needs to have a world worth exploring, and digging deeper into in order to find out how to break the loop. I also think that a good immersive sim should have a world that's worth exploring, and fun to mess around in. Deathloop sits in the middle of that venn diagram, and plays to the strengths of both genres excellently.
The game does guide you towards how to break the loop, and that might feel a bit handhold-y at times, but the world is so fun to explore that I naturally stumbled across many puzzle solutions far in advance of the game pointing me to them. It's times like this, where the game rewards you for being inquisitive by letting you skip over multiple steps of a quest-line that I felt the most satisfied with Deathloop. That's not to mention how many little optional objectives there are that really let you dig deep into the background of Blackreef and the nature of the loop itself. Great stuff all around.
I also feel as though this is Arkane's best outing from a writing perspective. Sure, there were parts of Dishonored and Prey that were brilliant, but there were also parts that I absolutely hated. Deathloop keeps the good stuff, and is entirely devoid of the bad. As I mentioned before the worldbuilding is fascinating, but the characters are also compelling in a way I didn't expect from Arkane. The relationship between Colt and Julianna is a huge highlight for me.
Anyway, this game absolutely rips, and is one of the best games this year for sure. Oh yeah, the shootbangs are pretty good too,
The game does guide you towards how to break the loop, and that might feel a bit handhold-y at times, but the world is so fun to explore that I naturally stumbled across many puzzle solutions far in advance of the game pointing me to them. It's times like this, where the game rewards you for being inquisitive by letting you skip over multiple steps of a quest-line that I felt the most satisfied with Deathloop. That's not to mention how many little optional objectives there are that really let you dig deep into the background of Blackreef and the nature of the loop itself. Great stuff all around.
I also feel as though this is Arkane's best outing from a writing perspective. Sure, there were parts of Dishonored and Prey that were brilliant, but there were also parts that I absolutely hated. Deathloop keeps the good stuff, and is entirely devoid of the bad. As I mentioned before the worldbuilding is fascinating, but the characters are also compelling in a way I didn't expect from Arkane. The relationship between Colt and Julianna is a huge highlight for me.
Anyway, this game absolutely rips, and is one of the best games this year for sure. Oh yeah, the shootbangs are pretty good too,
70/100
Deathloop is the logical endpoint of the genre of Immersive Sim when it comes to how we tell stories using it.
Before that, we have to talk about Immersive Sims or at least one of them,
Hitman is a series of games that some would categorize as an ImSim, I say some because I know for a fact that even just stating that is going to piss some people off massively because the terminology of Immersive Sim is vague and undefined with a very niche fanbase of very dedicated people who are willing to discuss it for hours on end. Just know, I do not care. I’m mainly referring to it as such because a similar group of mechanics, ideas, and goals appear between Hitman and other ImSims
Agent 47 is literally a blank slate character, he is a person developed to just do his job and that job is sleek and quiet murder of any number of targets in a given level, so it’s interesting to note that in Hitman, you are still required to basically live up to the role of a Hitman, rather than place yourself in those shoes.
The way the narrative is signposted throughout the series and all of the surrounding elements of the games paint the player character as a silent assassin who plans every minute detail to a tee so they can slip in and out, murdering their target before anyone even realizes something has gone wrong. This is pretty much guaranteed to not be the way you actually play the game starting off.
To get to this point, you have to go through these maps multiple times, learn their secrets, their layouts, their enemy placements, and everything else before you can be the person the narrative tells you you are. This essentially makes most of the gameplay as it pertains to the story disconnected. Agent 47 as a man cannot physically turn back time, he cannot Save Scum, and he, nor anyone else in the game has any knowledge of the countless previous runs that it took to get to the point where you can actually be Agent 47. Death is an explicit fail state which has no direct place in anything outside of the gameplay.
Deathloop is different.
Deathloop, as a game, is deeply fascinating to me, because even with its own elements separated, they’re great. The Shooting is Punchy and all the weapon types have their own little quirks and feel that make them completely distinct, the level design has so many different paths to destinations and areas that can change based on your actions, that just learning to get around is a blast and the way powers intersect with combat and exploration through all of that makes a game that is so immensely satisfying to play and learn, again and again, and again.
But the real thing that makes Deathloop not just good but Transcendent is how it takes the defined rules of the games it’s inspired by and the traditional player response to those rules and exploits them.
The way it does this is through the idealization and mechanical canonization of:
THE PERFECT RUN
Colt, unlike 47, is much more of a defined character, he had a place in the world before the story and he will continue to exist once it is over. Despite this, it is much easier for a player to put themselves in Colt’s situation because the narrative and gameplay of Deathloop come together in a way that I have not seen another game with these design philosophies before (to my knowledge).
