Deathloop is a masterpiece, and unlike anything I’ve ever played before. Arkane Studios has always been an expert at defining a sense of place. It creates living, breathing worlds to explore that abide by a strict set of rules you must learn, abide by yourself, and ultimately break in order to make them your own.
Dishonored and Prey both played by their own unique set of commandments, yet the philosophy behind their world design and how players are free to discover and toy with them however they like remained untouched. You could play the entire game without hurting a single soul, or grow into a bloodthirsty murderer with only your own interests at heart. Each playthrough was different thanks to how Arkane ensured all of its systems were so perfectly malleable to your own distinct playstyle.
Experimentation sat at the forefront, placing a level of trust in the player that few modern blockbusters would dare imitate. So many games need to hold your hand nowadays, railroading you through the experience to ensure nothing is missed and you come away with the desired conclusion. Arkane doesn't care about how you feel, and you can absolutely wrap up Prey, Dishonored or Deathloop without seeing everything they have to offer. You can even hate them for being so cryptic, failing to feed you the appropriate amount of tutorials and set pieces to measure up to something like Gears 5 or Horizon Zero Dawn. But it doesn’t need to, what makes Deathloop and other games like it special is how they defy convention in almost every conceivable way. The world, or in this case, the loop, is your oyster to be poked, prodded, and mastered however you see fit.
This is such a wonderful perspective to take, and one that reinforces the exploration of creativity for not only the studio, but for every player that picks up the controller and sinks into Blackreef, Talos One, Dunwall, or whatever imaginative place Arkane comes up with next. Unfortunately, the medium's sensibilities don't lend themselves to projects like this finding success, and that's so heartbreaking. Redfall is perhaps the first indicator of this, the next project from Arkane which has pitched itself as a looter shooter with multiplayer elements. I can’t say I wasn’t expecting a studio recently acquired by Microsoft to shift into the shooter/live-service mould, but knowing it will be leaving behind the immersive sims that have defined the studio for so long is a bitter pill to swallow. Deathloop is a fantastic shooter, but it’s a better immersive sim, offering four districts to explore on your own terms however and whenever you like.
Your ultimate goal is non-linear, and you’re encouraged to pursue it in a way that goes against the leads and clues provided to you. You can follow it for an easier ride, but the real joy comes from embracing unpredictability, and being reactive to each and every development that rears its ugly yet welcome head. It’s stupendously executed, all because it builds upon the design foundations set by Dishonored and Prey before it. Neither of those games set the world on fire, and I’m still heaping praise upon them on a regular basis so friends will be encouraged to pick them up for the first time. Deathloop doesn’t deserve to suffer the same fate, and I hope it becomes a genre-defining blockbuster instead of another cult classic that the average gamer wouldn’t dare entertain.
It feels like a rare gem, polished to perfection while daring to explore multiplayer in bold and unexpected ways, yet it also deviates from modern trends in a way that potentially dooms it to irrelevance. Gamers are used to loud and brash live service efforts that reward you with progression for doing the slightest things, while Deathloop expects you to work for gratification and look failure in the face again and again until you swear to usurp it and break the loop once and for all. Doing so isn’t easy, but the satisfaction that comes with taking out even a single target is unparalleled. Conversely, being taken down by Julianna, whether she’s controlled by the AI or another player, as your moments towards the finishing line is a brutal punishment, but one worth clawing yourself back from in service of eventual triumph.
All of the characters and worldbuilding that made Dishonored and Prey so alluring are present, yet they take a backseat and play a greater mechanical role in executing your targets and assembling clues to piece together the inner secrets of Blackreef. Every facet of the game is rewarding, whether it’s a new weapon, power, or piece of dialogue between the stellar lead characters. Arkane Studios has spent years crafting a game where everything has its place, and not a single element feels irrelevant to the wider experience. It’s a masterpiece, but one I’m afraid will be lost because it strives to do something different in a gaming landscape that has long surrendered itself to homogeneity. I’ll cross my fingers, and sign off by saying one thing and one thing only - play Deathloop.