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Deathloop

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Deathloop
The word "Deathloop" is in the center spanning the width of the art. Above the word is a Black woman facing left holding a handgun. Below is a Black man facing right with a handgun in his right hand pointed upward while his left fist is held up at shoulder height.
European cover art featuring the two main characters: Colt (left) and Julianna (right)
Developer(s)Arkane Lyon
Publisher(s)Bethesda Softworks
Director(s)
  • Dinga Bakaba
  • Sébastien Mitton
Producer(s)Yoann Guilloud
Designer(s)Gauthier Roussel
Programmer(s)Hugues Tardif
Artist(s)Sébastien Mitton
Writer(s)
  • Paweł Kroenke
  • Sandra Duval
Composer(s)Tom Salta
SeriesDishonored
EngineVoid Engine
Platform(s)
ReleasePlayStation 5, Windows
14 September 2021
Xbox Series X/S
20 September 2022
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Deathloop is a 2021 first-person shooter immersive sim video game that was developed by Arkane Lyon and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game is set on an island named Blackreef. The player assumes control of Colt Vahn, an assassin who is stuck in a time loop he must destroy by killing eight targets known as Visionaries before midnight when the time loop resets, while being hunted by the island's residents and a Visionary named Julianna, who wants to protect the loop. Each day is divided into morning, noon, afternoon, and evening, and moving between the island's four districts causes time to advance. Using Colt's diverse arsenal of gears and powers, the player must identify the optimal way to kill all targets in one day to execute the "golden loop", in which Colt breaks free.

Development of Deathloop began in 2018, originally as a smaller-scale project that allowed Arkane to experiment with new gameplay mechanics. The game was built on Arkane's previous works, such as Dishonored, and introduced improvements such as nonlinear gameplay and the removal of a morality system, enabling players to take risks without considering possible narrative repercussions. Arkane implemented asymmetrical multiplayer, an unused gameplay mechanic from its unreleased game The Crossing that enables a second player to control Julianna and hunt Colt. Films and television series inspired the game's story and aesthetics, while the Scottish Highlands and the Faroe Islands inspired the design of Blackreef.

Deathloop was released in September 2021 for Windows PC and PlayStation 5, and a year later for Xbox Series X and Series S. While the game's story takes place in the Dishonored universe, Bethesda did not market it as a spin-off of that franchise because it has a distinct story and characters. Deathloop received generally positive reviews upon release; critics praised its gameplay, structure, art direction, characters and story, but criticized its artificial intelligence (AI). Many critics described Deathloop as an original title and regarded it as one of Arkane Studio's best games. The game attracted more than five million players upon launch, and it was nominated for several end-of-year accolades, including Game of the Year at the annual The Game Awards, D.I.C.E. Awards, and British Academy Games Awards.

Gameplay

[edit]
In Deathloop, Colt's inner thoughts sometimes appear as text in the game.

Deathloop is set on an island called Blackreef. The player controls Colt, an assassin who is stuck in a time loop. Colt must eliminate eight targets called Visionaries across Blackreef before midnight; if one Visionary remains alive, the time loop will reset and undo Colt's work.[1] Deathloop has a multiplayer mode in which the player can alternatively play as Julianna, a Visionary who is tasked with protecting the time loop, and kill Colt. When the player takes this role, they enter a random player's game and may interfere with their play. Juliana has a unique ability named Masquerade that allows her to swap her appearance with any non-playable character (NPC) in the game, enabling her to blend in with crowds and stay concealed.[2] The multiplayer portion is optional and players can prevent others from taking the role of Julianna in their game, leaving this to a computer-controlled opponent.[3]

The game has two types of missions. Visionaries Leads serve as the campaign's critical path and Arsenal Leads guide players to improved weapons and gears.[4] Each day is divided into morning, noon, afternoon, and evening, and moving between the island's four districts causes time to advance.[5] The routines of the people in a particular district vary depending on the time of day the player enters, and the player's actions in one district can affect routines in the others. Different times of day open alternative paths for players to explore. For instance, a room that is locked in the morning may be unlocked at night.[6] Players must learn the patterns of Colt's targets and figure out the correct order in which to kill the targets.[7] Because it was impossible for Colt to separately kill all Visionaries, Colt must manipulate events to assemble multiple Visionaries in one location so he can kill them in quick succession.[1] There is only one correct order to kill all Visionaries in a single loop.[8] The time loop in Deathloop is not timed; players can freely explore each location to find clues and complete side objectives.[9] A clue found by Colt may inform the player of their tasks in the next location, and intelligence collected in one loop can be used to player's advantages in the next loop.[1][10] Players may need to spend multiple loops and revisit locations several times before they can identify the steps that are needed to assassinate all of their targets.[1]

