There are plenty of new games coming to PS5 for players to be excited about, but one of the most intriguing is Deathloop. The first person time-travel game received a new action-packed trailer at the PS5 Future of Gaming event earlier this year but how exactly the narrative builds on the Groundhog Day style has remained a mystery.
Deathloop is a new IP from Bethesda and Arkane Studios, best known for the Dishonored series, and it seems to build on plenty of elements from the studios' previous games. The narrative follows two assassins, Colt and Julianna, who are stuck on an island in a race to try and kill the other first. The catch is that they are also caught in a time loop, meaning players will essentially replay the same day for the duration of the game.
Game Director Dinga Bakaba has explained how the time loop will work in Deathloop. "You are piecing together what happened on the island, who you are, and what you are doing here and how you can escape. The way it's a bit different from a roguelike is, imagine that I find an important clue, and I die just after that. Progress is still made. You might lose the gun that you found, but the story has moved forward. Colt now knows something and the player both knows something important and they need to act on this thing.”
Bakaba also pointed out how time loop gameplay would eventually become very different to a roguelike in Deathloop, saying "you play that same day over and over, but you don't necessarily do the same things, you are not necessarily in the same places, you don't have the same goals." This is good news for players who are concerned that the time loop style will become too repetitive. It sounds like Arkane is really aiming to remake the wheel in terms of time loop gameplay, particularly incorporating it into the heart of a first-person narrative.
Arkane is quite well known for its alternative art style, as anyone who has played in the steampunk world of Dishonored will know. Deathloop also features a new signature world of Blackreef, a remote island set in the 60s. To create the artistic style for this new world Arkane drew inspiration from Saul Bass, who did the art for movies such as Hitchcock's Vertigo, and paired it with the studio's own style to create something unique for Deathloop.
As a game for the next generation, Deathloop will also be making use of the new PS5 controller, allowing haptic feedback and active triggers to further immerse players in the game. Bakaba said they really wanted players to "feel the weapons in your hand, its reaction, how it reloads, how it reacts to reloading, etc... I think that players will enjoy those functionalities."
Deathloop is shaping up to be one of the most unique new titles coming to PS5. Although it is sold primarily as a single-player narrative, Deathloop will also allow co-op with a second player able to join the story and play as rival assassin Julianna. This gives players who are controlling Colt an extra challenge as he tries to assassinate his eight targets while avoiding also being killed and forced to start again. Whether Arkane can land the balance between frustrating replays and narrative progression will be revealed when Deathloop eventually releases later this year.
Deathloop is in development for PC and PS5.
Source: IGN