In Deathloop, Colt’s goal is learning the maps, scouting out locations, experimenting with systems, and discovering secrets, everything you do in gameplay and discover is canon within the story, putting you in Colt’s place much more directly, despite not being a self insert.
The mythologized nature of going through and beating levels, streamlining your run, and getting to a point where you can quickly and efficiently kill all of your targets is the end goal, even death in the game, while still a fail state that can halt your progress and be an effective punishment for failing, is just a reality of the game, something that in-game characters will comment on and react to.
Even in failure, the ability to make hard progress, even in runs that don’t go how you planned creates a gameplay experience that finally feels like it scratches an itch I’ve had for a good while. I’ve never been too up on ImSims previously, the stress of perfectly good runs being failed in an instant or the pinpoint accuracy needed to get through them, while not a direct criticism of the design itself, more a personal issue, scared me away from games like Dishonored or Thief because quite frankly I just wasn’t very good at them. Even the new Hitman games to a degree would have lost me if it wasn’t for the new accessibility features basically telling you exactly what you need to do to succeed but even then it never felt exactly right in the end.
Deathloop, in creating an experience where failure and learning from your mistakes are contextualized in the story as just a natural part of growth and getting towards the end, rather than a hurdle to become what the game is acting like you are, spoke to me in a way these games have never done before for me without throwing out the complexity or difficulty that ImSims are lauded for. And for that experience, I cannot be happier with the game.
TL;DR How I Learned to Stop Caring and Love Immersive Sims
Before that, we have to talk about Immersive Sims or at least one of them,
Hitman is a series of games that some would categorize as an ImSim, I say some because I know for a fact that even just stating that is going to piss some people off massively because the terminology of Immersive Sim is vague and undefined with a very niche fanbase of very dedicated people who are willing to discuss it for hours on end. Just know, I do not care. I’m mainly referring to it as such because a similar group of mechanics, ideas, and goals appear between Hitman and other ImSims
Agent 47 is literally a blank slate character, he is a person developed to just do his job and that job is sleek and quiet murder of any number of targets in a given level, so it’s interesting to note that in Hitman, you are still required to basically live up to the role of a Hitman, rather than place yourself in those shoes.
The way the narrative is signposted throughout the series and all of the surrounding elements of the games paint the player character as a silent assassin who plans every minute detail to a tee so they can slip in and out, murdering their target before anyone even realizes something has gone wrong. This is pretty much guaranteed to not be the way you actually play the game starting off.
To get to this point, you have to go through these maps multiple times, learn their secrets, their layouts, their enemy placements, and everything else before you can be the person the narrative tells you you are. This essentially makes most of the gameplay as it pertains to the story disconnected. Agent 47 as a man cannot physically turn back time, he cannot Save Scum, and he, nor anyone else in the game has any knowledge of the countless previous runs that it took to get to the point where you can actually be Agent 47. Death is an explicit fail state which has no direct place in anything outside of the gameplay.
Deathloop is different.
Deathloop, as a game, is deeply fascinating to me, because even with its own elements separated, they’re great. The Shooting is Punchy and all the weapon types have their own little quirks and feel that make them completely distinct, the level design has so many different paths to destinations and areas that can change based on your actions, that just learning to get around is a blast and the way powers intersect with combat and exploration through all of that makes a game that is so immensely satisfying to play and learn, again and again, and again.
But the real thing that makes Deathloop not just good but Transcendent is how it takes the defined rules of the games it’s inspired by and the traditional player response to those rules and exploits them.
The way it does this is through the idealization and mechanical canonization of:
THE PERFECT RUN
Colt, unlike 47, is much more of a defined character, he had a place in the world before the story and he will continue to exist once it is over. Despite this, it is much easier for a player to put themselves in Colt’s situation because the narrative and gameplay of Deathloop come together in a way that I have not seen another game with these design philosophies before (to my knowledge).
In Deathloop, Colt’s goal is learning the maps, scouting out locations, experimenting with systems, and discovering secrets, everything you do in gameplay and discover is canon within the story, putting you in Colt’s place much more directly, despite not being a self insert.
The mythologized nature of going through and beating levels, streamlining your run, and getting to a point where you can quickly and efficiently kill all of your targets is the end goal, even death in the game, while still a fail state that can halt your progress and be an effective punishment for failing, is just a reality of the game, something that in-game characters will comment on and react to.
Even in failure, the ability to make hard progress, even in runs that don’t go how you planned creates a gameplay experience that finally feels like it scratches an itch I’ve had for a good while. I’ve never been too up on ImSims previously, the stress of perfectly good runs being failed in an instant or the pinpoint accuracy needed to get through them, while not a direct criticism of the design itself, more a personal issue, scared me away from games like Dishonored or Thief because quite frankly I just wasn’t very good at them. Even the new Hitman games to a degree would have lost me if it wasn’t for the new accessibility features basically telling you exactly what you need to do to succeed but even then it never felt exactly right in the end.
