“It’s like a mixture of Dishonored and John Wick” is all the sales pitch I needed for Deathloop to go from on my periphery to one of my my most anticipated games yet to come out in 2021. Last week I was treated to a hands-off look at roughly 30 minutes of gameplay from Arkane Lyon’s upcoming title, as well as participating in a group Q&A session with the game’s director Dinga Bakaba and art director Sébastien Mitton. It gave me a and deep and insightful look at not only into the game and its design, but the passion and excitement the team at Arkane has for Deathloop.
Bakaba says that the studio wanted to build on the foundations it had set for itself previously with Dishonored, but also to try new things and take some creative risks. The culmination of that is Deathloop – a first-person action game set in an alternate 1960s world on the remote European island of Blackreef, with a Salt Bae pinch of supernatural elements to give it that signature Arkane kick.
The footage on display gave us a look at Deathloop’s opening sequences, which start with the game’s protagonist Colt waking up on a beach in Blackreef with amnesia. Colt has no clue who he is, where he is, or how he got there. All he knows, courtesy of floating words in the sky that act as a guide and the mocking voice of a woman named Julianna, is that he must break the loop. As he progresses, little bits and pieces start to come back to him, and he soon realises that this isn’t his first rodeo.
In order to break the loop, Colt must assassinate all of the game’s eight Visionaries who are spread across the city’s four districts within 24 hours. Dying will reset the loop and Colt will wake up face down on Blackreef beach having to do it all again a la Groundhog Day. Bakaba makes it very clear that you will likely die several times in your quest – in fact dying will likely be to your advantage, as the more loops you experience the more information you learn about your targets, and the easier it will be to take out all eight targets out in one loop.
Deathloop is as much a puzzle game as it is an action game, with Bakaba describing it as a murder puzzle experience and revealing that there is only one solution to get all Visionaries in the right places in the same loop. There are four different times of day that players can explore Blackreef to study or attempt to take down the Visionaries, however Bakaba says that players will need to study their targets if they want to be successful in eliminating all eight in one day. Thankfully, any info Colt has gleaned from previous loops (such as codes) will be retained in future loops.
The campaign will last approximately 15-20 hours according to Bakaba, who says that players will spend most of the campaign figuring out how to make the stars align, and says that “it isn’t something you can stumble upon randomly.”
Making things rather difficult for Colt is the aforementioned Julianna, Colt’s rival assassin whose sole purpose is to stop Colt from breaking the loop. Julianna can either be AI or player-controlled, meaning that other players can invade your game to try and take you out. Bakaba clarifies that players can control who invades their game as Julianna; do you want to give anyone playing Deathloop the chance to take you out or just players on your friends list? If neither of those options take your fancy you can disable it altogether and Julianna will be controlled by the AI.
The words will guide you
Don’t stress though, Julianna won’t stalk you all over Blackreef like Mr. X from Resident Evil 2. Instead, she’ll only appear when you’re close to your target, and while she is a super-assassin, she can be killed. Bakaba explains that although Colt is more powerful, Julianna has the advantage of having the populous of Blackreef on her side.
Thankfully Colt has an array of weaponry as well as several powers to use against those standing in his way. Powers are acquired via Slabs found in Blackreef and include things like Shift, which is essentially Blink from Dishonored, Aether, which makes Colt invisible, Karnesis, which allows Colt to throw enemies in the air and Nexus, which allows Colt to link enemies together so they share the same fate.
We got to see the combat in full-flight and it was frenetic and brutal, with Colt using a combination of guns and powers to kick some serious arse. I may have paraphrased Bakaba’s words earlier when saying that Deathloop is a mixture of Dishonored and John Wick (he did mention these titles among others when explaining Deathloop’s influences), but seeing Colt throw enemies in the air and then blow them away with a shotgun, only to boot the next enemy through a window or off a roof made me excited to go hands-on with the game and create my own action sequences.
Going in guns blazing is not always the smartest way to go about your objective though. Unsurprisingly, Deathloop features Arkane’s signature flavour of gameplay, with open level design and a suite of perks and weapon modifications that encourages players to play however they want, and you can certainly go in sneakily if you desire. However, Deathloop appears to work best when using a mixture of stealth and frontal assault.
Julianna is Colt’s biggest threat
One ability that Colt will acquire early doors is Reprise, which will grant Colt two respawns each loop. Die a third time and it’s back to the beach for Colt. Bakaba says that killing Julianna will reset your Reprises.
With the residents of Blackreef confined to living the same day over and over again, there is no form of currency, and resources such as ammo can be found in vending machines throughout the island. However, one resource that players will want to keep an eye out for is Residuum, which allows Colt to permanently keep chosen gear and weapons. When you die and use a Reprise, you’ll be able to collect the Residuum you gathered in that loop from the spot you perished, similar to Dark Souls and reclaiming souls after death.
The world of Blackreef, like Arkane’s previous settings, is dripping with atmosphere thanks to its 1960s aesthetic and jazz-infused soundtrack. Mitton says the design of Blackreef is based on the Faroe Islands due to its black sand and tall grass, with some parts inspired by the abandoned city of Pripyat.
Another element that stood out in the preview is just how exceptional the voice acting is. Both Colt (Jason Kelley) and Julianna (Ozioma Akagha) are superbly brought to life and there’s real chemistry between the two that makes me excited to see more of the narrative and learn about the characters.
As a PS5 exclusive, Arkane has taken advantage of the hardware under the hood of Sony’s newest console. Bakaba confirms that the game will run at an adaptive 4K resolution at 60fps, something that wouldn’t have been possible on previous console technology. Bakaba also talks about Deathloop’s use of the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, which will only heighten the immersion.
It’s exciting listening to both Bakaba and Mitton talk about Deathloop, as it’s obvious that a lot of love and passion has gone into making Deathloop, and it shows in the footage that was shown off. Prior to my preview session, Deathloop was on my radar but I admit hadn’t paid it much attention outside of “it looks like another great Arkane experience.” Now that I have seen what Deathloop is all about, I’m more excited than I ever thought I would be to die over and over again.
Deathloop launches on September 14 on PS5 and PC.