Combat

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Deathloop is an immersive sim video game that is played from a first-person perspective. Players are presented with a large arsenal of tools, allowing them to choose how they want to approach their objectives.[11] Each location in Deathloop is also a sandbox that provides alternative paths for players to reach their targets.[12] Colt has access to firearms, melee weapons and grenades that can be used to defeat enemies. Weapons are divided into several categories of rarity. More-common gears may frequently jam while rarer weapons are more powerful but more difficult to locate.[6] Gunshots draw opponents in the vicinity to hunt down the player.[11] Alternatively, players can use stealth tactics to silently evade their opponents, distract them by throwing bottles, or kill them with traps or suppressed firearms without being detected.[6] By remaining concealed, players can eavesdrop on conversations between other characters, thus opening new gameplay opportunities.[4] Players can use their hacking tool to disable security cameras, gun turrets and security doors to their advantage.[13] Players gain trinkets, which are divided into several tiers of rarity. Weapon trinkets improve a weapon's performance and handling, while character trinkets provide additional abilities such as allowing Colt to double jump, heal more quickly, or take less damage. Each weapon can be equipped with three weapon trinkets, while Colt can equip four trinkets.[14]

Some Visionaries drop Slabs, mysterious tablets that grant the user special powers, when they are killed. Players can wield two of five Slabs at once. "Shift" allows Colt to teleport short distances; "Aether" briefly turns him invisible; "Nexus" links together enemies together so damage dealt to one enemy will be inflicted to all who are linked; "Havoc" significantly increases Colt's damage output while boosting his defense; and "Karnesis" enables Colt to lift and slam enemies on the ground.[15] The "Goldenloop" update introduces a new ability named "Fugue", which allows Colt to slow and disorient targeted enemies.[16] Slabs can be further upgraded for up-to four times by killing the Visionary who drops it in subsequent loops.[15] Colt has an ability named "Reprise" that allows him to be revived twice in each location.[2] If the players is killed three times in the same location, the loop will restart and Colt loses all of his weapons, trinkets and slabs. To prevent this, Colt can infuse his gears with a resource named "Residuum" so they become permanent gears in his arsenal. Residuum can be collected by killing Visionaries and through caches that are found in each level.[17] Collected Residuum cannot be carried over to the next loop.[18] All gathered Residuum is dropped upon Colt's death, though players can recover them if they reach the location of Colt's most-recent death.[19]

Synopsis

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Setting

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Deathloop is set in an alternate world resembling the 1960s; it takes place over a single, repeating day on the subarctic island of Blackreef that was first charted in 1931, Blackreef was originally home to a small fishing settlement and a military base where experiments on local temporal anomalies were conducted. It is now owned by the AEON Program, which the scientist Egor Serling founded to use the island's unique properties to gain immortality by living in an infinite time loop. Serling attracted eight other eccentric, talented individuals to his cause, the Visionaries, and scores of fanatical followers called Eternalists dedicated to serving them. Thanks to the time loop, members of the AEON Program are able to hold a never-ending party where they can do anything they desire without fear of consequences because the loop resets at midnight and restores everyone to their original state with no memories of the previous day.

The Visionaries Colt Vahn and Julianna Blake are disrupting the natural flow of the loop. Julianna is immune to the time loop's memory erasure; every day, she alerts all of Blackreef's inhabitants that Colt has betrayed the AEON Program and wants to break the loop, causing everyone to hunt him. Colt also develops the ability to retain his memories from previous days, and is able to learn the behaviors and patterns of the Visionaries and Eternalists. To break the loop, Colt must kill all eight of the other Visionaries, including Julianna, in one day because the loop requires only one of them to remain alive at midnight to reset again.

