In the letter that accompanied my preview version of Deathloop, the first thing game director Dinga Bakaba wrote was, “Deathloop is a strange game.” While I wouldn’t disagree with him – Deathloop is, delightfully, anything but your average first-person shooter – I’d also say, with compliments, that it is the most Arkane-y game yet. If you’re familiar with the studio’s work over the past decade, highlighted by Dishonored and Prey, then you’re going to feel very comfortable with Deathloop. That said, the pseudo-1960’s vibe and intentional mystery behind the island of Blackreef that you’re stuck in a time loop on makes Deathloop a wholly unique experience. I’ve played the first six or so hours of it, and I’m only just getting started.
Bakaba’s letter also included more “don’t talk about this” caveats than I’ve ever seen in a preview. That’s why the footage you’re seeing is only from one area of one mission even though I’ve played a lot more. But that’s OK, because I don’t want to ruin anything for you any more than the Arkane team does. Just know that your name is Colt and you wake up on Blackreef island with a foggy memory and a woman named Juliana out to get you. Oh, and you’re trapped in that pesky time loop.
What I can freely talk about is a mission to hunt down a woman named Harriet, one of the many people who’s not thrilled that you’re trying to break the loop. In addition to the spoiler-y story implications that taking her down has, she’s also in possession of the Nexus Slab, a unique ability you can take off her corpse that allows you to chain the fate of enemies together so that if you kill one, every linked bad guy dies too. Think of it as the “two birds, one stone” powerup.
You’re able to embrace stealth, go guns blazing, or hack-and-distract to create diversions with radios or take over gun turrets to have them fight for you instead of the enemy.
Like Arkane’s other games, Deathloop is a direct descendant of the games the studio’s original leaders were influenced by: classics like System Shock, Deus Ex, and Thief. Younger players will recognize the newer branches of that family tree: the aforementioned Dishonored and Prey. From a systems level, that means kitting out your Colt with uniquely upgraded weapons and abilities. From a macro gameplay perspective, it means you’re able to embrace stealth, go guns blazing – though this might not be the best idea in the early hours given your relatively puny health bar – or hack-and-distract to create diversions with radios or take over gun turrets to have them fight for you instead of the enemy. As I always preferred stealth in Deathloop’s ancestor games, I leaned right into that here. Snapping necks and lopping off heads with my machete never got old, nor did my irresistible urge to search for hidden loot, of which there is plenty (note that safe and door codes randomize for each player, so any you see here aren’t spoilers!).
As you progress, you’ll earn and learn new ways to tame the inevitable crashing wave that is the deathloop. Your first ability, Reprise, lets you die twice without having to restart that entire loop – an invaluable skill given your relative weakness in direct head-to-head combat. Another one, Infuse, allows you to make certain weapons loop-proof – so yes, you can take them with you. Know that the loop will continue even if you stay alive, as the day is divided up into morning, noon, afternoon, and evening sections.
Maps, as you’d expect from an Arkane game, are designed with player freedom in mind. Almost every destination has more than one way in and out, often with paths going above and/or below the building. Go figure, then that my careful plan to quietly sneak up behind Harriet, assassinate her, and take her Nexus Slab went to hell when I was almost there on the first try, and then on my second chance I accidentally stirred up the entire hornet’s nest of bad guy underlings (while they were busy lowering one of their own into a vat of acid, Joker-style) and I ended up blasting every last one of them, including Harriet, with my mini-gun. That’ll work too, and that’s the point in an Arkane game. Anything goes.
The best spoiler-free word I’d use to describe my time with Deathloop so far is “intrigued.” It is a sharp, on-purpose zag to the rest of the first-person shooter genre’s zig. It very clearly has a strong identity, and very few playthroughs are likely to be the same. You’ll be able to start peeling back its layers of mystery on September 14 on either PS5 or PC.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
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Bakaba’s letter also included more “don’t talk about this” caveats than I’ve ever seen in a preview. That’s why the footage you’re seeing is only from one area of one mission even though I’ve played a lot more. But that’s OK, because I don’t want to ruin anything for you any more than the Arkane team does. Just know that your name is Colt and you wake up on Blackreef island with a foggy memory and a woman named Juliana out to get you. Oh, and you’re trapped in that pesky time loop.
What I can freely talk about is a mission to hunt down a woman named Harriet, one of the many people who’s not thrilled that you’re trying to break the loop. In addition to the spoiler-y story implications that taking her down has, she’s also in possession of the Nexus Slab, a unique ability you can take off her corpse that allows you to chain the fate of enemies together so that if you kill one, every linked bad guy dies too. Think of it as the “two birds, one stone” powerup.
You’re able to embrace stealth, go guns blazing, or hack-and-distract to create diversions with radios or take over gun turrets to have them fight for you instead of the enemy.
Like Arkane’s other games, Deathloop is a direct descendant of the games the studio’s original leaders were influenced by: classics like System Shock, Deus Ex, and Thief. Younger players will recognize the newer branches of that family tree: the aforementioned Dishonored and Prey. From a systems level, that means kitting out your Colt with uniquely upgraded weapons and abilities. From a macro gameplay perspective, it means you’re able to embrace stealth, go guns blazing – though this might not be the best idea in the early hours given your relatively puny health bar – or hack-and-distract to create diversions with radios or take over gun turrets to have them fight for you instead of the enemy. As I always preferred stealth in Deathloop’s ancestor games, I leaned right into that here. Snapping necks and lopping off heads with my machete never got old, nor did my irresistible urge to search for hidden loot, of which there is plenty (note that safe and door codes randomize for each player, so any you see here aren’t spoilers!).
As you progress, you’ll earn and learn new ways to tame the inevitable crashing wave that is the deathloop. Your first ability, Reprise, lets you die twice without having to restart that entire loop – an invaluable skill given your relative weakness in direct head-to-head combat. Another one, Infuse, allows you to make certain weapons loop-proof – so yes, you can take them with you. Know that the loop will continue even if you stay alive, as the day is divided up into morning, noon, afternoon, and evening sections.
Maps, as you’d expect from an Arkane game, are designed with player freedom in mind. Almost every destination has more than one way in and out, often with paths going above and/or below the building. Go figure, then that my careful plan to quietly sneak up behind Harriet, assassinate her, and take her Nexus Slab went to hell when I was almost there on the first try, and then on my second chance I accidentally stirred up the entire hornet’s nest of bad guy underlings (while they were busy lowering one of their own into a vat of acid, Joker-style) and I ended up blasting every last one of them, including Harriet, with my mini-gun. That’ll work too, and that’s the point in an Arkane game. Anything goes.
The best spoiler-free word I’d use to describe my time with Deathloop so far is “intrigued.” It is a sharp, on-purpose zag to the rest of the first-person shooter genre’s zig. It very clearly has a strong identity, and very few playthroughs are likely to be the same. You’ll be able to start peeling back its layers of mystery on September 14 on either PS5 or PC.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
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