Deathloop

Deathloop is a first-person shooter (FPS) developed by Arkane Studios Lyon studio and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game was developed for ninth-generation consoles and PCs.

Story

The action is set in an alternate 1963 on the island of Blackreef, where a time anomaly occurred. The story focuses on the fate of two assassins, Colt Vahn and Julianna Blake, who, together with other inhabitants, are stuck in an endless time loop - after death or 24 hours they return to the beginning of the same day. However, while the woman is thrilled about this, her adversary (the main character) wants to break out of the anomaly. In order to escape from Blackreef, Colt has to eliminate eight people called Visionaries, responsible for maintaining the cycle, within one day. It won't be easy, however, as the targets are elusive and reside in different locations, and Julianna will not hesitate to do anything to stop the protagonist.

Mechanics

Deathloop develops the gameplay model known from previous Arkane Studios games, such as Dishonored or Prey. The developers focused on giving players freedom in dealing with challenges. All problems can be solved in many ways and each death allows us to increase the combat potential of the hero. Slowly gaining knowledge about the behavior and relationships of NPCs will help us eliminate the eight main opponents. The title doesn't impose a specific order of performing tasks, either main or side ones. The only limitation is the length of each cycle, corresponding to one day in the game world. At the end of the day, Colt's equipment is lost by default, but the game offers a mechanism of collecting and using a resource called residual to permanently save selected powers, weapons or upgrades.

In combat, we can use both a variety of weapons and special powers of the hero. Deathloop gives us a large selection of firearms (including submachine guns, shotguns and a nail gun), gadgets (including grenades, mines and a hacking machine used to hack into cameras, turrets and door security) and supernatural abilities (teleportation, invisibility, linking the minds of enemies, telekinesis and more). So it's up to us to decide how to deal with the next challenges.

Game modes

Deathloop was conceived as a single player game with an optional network element. The latter manifests itself in the form of Julianna Blake, who attacks the player from time to time. The character can be directed by an artificial intelligence, but it is up to the player to let other people direct her at any time, just like in the Dark Souls raids. This is not a clash of two identical characters. Colt and Julianna use similar powers, but both also have a handful of unique traits. In Julianna's case, players can take on the form of any NPC, and all of the local Blackreef residents will be on their side.

Technical Issues

Visually, the game resembles the previous achievements of Arkane Studios, although the shift to the ninth generation platforms resulted in a significant graphical leap. The game is heavily saturated with colors and distinguished by an unusual, retrofuturistic style of visited locations. We have to explore various research facilities, an amusement park, a castle estate, as well as ordinary houses and apartments.