The game's director Dinga Bakaba confirmed Deathloop exists in the same universe as the Dishonored series, in the far future of the events of Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, and both the Dishonored series and Deathloop include references to one another.[20]

Characters

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The central characters of Deathloop are the nine Visionaries:

  • Colt Vahn (voiced by Jason E. Kelley) - the former head of security of the AEON Program who seeks to break the loop and escape Blackreef;
  • Julianna Blake (voiced by Ozioma Akagha) - AEON's archivist and new head of security, who is constantly hunting Colt;
  • Egor Serling (voiced by Josh Zuckerman) - the founder of the AEON Program and a self-proclaimed pseudoscientist;
  • Dr. Wenjie Evans (voiced by Erika Ishii) - AEON's head scientist and the builder of the loop machine that generates the time loop;
  • Harriet Morse (voiced by Marcella Lentz-Pope) - the leader of the cult of Eternalists;
  • Ramblin' Frank Spicer (voiced by Andrew Lewis Caldwell) - a former mobster, an aspiring rockstar, and host of Blackreef's only radio show;
  • Charlie Montague (voiced by Khoi Dao) - a brilliant and sadistic game designer and AEON's Head of Entertainment;
  • Fia Zborowska (voiced by Cherami Leigh) - an experimental artist and drug addict with a love of explosives;
  • Aleksis "The Wolf" Dorsey (voiced by H. Michael Croner) - AEON's hard-partying financial backer.

Plot

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Waking from a dream in which he is murdered by an unknown woman, Colt Vahn is hungover on a beach with no memories of himself or his location. He receives guidance from messages from and meetings with alternative versions of himself, instructing him to break the time loop in which he is trapped. To do this, he must kill all eight Visionaries before time loop resets itself at the end of the day. Julianna Blake warns the Visionaries and their followers the Eternalists of Colt's plan, and calls for him to be hunted. Julianna taunts Colt to try and break the loop, although she works to stop him. Colt finds, unlike the other inhabitants of the island, he has gained the ability to retain his memories across loops, allowing him to better plan and prepare for his goal of breaking the loop. He learns Julianna also appears to retain her memories across loops.

While Colt devises a plan to kill seven of the Visionaries, Julianna remains elusive, choosing to hide in the Loop, the structure that powers Blackreef's time loops. The only way to reach the Loop is to use an abandoned military rocket airplane. Colt investigates old bunkers across the island. He learns he was a member of Operation Horizon, the original military expedition to Blackreef decades earlier, but was accidentally sent into the future by an experiment that went awry. Colt joined the AEON Program in hope of finding a way to return to the past and reunite with his girlfriend Lila. As a consequence of being sent to the future, he discovers Julianna is his daughter. Colt activates the rocket plane and reaches the Loop, where he confronts Julianna. Julianna says things started to go wrong when Colt, having had second thoughts about the AEON Program, started killing her in every loop to free her from it. Julianna grew to hate Colt and began to retaliate, culminating in her hunting him in every loop. Julianna presents Colt with a choice; kill her, break the loop and suffer an uncertain future, or spare her so they can continue living eternally through the loops.

  • If Colt chooses to kill Julianna and himself to break the loop, he wakes up on the beach—now a strange apocalyptic landscape—with Julianna holding him at gunpoint. She decides to spare him and departs, leaving him to face the uncertain future alone. A game update called Goldenloop expands on this ending, adding a cutscene showing all of the Visionaries and Eternalists waking to find the loop broken. Colt and a few other Eternalists venture into the barren landscape.
  • If Colt chooses to kill Julianna but refuses to kill himself, the loop resets as normal.
  • If Colt chooses to spare Julianna, they reconcile and cooperate to hunt the other inhabitants of Blackreef for fun.

Development

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Deathloop was developed by Arkane Lyon, the studio behind Dishonored and its sequel Dishonored 2. Development of the game began in 2018, initially as a smaller project for Arkane. According to studio co-founder Raphaël Colantonio, the studio's goal was to experiment with multiplayer and identify ways to recycle gameplay. Arkane previously experimented with the roguelike genre with Prey: Mooncrash, and Deathloop was built to further expand on the idea of remixing gameplay using a limited amount of assets. Deathloop's scope significantly expanded during development and the game was launched as a fully-priced product in September 2021.[21] Before Colantonio departed the studio, he had appointed Dinga Bakaba and Sebastien Mitton as the directors for Deathloop.[22]

