An Innovative Action Packed Adventure

When it comes to describing the new action-adventure title Deathloop, there are no adequate comparisons. While the developer is already known for their big titles like Dishonored, Prey, and even Wolfenstein, none came close to what this masterpiece provides. The game utilizes so many unique elements using satisfying gunplay, innovative investigation, and unique slab abilities. In addition, there is even the infamous loop that the main character is attempting to break that binds them to the Island of Blackreef. The game really set a new standard for the genre going forward and is a rare release that heavily impacted what the gaming industry can provide. Arkane Studios truly created a one-of-a-kind experience that will most likely end up a great contender for Game of the Year. Deathloop was developed by Arkane Studios, published by Bethesda Softworks, and is available on PC and PS5 for $59.99.

The Never-Ending Plot

Going back to the 1960s, the story follows a not-so-sane Colt who happens to be an assassin stuck in an unending loop in Blackreef. The island that was previously used for unethical experiments has now been caught in an infinite time loop that leaves everyone stuck on the same day. Colt finds himself desperately trying to end the loop by investigating the previous experiments and taking down various visionaries that want to protect the loop. The assassin is left to his own gadgets and devices and must defeat his enemies before midnight, otherwise, the loop will undo all of his work. Julianna is an adversary that is desperately trying to impede Colt’s progress at any cost and wants to protect the loop by any means necessary. She takes it upon herself to warn all the visionaries and eternalists of Colt’s plans to destroy the loop in order to make his life hell.

Great Exploration with Boundaries

Exploring Blackreef is well designed but also limited. The atmosphere and art style feels as if I mixed Borderlands and Bioshock together, making the game feel nostalgic and new all at the same time. The game provides players with four different locations that can be traversed at four different times. These times consist of morning, daytime, afternoon, and night, and the environment changes a bit depending on the time of day you enter. While the districts seem small as far as exploration goes, it provides so many missable pieces and notes to find that add to your investigation. Each location will change in terms of how eternalists set themselves up to impede progress, but also allow new pathways to be explored for more information and secrets. Unfortunately, as each day ends players find themselves starting over, however after gaining access to the infusion system players will eventually get to keep their loot as long as they have enough residuum in their pockets. This requires strategy with each environment change and forces players to constantly reinvent their approaches for their tasks. Each location also allows for different ways to complete investigations and goals, but will sometimes limit you as well depending on the task. While many ways inside will be open to you, if you skip steps you will likely have to start all over. I fell upon this a few times when I had to kill a target, but needed to discover who he was before killing them. I do wish there were more locations to explore aside from the four, for while each environment was unique and provides a lot of hidden items, they are also small and reused often making the magic of the island die out over time.

Satisfyingly Innovative Gameplay

I love the combat that Deathloop has to offer. While the combat feels simple, the unique trinkets and abilities from slabs change your playstyle entirely. Depending on the time of day, the game heavily leans towards a stealth approach with hardcore stealth kill animations. Abilities can allow you to warp and sneak how players feel unless Julianna appears and causes eternalists to be on high alert. However, for those that want great first-person shooter combat, there are a variety of weapons to choose from that you can loot from visionaries. Players will also have the obstacle of the loop, which allows you to only die twice before completely starting over. This forces players to plan their approaches carefully, and choose their loadout and slabs accordingly. This also gives players the chance to test out new setups and infusion choices. One thing that stuck out the most to me was slabs that were completely unique per visionary killed. Each one leaned strongly for stealth and mobility such as Aether and Shift or all-out aggro like Karnesis. Each slab could upgrade as well giving incentives for players to grind and kill visionaries all over again. They also could make our break unique builds and playstyles entirely, making customization very fun.

Playing Julianna is another great option for those who want to ruin Colt’s day. The game offers an online feature for players to invade others and kill them not once but three times. Players who love invasion like Dark Souls, and want to up their rank can use this feature to destroy other players. In addition, they can set up unique traps for players to fall in every time they reappear after dying once or twice. This feature feels like the souls series made a baby with Bethesda.

The Game is Buggy

One downside to playing the game is that the game is very buggy as any Bethesda release title usually is. The game is known for crashing but also is known for more annoying bugs that impede progress. I ran into minor glitches with being stuck in odd places unable to move, or random enemies glitching in and out of spots. I also ran into more annoying instances where quest progress was not picked up after completion and having to restart entirely. This proved to be annoying enough to take breaks or dropping for the day. The game definitely needs some more work to smooth out the edges.

Conclusion

Deathloop offers unique gameplay and a whole new experience for action-adventure genre lovers. I haven’t seen so much innovation in a game in a while, and I loved every second of playing. While some issues definitely need addressing, overall I still think the game will be a candidate for game of the year and will set new standards for development concepts.