Since its reveal, a lot of eyes have been on Arkane Studios' upcoming Deathloop. While not a tried-and-true roguelike, it uses elements from the genre to tell its own story. The player character, Colt, awakens with a wicked hangover on Blackreef Beach, where he must then set out to break the loop by killing all eight visionaries. Thing is, the visionary Julianna Blake (who can be controlled by another player) is trying to stop him from doing just that.
Going through the loop means players will learn things about each visionary, learn things about the story, and ultimately put together a way to break the loop. Along the way, though, players will have access to a wide variety of guns, powers, and more to do just that. Game Rant recently attended a press event showcasing Deathloop gameplay, hosted by game director Dinga Bakaba and art director Sebastien Mitton, and one comparison stood out to us: Deathloop is effectively Dishonored with guns.
Of course, Dishonored has that pistol, but the emphasis on stealth meant melee weapons, crossbows, and the like were the focus. Deathloop, based on the footage we saw, plays more as if someone put guns into Dishonored and allowed them to truly go wild and let loose on enemies. At the same time, though, that trademark approach requiring thought was present too. Players could kill every single member in a club hunting down a visionary, for example, but it may be easier to learn more, to disable machinery, and pick battles than charge in. Overall, though, it seems like a game catered to multiple playstyles with an increasing popular formula in gaming: the time loop.
Deathloop Locations And How Loops Work
On the heels of popular games like Hades and Returnal, Deathloop puts players into a loop that will keep repeating itself on and on. Its approach is different from each of these games, though, as each run is geared to what a player needs or wants from a certain area rather than trying to specifically beat the game over and over with death and failure factoring in (though, of course, it still does). This contextual approach gives players a ton of agency in how they handle each run and each death.
Deathloop's Blackreef Island is divided into four areas: The Complex, Updaam, Fristad Rock, and Karl's Bay. More importantly, however, players will be able to choose their time of day in each location, namely Morning, Noon, Afternoon, and Evening. This effectively means that each run can take place on 16 different map variants, and that's important because each location changes depending on the time of day. New areas will become accessible, certain items can only be obtained, and/or different visionaries will appear.
Dying will reset the loop, and players can dive right back into whatever section of the day they want. There's no timer for each area, and players can stay as long as they like in each run. This mean that each run, depending on the player, can have its own goals or differing context, so the loop is less of a repeat until beating scenario and more of a "put together everything about the loop" to resolve this murder mystery of sorts.
Deathloop Gameplay: Weapons, Powers, and Trinkets
Of course, a game focused on runs, loops, and replayability like Deathloop has to have engaging gameplay to keep it fresh. As with many games, players will lose access to certain elements between runs (but not the knowledge they unlock). It is worth noting, though, that a resource called Residuum can be unlocked eventually, and it will allow players to hold onto certain weapons, trinkets, and powers. How it works remains to be seen, but the game has no shortage of weapons, powers, and trinkets to liven up each role. For weapons, these include:
- The Machete
- Hand Guns, SMGs, and Silenced Nail Guns (all of which can be dual wielded).
- Machine Guns
- Rifles
- Shotguns
- Various unique weapons like the Sapper Charge Grenade, Turrets, the Hackamajig, and more.
Again, the weapons and gunplay seems tailored to the Deathloop player's preferences, but this is made more varied by the available powers that can influence how the loops work and things that happen to colt. For example, one of the most unique powers shown so far is Reprise. Essentially, it allows players to die three times in a single loop (with the power ending on the third), and this can be used for everything from figuring out encounters to attempting multiple gun-blazing attacks. Another notable power is Nexus, which links enemies together, so what the player does to one impacts them all. Other powers shown include:
- Shift, which is a teleporting ability
- Aether, which is an invisibility ability.
- Havoc, which allows players to absorb and repulse damage in a discharge.
- Karnesis, which allows players to telekinetically throw enemies.
If all of that did not add enough variety, Deathloop's Trinkets add more fuel to the fire. These are items that can be equipped to modify weapons, powers, and other physical abilities. The more rare a trinket is, the stronger the effect, and they seem to have their own subcategories for the aforementioned weapons, powers. Weapon Trinkets shown off include the following:
- Crack Shot reduces aim down sights time.
- Shock Absorber reduces gun recoil
- Hipster increases hip fire accuracy
- Lightning strike increases the weapon's effective damage distance
- Mind Leach makes enemies suffer damage and lose power
- Big Box increases weapon magazine size
- Perforator is described as "many bullets blast through enemies"
- Silence Death equips a silencer.
Character Trinkets included Double Jump and Cat Fall, with the former being obvious and the latter reducing fall damage. Creeping Death means players make less noise, while Juiced Up increases mana.
Deathloop Visionaries and Breaking the Loop
The loop runs and the gameplay (both gunplay and powerplay) are geared with completing the story in mind, and to do so, there's 8 targets (visionaries) to kill: Aleksis "The Wolf" Dorsey and Julianna Blake, who both appeared in this gameplay showcase; Ramblin' Frank Spicer and Ego Serling, who have both appeared in past Deathloop trailers; and the more mysterious Dr. Wenhie Evans, Fia Zborowska, Harriet Morse, and Charlie Montague.
Players will have to use everything the game gives them to do so, and while Deathloop is still a couple months away, it seemingly promises to accomplish this with much aplomb.
Deathloop is launching September 14 for PC and PlayStation 5.