Gameplay

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Deathloop placed a large emphasis on player's choices and freedom. According to Bakaba, the game "[entrusts] the player with a lot of ownership of their own enjoyment".[23] As an immersive sim, systems were placed in the game to establish consistent gameplay rules, and players were encouraged to plan their approach based on their understanding of these rules and to see if the game responded accordingly. According to level designer Dana Nightingale, Deathloop was designed for "deliberate" play and discourages random player actions.[24] Comparatively, the game is more non-linear than Dishonored. Because players repeatedly revisit locations, the developers avoided adding chokepoints in the game's map, which funnels the player in a particular direction. Instead, developers attempted to build spaces that are "believable", where players need not to engage with scripted confrontations or interactions with other characters, giving players more freedom.[23] Because Deathloop deviates from Arkane's previous games, Colt's powers were designed to be similar to those in Dishonored to maintain a level of familiarity to fans of Arkane's past works.[25] Bakaba described Deathloop's gameplay as "Dishonored with guns";[26] the developers removed all of the non-lethal means of dispatching enemies that are common in Dishonored games.[27]

Deathloop's time-loop structure was designed to encourage players to visit locations multiple times.[27] Familiarity with each location enabled players to master their gameplay skills and understand the game's myriad of systems earlier.[28] Because levels were designed to be replayed, the level-design team worked to ensure the complexity of each Visionary's lead is varied to keep the experience fresh, and that each route toward an objective is rewarding and satisfying for players, because each has advantages and drawbacks.[29] The game's structure, which strips players of all of their gears when a loop restarts, prompts players to experiment with gadgets and builds, even when later facing the same challenge. Unlike Dishonored, which has a morality system to judge the player's actions, Deathloop maintains a neutral stance throughout to avoid facilitating a specific playstyle. The developers ensured the game shows no expectation of players so they can find their own ways to play.[22] The developers removed quick-save functionality from the Dishonored series because they wanted players to see the consequences of their actions and react to them, being spontaneous rather than loading a saved game to bypass failures.[30]

Bakaba described Deathloop as a "murder puzzle" and an "inverted Cluedo" in which players must find the perfect ways to achieve the "Golden Loop", the loop in which players kill all of their targets in a single day.[27][31] Bakaba added while players may fear the time loop at the beginning of the game for disrupting their progress, they will eventually understand time is on Colt's side and he can become its master in a manner similar to the protagonists of Groundhog Day and Palm Springs.[30] The developers did not want to punish players for slowly exploring each location.[32] As a result, time passes only when players exit a level; Bakaba compared this system to a turn-based game.[30] Initially, Deathloop provided little-to-no guidance on how to achieve the "Golden Loop" so players can solve the mystery on their own. Early playtesters did not understand the game enough to progress so Arkane introduced a tutorial session, which the developers dubbed the "guided tour", to help players understand the gameplay mechanics. Quests also offer players straightforward guidance.[33] Unlike other immersive sims that have a minimalistic head-up display (HUD), Deathloop's user interface readily provides players with information. Because Deathloop places prominence on solving puzzles, the developers did not want players to become cognitively overwhelmed while playing the game.[28]

To introduce a layer of unpredictability into the game, Arkane added a multiplayer mode, having explored the concept of asymmetrical multiplayer in its unreleased title The Crossing.[31] The developers wanted fighting Julianna to be a challenge and ensured Colt has a slight advantage over her through the "Reprise" ability, which allows him to respawn twice following defeat. This gameplay dynamic encourages those playing as Colt to take more risks and the player controlling Julianna to be more cautious.[34] Familiarity with the map helps the player controlling Julianna to notice Colt's location and identify the best way to kill him; the developers described this as the "ultimate test" for veteran players of the game.[35] Bakaba described the multiplayer mode as an "anecdote generator".[34] It was designed to be "freeform"; encounters do not need to end with a direct confrontation.[36] Julianna was designed to accommodate a variety of playstyles.[37] In-game voice chat was disabled because Arkane considered Deathloop to be a single-player game in which players should feel like they are being hunted by "a character from the game, not someone from the internet".[38] The introduction of multiplayer prompted Arkane to replace the parry system in Dishonored with a simpler kick mechanic because network latency meant the timing for parrying human-controlled characters and other NPCs would be different.[39]

Story and characters

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According to Bakaba, events in Deathloop were originally planned to have occurred across four days.[28] In the game, every character knows they are living in a time loop but only Julianna, Colt, and several minor characters retain memories of the events in each loop. This results in the Visionaries and the Eternalist acting lightheartedly because nothing they do has consequences because each day resets anew.[40] The developers had to make Colt amnesiac so he will learn alongside the player.[41] In the game, Colt wants to break the loop while Julianna wants to protect it, resulting in a vicious cycle in which they endlessly kill each other. Despite their hostile tension, Julianna and Colt gradually grow close to each other because they were the only characters with persistent memories. According to Bakaba, Julianna wants to stop Colt from breaking the loop but did not want him to stop trying.[42]

