Deathloop – Review

Ever wanted to redo things you regret doing on a day? Well for those stuck on the island of Blackreef in Deathloop it’s normal, as they can try over and over again because they’re stuck in an endless loop in time. Each time when the day ends, everyone wakes up on the same day with no memories of what they did in the last loop, except for two assassins, Colt and Julianna. Colt wants to break the loop, while Julianna tries to prevent Colt from breaking the loop. All this makes for a very interesting first-person shooter experience with a great story and some unique game mechanics.

Story

In the Break the Loop mode, you play as Colt, an assassin who is stuck in a time loop on the island Blackreef. At the end of every day, or after dying three times in one area, you’ll respawn at the beach you first woke up on. It’s your task to escape from the loop on this island by gathering clues and information about the Visionaries who control the loop. After a while, you find out that the way to break the loop is to kill all eight Visionaries on the island within one day. You, and another assassin called Julianna, are the only ones who remember everything after a loop. Julianna will be hunting you each time you enter a Visionary’s area, which can be a big nuisance. In the Protect the Loop mode, you play as Julianna, to try and assassinate Colt, who is controlled by other online players and you’ll want to ruin their progress to protect the loop from being broken.

Graphics

Deathloop is set on a retro-futuristic island with four areas that each have their own distinct style and a lot of extravagant places to explore. Everything in the world of Deathloop is very detailed with each piece of furniture perfectly placed to fit the scene. With new locations to discover each time you arrive in an area, this world keeps you enticed to keep on exploring. When exploring each area, you’ll constantly see words appearing on walls or objects that slightly point you in a certain direction. The world of Deathloop is a beautiful world that definitely shows the dedication of the developer.

Sound

Mostly, the background music in this game is calm, but when the action starts, it will quickly change into a battle theme until you’ve defeated the last enemy aware of your presence. This also is a perfect indicator to know when the coast is clear. When sneaking around the different areas, you’ll hear the Eternalists talk about a lot of stuff which also lets you learn more about your current predicament. The voice acting in Deathloop is definitely of high quality, but when in battle, the enemies tend to repeat their lines over and over again.

Gameplay

Deathloop is a first-person action-adventure game set on an island that is stuck in a time loop. Everyone who lives there will relive the same day over and over again. You will be trying to break the loop, and you’ll do this by getting to know everything about all the Visionaries in the game, to eventually make it possible to kill them all in one single day. Of course, this sounds a lot easier than it is.

With this game being a first-person shooter, the controls in this game are pretty standard with a few exceptions. You are equipped with the Hackamajig, a device that lets you hack into every electrical device near you, to create distractions, stop cameras from working, turn enemy turrets against themselves, and more. After playing for a short while, you’ll acquire your first Slab. Slabs grant you special powers like teleportation, invisibility, etc. These powers can be used constantly, as the resource for the Slabs quickly regenerates after usage, which makes them an important part of the gameplay.

In terms of weapons, there aren’t really a lot of different weapons to find, but they surely suffice to enjoy the game at its fullest. With pistols, SMGs, shotguns, rifles and your trusty machete, you’ll have enough to kill all enemies in your preferred way. For each weapon, there are three rarities, Crude (grey), Sleek (turquoise), and Exemplar (purple), with the latter being the highest rarity for normal weapons. Each Exemplar weapon will have a perk that provides an extra effect, like silenced bullets, tighter bullet spread and more. These are spawned randomly, so if you’re lucky, you might find a great weapon. You can also find a few awesome unique weapons in your playthrough that are very fun to mess around with.

Each day is divided in four periods: morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. An area will be different in each period. Other people will be there, other activities are active and places will be locked or unlocked depending of the time of day. You may only have four areas to explore, but with this mechanic, there are sixteen different instances you can go through. After the tutorial that leads you through all areas once, you’ll learn about Residuum and the Infusion technique. Normally, everything gathered in a day will vanish after the day has ended, but by infusing your equipment, you will be able to keep these items permanently. So, as you progress through the game and run through several loops, you will infuse more and more equipment. While you’d think that each weapon will be permanently available to you after infusing it, you’re wrong, as when you drop an infused weapon to acquire a new one, you’ll lose the dropped weapon, and this isn’t explained anywhere. To be safe, it’s recommended to always leave one slot open for new weapons, if you intend to pick one up when you find it.

Residuum is gathered by interacting with glowing objects in the world, sacrificing looted equipment and killing Visionaries. Of these three, killing a Visionary nets the most Residuum. Of course, take all Residuum you encounter, as you can never have enough of it. When you get killed and respawn, you’ll find your Residuum where you were last killed to claim it again. When you get killed three times, you will lose everything that’s not infused, including your Residuum, and will wake up on the beach the next day. Be sure to spend all your gathered Residuum at the end of a loop, as you will otherwise lose all gathered Residuum.

Aside from the stronger Visionaries you have to kill, there’s also Julianna who is constantly hunting you down when you enter an area with Visionaries. Especially when you’re about to kill Visionaries, she can be a massive annoyance. Normally, Julianna is an NPC, but you can also set your game open for online players to play as Julianna, allowing them to hunt you down instead. Of course, this is much harder than a standard NPC, so we recommend playing offline first.

Conclusion

Deathloop is an awesome first-person shooter with an intriguing story, some unique game mechanics, and great gameplay. The goal to collect information on all the Visionaries, to eventually be able to kill them all in one day, surely keeps you going until the end. For a long time, you’ll keep on discovering new information and locations as you progress, which keeps the game interesting. If you’re into first-person shooters and are looking for something new and refreshing in the genre, we recommend checking this one out.

Nickskuh

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Administration is my job but gaming is my passion!

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