Deathloop, in creating an experience where failure and learning from your mistakes are contextualized in the story as just a natural part of growth and getting towards the end, rather than a hurdle to become what the game is acting like you are, spoke to me in a way these games have never done before for me without throwing out the complexity or difficulty that ImSims are lauded for. And for that experience, I cannot be happier with the game.
TL;DR How I Learned to Stop Caring and Love Immersive Sims
This game is firing on all cylinders. The gun play feels phenomenal, the story is more intricate than you'd expect with interesting characters and motivations, the style is through the roof, and to top it all off it has some of the most genuinely unique gameplay I have experienced.
The level design in particular is downright astonishing. When I first started the game only having the 4 maps seemed like a bold decision, but I can see why they went with it. Arkane managed to masterfully weave in so many different sub-zones and secret areas without any of them feeling forced or generic. I was worried that each map would have the 'dank underground' sub-zone but they managed to avoid that pitfall. Each sub-zone is unique in its own way and these levels will honestly be talked about from a development standpoint for years to come.
The stealth, however, is very lacking. There is absolutely no reason to go quiet on any map. Ammo is bountiful and the enemies pose 0 threat outside of an invasion. This is especially disappointing considering that this is the same studio behind Dishonored. Kinda wish there were higher difficulty settings, but I totally understand why there aren't.
Still, it cannot be understated how excellent this game is in all other regards. What and amazingly unique game, I love it.
The level design in particular is downright astonishing. When I first started the game only having the 4 maps seemed like a bold decision, but I can see why they went with it. Arkane managed to masterfully weave in so many different sub-zones and secret areas without any of them feeling forced or generic. I was worried that each map would have the 'dank underground' sub-zone but they managed to avoid that pitfall. Each sub-zone is unique in its own way and these levels will honestly be talked about from a development standpoint for years to come.
The stealth, however, is very lacking. There is absolutely no reason to go quiet on any map. Ammo is bountiful and the enemies pose 0 threat outside of an invasion. This is especially disappointing considering that this is the same studio behind Dishonored. Kinda wish there were higher difficulty settings, but I totally understand why there aren't.
Still, it cannot be understated how excellent this game is in all other regards. What and amazingly unique game, I love it.
The First Arkane game where they said "hey, what if we made all the gameplay fun?" and it turns out it made their best game yet
This was one of my most anticipated games this year being a big fan of Arkane and I don't know if I ever felt more disappointed. While I see glimpses of what they were going for, and I love the interactions between Colt and Julianne, the game is at odds with itself by creating a game that is both a timeloop game and an immersive sim. The game is constantly reminding and clarifying clues to the game often before the user even had an opportunity to understand what they read/heard. Combine that with a frustrating loot system, crashes, awful AI and gate-locking key mechanics / powers, I didn't have the heart to continue putting more time into a game that I was enjoying less and less as I played.
EDIT: The above is what I wrote when I planned on shelving the game...I decided to carry on through to the end. I found the final "run" to kill all the targets before midnight to be super tense and exciting and found the ending to be resonating with me. While still a disappointing, I do see the glimpses of what they were going for and I look forward to seeing them give something like this a shot again.
EDIT: The above is what I wrote when I planned on shelving the game...I decided to carry on through to the end. I found the final "run" to kill all the targets before midnight to be super tense and exciting and found the ending to be resonating with me. While still a disappointing, I do see the glimpses of what they were going for and I look forward to seeing them give something like this a shot again.
My Review: https://youtu.be/_XQSC5x0rmg
A rather unique, intricately designed and fun experience with great voice acting, held back a bit by the poor AI and easy difficulty. And, while it had the makings of a pretty interesting story, I’d be lying if I said I wasn't left slightly disappointed by the end, with some things left a bit too open or not addressed which I would have liked. I also do think there is a bit too much guidance, especially towards the end, which makes an already not-too-difficult game a bit easier and more linear.
Deathloop offers a solid gunplay and stealth experience complemented by a satisfying (at first) time loop mechanic and a stylish 60s-spy inspired world. I would recommend waiting on a sale to play Deathloop unless you are very interested in what you have seen, or a massive fan of Arkane. There was just not enough freedom and substance in the missions/areas for me to stay wholly invested in the game for my whole playthrough.
Read the full review here: https://runtimeerrorgames.com/2021/09/21/deathloop-review-%ca%8d%c7%9d%e1%b4%89%ca%8c%c7%9dr-dool%c9%a5%ca%87%c9%90%c7%9d%e1%97%a1/
Read the full review here: https://runtimeerrorgames.com/2021/09/21/deathloop-review-%ca%8d%c7%9d%e1%b4%89%ca%8c%c7%9dr-dool%c9%a5%ca%87%c9%90%c7%9d%e1%97%a1/