The interactions between Colt and Julianna are based around the films of Quentin Tarantino.[43] Julianna's prominence as a character was introduced fairly late in the game's development; her role was initially comparable to the other Visionaries.[44][45] The Visionaries are designed to have big personalities but players should not feel sorry killing them because most of them are depraved individuals. They do not have character arcs because the game is set in a time loop.[41] The development team used several narrative tools to aid storytelling because the game does not have extensive cutscenes. Floating thoughts are Colt's thoughts from previous loop interactions, and were designed as a cheap system to provide gameplay hints and add to the game's mood. While the developers initially avoided having Colt talk to himself, playtesters felt this helped players to better follow the story, and the studio further developed Colt as a talkative person.[41]

Deathloop's narrative was inspired by a number of films. Besides time-travel and time-loop films like Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow and the Back to the Future trilogy, the game was also influenced by the French comedy La Colle [fr] (2017) and The Fourth Dimension.[43] Films like The Running Man (1987), The Warriors, The Wicker Man, Under the Volcano (1984), and Dark City (1998) inspired the game's plot of a solitary man working to solve a mystery in an isolated location while being hunted.[43] Colt's appearance heavily draws from Denzel Washington's character in The Book of Eli, while his motives are based around the character Snake Plissken from Escape from New York, and some gadgets were inspired by the James Bond series.[43] Deathloop is set in the Dishonored universe; events in Deathloop take place years after the ending of Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, though Arkane and Bethesda avoided positioning Deathloop as a Dishonored spin-off because it has a standalone story and characters.[46]

Art and music

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The Faroe Islands (pictured) inspired the landscape of Blackreef.

The development team wanted Blackreef to be an isolated but "relatively built-up" location. Its design was inspired by the Scottish Highlands as seen in Skyfall, the Faroe Islands, the Falkland Islands, and remote petroleum-extraction stations in Northern Russia.[43][47] Settlements in the game were inspired by Italian towns like Positano, which invited joyous exploration.[48] Mitton used Google Earth and Google Street View to research locations.[40] To create a surrealistic atmosphere and depict a world that seems to be frozen in time, the team contrasted the 1960s aesthetics with military structures that were common in the 1930s and 1940s.[40] Of the game's four locations Updaam was the first location the developers created; Bakaka described it as a "traditional urban area". "The Complex" focuses on the contrast between nature and technology, and is the most-scientific area in the game. Fristad Rock focuses on the contrast between an old, derelict bunker and an elegant, lavish casino; and Karl's Bay serves as the major party and entertainment location in the game.[28]

The game's aesthetics were inspired by imagery of the 1960s because it evokes both a sense of mystery and nostalgia, and because its light-hearted vibe fits with the game's narrative of "an eternal party".[40] The British espionage television series The Avengers, significantly influenced Deathloop's overall direction.[49] The visual direction was also inspired by the styles of the Swinging Sixties and the contemporary depiction of the era as seen through Guy Ritchie's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015).[43] While creating the costumes of the characters, the team was influenced by the works of stylist Vidal Sassoon. [50] Because Deathloop requires players to be familiar with the game's four locations, the developers strove to ensure it was not too visually complicated.[40] To ensure the game was visually distinct, Arkane took cues from the use of color in films like High Plains Drifter and Point Blank (1967), using bright colors and designs to give the island an endless party atmosphere. Billboards in the game that reveal secrets about the island were drawn from the film They Live, and the works of graphic artists Saul Bass and Robert McGinnis inspired the game's cutscenes and in-game posters.[43] The game's modernist architecture was inspired by the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, while the interiors were inspired by photographs from the book Lair: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains.[40]

