Slated to launch this May, Deathloop looks to be yet another ambitious project from developer Arkane Studios, the team behind Dishonored and Prey. The game received a new trailer yesterday courtesy of PlayStation's State of Play livestream and, today, IGN provided yet more coverage of the stylish and surreal assassination game during its Fan Fest event.
Debuting a new trailer, the fresh Deathloop footage looks to explain the title's mind-bending concept, with the game's Creative Director, Dinga Bakaba, running through the rules of its world and how that affects gameplay. It seems the game's constantly resetting time loop will transform it into an action game with roguelike elements, as players venture through its world amassing new knowledge and weapons that influence their next run.
Bakaba begins the trailer by setting up Deathloop's narrative, explaining that it opens with protagonist Colt awakening on the shore of an island known as Black Reef. The expansive location is afflicted by a constantly resetting time loop, that sees its inhabitants forced to repeat the same day over and over again. Colt must use this supernatural phenomenon to his advantage, traversing Black Reef and assassinating eight targets before the time loop resets. Unfortunately, these targets are aware of Colt's plan and have tasked everyone on the island with gunning down the playable hero.
According to Bakaba, the main crux of the game is a "murder puzzle." Players will have to move across the island and use the time loop to get the drop on their foes, stockpiling weapons to bring on subsequent runs, and gaining knowledge on how best to trap and dispatch their targets. Along the way, they'll gain supernatural powers similar in style to Dishonored and artifacts that can make guns more powerful.
The trailer also details the targets themselves who belong to a group known as "the Visionaries," which Bakaba describes as "scientists, artists, and party animals." The creative director claims these villains are cold-blooded killers that are using the powers of the time loop to "live forever no matter the cost." Players will have to make sure they stay down for good while also keeping Julianna at bay, who's another Visionary out to kill Colt before he can murder her associates. Julianna can be controlled by a second player or an AI, making her incredibly unpredictable.
The game is shaping up to be another inventive and innovative title from Arkane Studios. It seems the team has worked on refining and upgrading the experience since Deathloop's delay last year and the end result is shaping up to be one of the most-anticipated games of 2021.
Deathloop is slated to release on PC and PlayStation 5 on May 21.