Bio
Nothing here!
Badges
Best Friends
Become mutual friends with at least 3 others
3 Years of Service
Being part of the Backloggd community for 3 years
Elite Gamer
Played 500+ games
Gamer
Played 250+ games
N00b
Played 100+ games
Noticed
Gained 3+ followers
Favorite Games
802
Total Games Played
018
Played in 2024
007
Games Backloggd
Recently Played See More
Recently Reviewed See More
A depressing disappointment from the developers of gems like Dishonored and Prey (2017).
Despite the time loop being the core element of the game, and having mechanics from other non-linear games like Outer Wilds' hint and information gathering, Deathloop is deceptively linear. You find yourself repeating the same four zones over and over, doing nothing but filling a checklist of very straightforward objectives that require little to no thought from the player.
While the visuals are nice, the performance of the PC port is horrendous. I suffered constant FPS drops and frame spikes despite surpassing the recommended specs and playing at a "modest" 1080p capped at 60 fps. But that's far from the worst.
The game can and WILL crash randomly, especially when leaving a zone, which by the way, is the ONLY time when the game saves. There is no manual save function. You can lose up to an hour of progress right when the game is about to save. The only solution I could find that worked reliably is to disable Vsync right before leaving a zone.
Also, make sure to play the game in borderless window mode. If playing on fullscreen, the game will heat up your GPU like crazy WHILE IT'S MINIMISED. Yes, I don't understand it either, but my GPU kept going from 50 ºC to over 75 in a matter of a minute until it occurred to me to change the display mode.
The writing is atrocious. It feels like a parody of the style of dialogue seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the more recent video game Forspoken, which was mocked for it. Every line of dialogue is filled with quips, sarcasm, swearing and an overall rude tone. I am not exaggerating: 95 to 99% of the game's lines feel like this. Even scenes that should be serious are tainted by this kind of dialogue. A lot of documents feel like a chore to read because they're written the same way as the banter between the game's one-dimensional characters. But what left me an almost worse taste in my mouth was the unsatisfying ending(s). Don't expect to find explanations to the main mysteries of the plot.
Now, repetitiveness and insultingly easy enemy AI aside, the gameplay can be fun. Chances are you won't use most of the game's powers, but the guns and melee executions feel satisfying to use. There are some powerful unique weapons hidden behind puzzles, but other than that, the power progression is based on a rarity and semi-random bonus effect system, not unlike those that plague many other modern games. It does honestly feel a bit unnecessary and shoehorned in, especially given the similarities of the rest of the gameplay to Arkane's previous games. I would've preferred non-random upgrades locked behind the same puzzles and clues as the unique legendary weapons.
All in all, Deathloop is a combination of different ideas and gameplay elements that weren't well put together, mixed with questionable design decisions that may or may not have been due to executive meddling. I just hope that their next single-player game will be more focused and feel like a more cohesive and, what's more important, fun and functional experience.
Despite the time loop being the core element of the game, and having mechanics from other non-linear games like Outer Wilds' hint and information gathering, Deathloop is deceptively linear. You find yourself repeating the same four zones over and over, doing nothing but filling a checklist of very straightforward objectives that require little to no thought from the player.
While the visuals are nice, the performance of the PC port is horrendous. I suffered constant FPS drops and frame spikes despite surpassing the recommended specs and playing at a "modest" 1080p capped at 60 fps. But that's far from the worst.
The game can and WILL crash randomly, especially when leaving a zone, which by the way, is the ONLY time when the game saves. There is no manual save function. You can lose up to an hour of progress right when the game is about to save. The only solution I could find that worked reliably is to disable Vsync right before leaving a zone.
Also, make sure to play the game in borderless window mode. If playing on fullscreen, the game will heat up your GPU like crazy WHILE IT'S MINIMISED. Yes, I don't understand it either, but my GPU kept going from 50 ºC to over 75 in a matter of a minute until it occurred to me to change the display mode.
The writing is atrocious. It feels like a parody of the style of dialogue seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the more recent video game Forspoken, which was mocked for it. Every line of dialogue is filled with quips, sarcasm, swearing and an overall rude tone. I am not exaggerating: 95 to 99% of the game's lines feel like this. Even scenes that should be serious are tainted by this kind of dialogue. A lot of documents feel like a chore to read because they're written the same way as the banter between the game's one-dimensional characters. But what left me an almost worse taste in my mouth was the unsatisfying ending(s). Don't expect to find explanations to the main mysteries of the plot.
Now, repetitiveness and insultingly easy enemy AI aside, the gameplay can be fun. Chances are you won't use most of the game's powers, but the guns and melee executions feel satisfying to use. There are some powerful unique weapons hidden behind puzzles, but other than that, the power progression is based on a rarity and semi-random bonus effect system, not unlike those that plague many other modern games. It does honestly feel a bit unnecessary and shoehorned in, especially given the similarities of the rest of the gameplay to Arkane's previous games. I would've preferred non-random upgrades locked behind the same puzzles and clues as the unique legendary weapons.
All in all, Deathloop is a combination of different ideas and gameplay elements that weren't well put together, mixed with questionable design decisions that may or may not have been due to executive meddling. I just hope that their next single-player game will be more focused and feel like a more cohesive and, what's more important, fun and functional experience.