Michel Trémouiller was the game's audio director and Tom Salta composed its music. The game's soundtrack is primarily Jazz fusion music. The developers were inspired by 1950s and 1960s science-fiction and horror films and television shows, such as Not of This Earth (1957) and My Favorite Martian, as well as A Clockwork Orange and The Thing. Soundtracks from spy movies also influenced the developers, especially when they were composing the score for the Visionaries, each of whom has a distinct musical theme. Salta also worked to ensure his score reinforces the time-loop theme; some chord progressions repeat in a variety of ways depending on the player's actions and location.[51] Salta used musical instruments from the 1960s, such as a Rhodes piano, a Hammond B3 organ, a vibraphone, a clavinet, and a mellotron for the game's music. Synthwave music was also included; Salta used a theremin and a EMS Synthi AKS synthesizer to produce the music.[52] Diegetic music, which is broadcast in-game through radios and loudspeakers, was written by Ross Tregenza and Erich Talaba.[51] Sencit Music and the artist FJØRA released a theme song for Deathloop titled "Deja Vu" to accompany the release of one of the game's trailers.[53]

Release

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Publisher Bethesda Softworks filed a trademark application for Deathloop in December 2018.[54] Arkane and Bethesda officially revealed the game was at E3 2019.[55] It was also shown during Sony's PlayStation 5 event in June 2020, confirming the game would be released as a timed console exclusive on the PlayStation 5 in late 2020 alongside a release for Microsoft Windows.[56] In August 2020, it was announced the game's release was delayed until Q2 2021 because development was affected by the US government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[57] The company later announced it planned to release Deathloop on 21 May 2021.[58] In April 2021, Arkane postponed the release until 14 September that year.[59] The game's development was completed on 5 August 2021; Arkane confirmed it had been declared gold, indicating it was being prepared for duplication and release.[60] Players who purchased the Deluxe Edition gained access to new weapons, trinkets and character skins.[61]

On 21 September 2020, Microsoft and Bethesda Softworks' parent company ZeniMax Media announced Microsoft's intent to buy ZeniMax and its studios, including Arkane, for US$7.5 billion, incorporating the studios as part of Xbox Game Studios; the sale was finalized on 9 March 2021.[62][63] Xbox Game Studios head Phil Spencer said this deal would not affect Deathloop's platform-exclusive release on the PlayStation 5, and that the game would remain exclusive there for one year before its release for other consoles.[64][65] Deathloop was released for Xbox Series X/S on 20 September 2022, alongside a "Goldenloop" update that introduces a new weapon, a new ability, new enemy types, cross-platform play and an extended ending.[66] Dark Horse Comics released an artbook for Deathloop in August 2022.[67]

Reception

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Critical reception

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Deathloop received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[68][69][70] 91% of the critics recommended the game on OpenCritic.[71]

Edwin Evans-Thirwell from Eurogamer described Deathloop as one of the most enjoyable games Arkane had released; he noted the game's familiarity with the Dishonored series, and called Deathloop a significant refinement over its predecessor while also being an "accessible introduction to Arkane's grittier immersive sims".[72] Writing for GameSpot, Tamoor Hussain said "observation and dynamic thinking" ae as important as combat in Deathloop, and players are rewarded for carefully planning and understanding the system and rules established in the game. He also enjoyed a sense of progression of the game because the ease of navigation and combat significantly increase as players gain more powers and become increasingly familiar with each location.[74] Several critics said Deathloop is a very original game;[76][75] Matt Purslow from IGN praised the developers for turning disparate-yet-interesting ideas into a cohesive package that is "fascinating unique", and integrating elements from games such as Dishonored, Hitman, Outer Wilds and Dark Souls.[76] Many critics noted the player's large arsenal of tools and powers were no longer shackled by Dishonored's morality system, meaning players can embrace action as a viable mean of progression, encouraging them to experiment with the game's systems, improvise and take risks.[72][77][82][83]

The investigative gameplay also received a mixed reception. West noted the acquisition of knowledge in Deathloop is more important than any gun and power. He noted the game has a novel structure in which it allows players to freely pursue leads following the opening tutorial session but generally becomes more linear as players approaches the end of the game. He described it as a "fascinating twist", one that keeps the experience dense and focused.[75] Purslow also said the non-linear investigative gameplay is satisfying, and noted players will constantly make "thrilling discoveries" as they recognize the causal relationship between their actions and in-game results.[76] Several critics noted the game is excessively linear and guides players through the process of executing the Golden Loop.[79][84] William Hughes, writing for A.V. Club expressed his disappointment the game has "such a low opinion of the player's ability to do that mystery-solving on [their] own".[85] Critics praised the multiplayer component for being tense and unpredictable.[72][73][75][74] Ian Boudreau from PCGamesN said the game rewards players' knowledge with the game's four locations with success.[78] Gunplay, however, received polarizing reviews; Hussein called it "satisfying" while West called it "sluggish".[74] The game's artificial intelligence (AI) was also criticized.[77][79][80]

