Deathloop: Arkane’s time-looping FPS defies comparison in wonderful ways

Deathloop It takes a lot of things that I already like and mixes them into something that I like even more. I’ve long been a fan of the time-looping genre, so every time I sit down to write about Deathloop, I start to think of movies and games like Groundhog Day, The era of El Mañana, Palm springs, Savage exteriors, Return, and even Twelve minutes.

It’s also tempting to compare it to other games from Arkane Studios with similar style and mechanics. Arkane Studios is extremely good, even great, at making a certain type of game. Just look at the Dishonored series or the criminally underrated Dam. They’re first-person games where you mix supernatural powers with deadly gadgets as you traverse beautifully crafted environments, taking out enemies head-on or stealthily (or a combination of the two). All of that is there in Deathloop, September 14, but even that beast of prayer is missing something.

And that something is how much joy and subversion Deathloop contains. Comparisons define the boundaries around that Deathloop it is. All of that “is something like” and “have you ever seen?” All forms are lost Deathloop punches holes in what I was hoping to be a time-looping story.

Image: Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks

Time cycle stories tend to try to solve the mystery of the repeating day and then break the cycle. I started to play Deathloop with that expectation in mind, but I was waiting for a mystery that never comes. Or rather, a mystery that was already solved. When I woke up as Colt in the opening minutes of the game, it quickly became clear that I was the only person on Blackreef Island who I did not do it know about the time loop. I was not in on the joke. And it’s all kind of a joke when you have an infinite number today to play with.

Deathloop it begins in the nihilistic part of the history of the cycle of time; think of Act 2 of Groundhog Day or, to use a more recent example, Palm springs. The people who inhabit the island are not trapped. They are celebrating it. They call themselves Eternalists. The cycle of time creates a perpetual existence without consequences. Blackreef is not a great mystery that you are here to solve. Instead, it is an absurd and hedonistic oasis of amoral immortals. free from repercussions. Including death.

Image: Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks

A similar concept emerged in our review of Twelve minutes: Knowing the time loop objective the characters. As a gamer, you are also removed from all consequences, and people become even more disposable toys than they already are as video game characters. What is present in Deathloopalso, but as a premise, not as a consequence. Characters is it so objectified, everyone wears these neutral, dehumanizing masks, but it’s by design. And that, not the timing cycle, is what Colt wants to fix.

Colt’s quest to break the circle is not about solving a mystery; it’s about correcting a mistake: killing the Eternalist leaders to get everyone out of the nihilistic circle. And you can do it with weapons and super powers.

Image: Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks via Polygon

Time becomes my means to find the best way to do it. There are four times of the day (morning, noon, afternoon and evening) to explore the Blackreef districts. Every time I leave a district, the day advances to the next fragment until my time runs out and the day restarts.

Within these districts, I find clues that lead to new weapons or opportunities to kill my targets. Killing one of them gives me a Slab, a super power like short-range teleportation or telekinesis, which opens up new ways to explore or kill. But once the day restarts, I lose my guns and slabs and have to start over.

Deathloop It works so well because it knows when to get out of the way. Relegating (or, perhaps, elevating) the time loop to the game’s setting instead of its mystery does a couple of great things for the game. When I am exploring a district at a certain time of day, time effectively stands still. There is no countdown as I expect from a time loop game. Taking that pressure off means I have the freedom to explore and experiment without rushing. Districts change throughout the day; the city center can be busy in the morning but deserted at night so I will find different people and information depending on when I visit. Without time pressure, I can spin around in space and time until I gather enough clues to know exactly what to do.

De-emphasizing the cycle also allows me to skip the tedious steps of each day. Instead of having to make sure to pick up my basic gear every morning when I wake up, I get my machete and default pistol on each loop after having done it once. When I learn the code for a locked door key, the game fills it in for me every time or even overtakes me past the door.

Image: Arkane Studios / Bethesda Softworks

Frees me to focus on playing and enjoying Deathloop while looking for my next clue. I can explore retro-futuristic environments from the streets or rooftops, killing or avoiding as I see fit.

I’ve only had a couple of days with the game, call it about five hours. What I have played has been a delight. It’s fun and absurd, keeping that Arkane style of play that I find immensely satisfying. The combination and balance of straightforward shooting and physics-dominating superpowers, along with the freedom to switch between stealth and frontal combat, means I never have to be perfect, just adaptable. And since I’m in a time loop, I have even more freedom to play.

Also, if I’m wrong, I can try again tomorrow.