Waking up on the cold shores of Black Reef island, players take control of Colt Vahn, an amnesiac stuck in a time loop. The curators of the time loop, eight “Visionaries” and their eternalists, have transformed the island into a blend of time manipulation research and a never-ending party. The only path to freedom is to take out all eight Visionaries before midnight and break the loop.
The newest game from Arkane Studios, “Deathloop,” manages to craft an intricate single player experience while integrating a unique multiplayer experience unlike anything I’ve played before.
The island is split into four different sections which can be explored at different times of the day — morning, noon, afternoon and evening. Depending on the time, things change as the island slowly descends into discord and debauchery. Colt’s main objective is to craft a plan to corral the Visionaries into the same areas at the same time of day to take them out, and this takes the forefront of the gameplay.
Traversing the calm, colorful housing district of Updaam in the morning is much different than in the evening. As the streets fill with debris and graffiti throughout the day, it leads into the evening, which climaxes in a lupine-themed soiree at Dorsey Mansion. Discovering secrets and finding clever ways to use the shifting environment to my advantage is one of the ways “Deathloop” drew me in — as well as the scenic explorations and rewards for revisiting areas at different times of day.
Most objectives and story beats come through the use of environmental storytelling, requiring the collection of notes and audio logs scattered throughout all the locales of the island. These are all tabulated into an investigation board, allowing for easy tracking of both side quests and main objectives. It feels great to follow clues down the rabbit hole in search of upgrades or special gear.
Black Reef’s inhabitants are quite resistant against the breaking of the loop and will attack Colt on sight. Both combat and gunplay thankfully feel smooth and familiar after playing previous entries in Arkane Studios lineups, such as “Dishonored.” There is a large arsenal of weapons at the player’s disposal, ranging from silent nail guns all the way up to hefty machine guns.
On top of conventional weapons, “Deathloop” also introduces “slabs,” which grant various powers and abilities. These are earned from Visionaries and can be acquired in any order which allows players to choose their playstyle.
If you are into a stealth approach, you might track down Egor Sterling to swipe his Aether slab, which allows for temporary invisibility. Or, if you like taking things right to the enemy, you could always confront Fia Zborowska for her Havoc slab, which buffs weapon damage and grants extra defense.
Colt has a personal slab, Reprise, which allows him to cheat death twice — meaning, if I happened to die, I wouldn’t instantly loop and return back to the beginning. There is also an infusion system that allows for gear to be retained through death, which made for some fun decision-making on what was worth taking with me to the next day as I moved through the game.
“Deathloop” is a game that takes place entirely in single player. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other players present. With the addition of an invasion system, you may run into another person controlling a rival assassin in your game world, attempting to impede your progress. After reaching a certain point in the story, a new mode is unlocked from the main menu which allows players to take control of the Visionary Julianna Blake, who hunts down Colt across Black Reef to ensure he is unable to break the loop.
In my experience, this mode has a bit of a learning curve — but, when it works, it works well. Entering the world of another player and tracking them down is deeply satisfying and makes for some fun cat-and-mouse encounters. However, the progression system leaves a bit to be desired, with loot seemingly unlocking at random as I was gaining levels. This system would benefit from being able to choose what to unlock, as it can be frustrating having to play without the tools I’m used to using in the main game.
Julianna also comes with her own unique slab called Masquerade, which allows her to swap appearances with any enemy in the level. On paper, this should allow Julianna to hide and disguise herself in the environment, but in practice, it almost never plays out that way. Colt isn’t easily deceived, and it’s quite obvious when someone has swapped appearances so I found her slab to be mostly a non-factor in her playstyle, which is a bit of a shame.
The mystery of the time loop anomaly is oozing with secrets and discoveries begging to be unearthed — and the interesting cast of characters makes for a story well worth experiencing. With the vast options of how to tackle the day and the unique opportunity to play multiplayer in a single player game, I highly believe “Deathloop” to be one of the best releases this year.