The game's art direction received acclaim. Hussein described Deathloop as a "fascinating mashup of styles and vibes", resulting in a striking art direction. He also praised the game's soundtrack for being "eclectic" and "raucous".[74] Stuart also praised the game's visual design and the developers' attention to detail. He added Blackreef is a "theme-park dystopia" that paints a "glorious picture of a ruinous, elitist society and spectacle", compared with Dishonored's grim atmosphere.[81] Purslow liked the location design in the game, adding they are "intricately detailed" and "dense with personality", and liked the way the time of day changes each location and that repeated playthroughs still evoke a constant sense of discovery.[76] Hughes said the game's four levels become repetitive as players reach the latter half of the game, and added these levels failed to push the players to use their powers smartly, unlike those from Dishonored 2, which continue introducing gameplay twists.[85] Some critics liked the way conventional world-building tools such as in-game computer terminal chat logs and audio flies provide key information for players to progress.[80][86]

Deathloop's story received generally positive reviews. Blake Hester from Game Informer praised the game's story and writing, calling the interactions between Colt and Julianna entertaining and humorous, and described the two as his favourite protagonists of the year.[73] Hussein also liked the game's writing and noted the two characters share a complicated relationship, and he praised the voice actors Kelly and Akagha for their performances.[74] Croft described the two protagonists as charismatic and noted their interactions are "funny and consistently touching".[79] Christopher Byrd from Washington Post enjoyed the game's "campy" tone, though he felt that the story failed to create any urgency to break the time loop as all characters in the game including Colt seemed to be indifferent to being trapped in a time loop.[87] According to Purslow, Colt's personal storyline is not presented to players clearly enough, resulting in an abrupt ending.[76] West also said the story does not reach a meaningful conclusion.[75] Some critics compared the game's story and themes to those of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.[88][89] The revelation Colt is Julianna's father was controversial because the two have flirtatious interactions during the opening segments of the game.[41]

Sales

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In the UK, Deathloop was the best-selling retail game in its week of release, but it became the worst-performing Arkane game at launch because its boxed sales were 5.6% lower than those of Prey (2017).[90] It was the sixth-best-selling video game in September 2021 in the US according to the NPD Group.[91] Deathloop was the 18th-most-downloaded game on the PlayStation Store for 2021 in the US and Canada.[92] Arkane stated the game had reached five million players by February 2023.[93]

Awards and accolades

[edit]

Edge,[94] Empire,[95] GameSpot,[96] GamesRadar+,[97] and The Daily Telegraph[98] selected Deathloop as their Game of the Year in 2021.

Year Award Category Result Ref.
2021
Golden Joystick Awards 2021 Best Multiplayer Game Nominated [99][100]
Best Performer (Jason Kelley as Colt Vahn) Nominated
Best Performer (Ozioma Akagha as Juliana Blake) Nominated
PlayStation Game of the Year Nominated
Ultimate Game of the Year Nominated
Critics Choice Award Won
The Game Awards 2021 Game of the Year Nominated [101]
Best Game Direction Won
Best Narrative Nominated
Best Art Direction Won
Best Score and Music Nominated
Best Audio Design Nominated
Best Performance (Jason Kelley as Colt Vahn) Nominated
Best Performance (Ozioma Akagha as Juliana Blake) Nominated
Best Action Game Nominated
The Steam Awards Most Innovative Gameplay Won [102]
2022
22nd Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year Nominated [103][104]
Best Audio Nominated
Innovation Award Nominated
Best Narrative Nominated
Best Visual Art Nominated
25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Game of the Year Nominated [105]
Action Game of the Year Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction Won
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Animation Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Character (Colt Vahn) Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Nominated
Pégases Awards Best Game Won [106]
Best Artistic Design Won
Best Sound Design Nominated
Best Narrative Design Nominated
Best Game Design Won
Best Game Setting Won
Audience Award Won
18th British Academy Games Awards Best Game Nominated [107][108]
Audio Achievement Nominated
Game Design Nominated
Music Nominated
Original Property Nominated
EE Game of the Year Nominated
Performer in a Leading Role (Jason Kelley as Colt Vahn) Nominated
Performer in a Leading Role (Ozioma Akagha as Juliana Blake) Nominated

References

[edit]
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