"Deathloop": Video Game Review
Written By Alex Greenbaum
"Deathloop" was marketed and advertised excessively, enough to warrant a sigh of relief as the September 14th release date arrived this year. Thankfully, after putting approximately 17 hours into the game, I can confidently state that this is developer Arkane's ("Dishonored", "Prey") most ambitious and creative endeavor to date. Between its slick gameplay, layered customization and engaging banter between the main protagonist Colt and villain Julianna, there is just enough here to elevate its lackluster story along with a slew of technical issues. Once all those positive elements click into place, "Deathloop" takes off.
The game begins with Julianna stabbing you directly into the chest as you gasp for air. While you slowly die and fade away, you quickly wake up on a deserted beach, catapulting you directly into a world with no prologue or backstory. The first couple of hours is a tutorial where you will learn the games mechanics, abilities, and world. However, the game does a mostly nonexistent job of alerting you to this, so most of the progress that I believed I was making was pointless, stripping away all my guns and abilities as the day loops back to the beginning. This became even more frustrating, as most of the game is quite linear, indicating the specific arrival location for almost every mission. This results in the primary objectives becoming more predictable and less gratifying in the long run.
Arkane has broken up the game into eight visionaries, each with their own distinct characteristics and abilities (which are called slabs; more about that later). Your main objective is to discover as much information as you can about the visionaries before the day is up (the game breaks up the day/night cycle into morning, noon, afternoon, night). This will aid in understanding the specific time that they are most vulnerable so you can eventually assassinate all of them in one day. The goal is clear and attainable, and once you are fully upgraded, killing them and escaping becomes incredibly easy. The most difficult part is trying to figure out the risk and reward of it all, as killing a visionary on one map doesn't mean you are finished with that area. You also have to keep your guard up, as a real online player (you can turn off the online feature) or AI-controlled Julianna will enter your game at random moments, looking to kill you. As Colt, you have three lives in your possession throughout the game, so punishment is not as severe if you die once at the hands of Julianna, but learning how to counteract her move sets can be an exhilerating obstacle.
Residuum is the main currency you will find at each level (you won't gain access to it until about the third hour mark) which takes the form of a variety of objects. As you traverse the world and find additional weapons and abilities, the more integral residuum becomes. Slabs, which are taken off of each visionary once killed, are basic powers such as teleportation, invisibility etc., and to keep these powers, residuum must be infused into all your gear to retain it for the next loop. And to make matters even more layered, each gun and slab can be customized further with additional mods such as faster reloads, explosive bullets, etc. The options become somewhat limitless as the game progresses, giving you greater agency on the type of play style you want to mold, which makes each loop feel incredibly unique.
There's only a handful of levels at your disposal, each packed with their own day/night cycle that you control manually from the menus, but none of them are visually stunning. Arkane has put their focus on establishing a fluid level design and not the PS5 eye candy consumers might crave, having dropped $500 plus on their new system. In addition, "Deathloop" has a slew of technical problems that hold it back from pure greatness. Enemies are absurdly dumb, and by the 12th hour of playing, I could easily run past large groups of enemies with no repercussions, taking me out of the experience; and this is in addition to the multiple crashes I had during my 17 hour playtime. Such issues for a "triple-a" game, that in no way pushes the PS5's graphical limits, is disappointing and something that should be corrected with a few patches down the road.
Once complete with the campaign, you can take control of Julianna in the online portion of the game. In this mode, you are invading the games of random players or friends, trying to stop them from completing their objectives as Colt. There are some interesting customizable upgrades you can make to Julianna's arsenal, but there is no real competitive angle, although you can spend a few hours making other peoples play through a challenge, which can be an entertaining end game diversion.
"Deathloop" more often than not, is a blast to play. Its unique weapons and off the wall creativity is what sets this world apart from its competitors. For $60, it's money well spent but recognize going in that Arkane didn't do as good a job refining the experience as one might've hoped.
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