Deathloop in the test: dying has never been so beautiful

Wrong time at wrong. Place – this is how the main character feels when he wakes up on a deserted beach. The last memory: How she was brutally murdered by a woman with a machete. The main character Colt and with her the players find out very quickly that there is no dream behind this, but a time warp of the same day. But what’s behind the island full of masked men who mercilessly hunt Colt? And how can he escape? To answer that is the goal of the great new action-mystery game “Deathloop”.

The well-known idea of ​​the time loop is cleverly reversed: instead of making the main character the only one who knows in a repetitive world, as did the nineties comedy “Groundhog Day” so great, “Deathloop” turns the principle um: Everyone knows – only the main character and players have to slowly find out what the hell is up with the island of Blackreef and the time loop. And how you can finally escape it.

Where – and especially when?

Despite the unusual game idea, the gameplay and optics quickly feel familiar. This is not surprising: Developer Arcane Studios is known for games like the “Dishonored” series and “Bioshock 2”, and anyone who has gambled the games quickly feels at home. In order to master the overwhelming power, players sneak, shoot and hack their way through the levels with an arsenal of weapons, tools and playable super skills in order to always find new clues as to what is actually going on around them.

The time loop plays a decisive role in this. Each of the four play areas, such as the city of Updaam or a snow-covered military complex, can be visited at different times of the day – with sometimes completely different results. In the evening, crowds of people can linger in the empty space in the morning, the weapons depot is cleared during the day. And the clipboard with the password for the safe that can be found in the morning may have disappeared again in the afternoon. And with it the valuable content of it. As a player, you have to think carefully about which part to visit and when.

After death comes a new morning

Death also loses its horror through the time loop, at least a little: To close a period of time, one must not bless the temporal more than twice – otherwise the day will start all over again. At least in the beginning it also means that you lose all the great weapons and improvements again. Only the knowledge of secrets and some passwords may initially be retained. Only later do you get to know the ways in which you might still be able to keep the best weapons and expansions.

This makes for a fascinating gaming experience: Equipped with ever new knowledge, more and more locked doors open in the levels, which then reveal new secrets. Those who like to wander through levels to find secrets will always discover new ones. Because you can only die to a limited extent, the numerous fights remain exciting. Thanks to the newly discovered clues, even failed loops rarely feel wasted. Even if it is just that you get to know the levels well enough to be able to easily avoid the opponents next time. In order to win the game, the player must succeed in the perfect loop at the end. What that means exactly and which secrets keep him from doing it are not revealed here. But it’s not easy.

If that is not enough voltage, you simply switch on the online game. Then your own game suddenly becomes a playing field for others – and you yourself become a goal. In the role of the character Juliana, other players can then penetrate their own game. Your goal: to kill Colt. Because he continues to have his hands full with the usual opponents, the challenge increases considerably. This can keep the tension high, especially if you later have to fear little danger from the standard opponents, who are very well equipped. Or you just switch off the online mode.

Complex but fresh

If that seems very complicated, it is. However, the developer goes to great lengths to explain the processes, mechanics and ideas behind it. They are introduced slowly, and hints appear repeatedly in the menus to help explain the increasing complexity. With small aids, such as the automatic insertion of passwords that have already been discovered, it is also ensured that the flood of hints is not overwhelmed. Because the gameplay itself is basically known, the complexity seems more like a welcome change and enrichment than a hurdle.

The familiarity also lies in the fact that Deathloop successfully mixes popular genres and gameplay principles. Visually, with the very open and detailed level design and the successful gameplay, it is strongly reminiscent of the “Dishonored” series, going back to the beginning is known from rogue likes, the multiplayer mechanics based on invasions and the later possible saving of resources of their own corpse are clearly inspired by “Dark Souls” and Co. And the idea of ​​having to be in different places at the same time was wonderfully implemented over 20 years ago by “Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask”. Combining all of this into a very round, fun and yet challenging mixture is actually an achievement.

Conclusion: ambitious and very successful

With the formula of the freely explorable time loop, Arcane has created a very exciting, but also very complicated game that skilfully mixes different genres into a very successful cocktail. It helps that the familiar elements such as sneaking and shooting have been implemented in a great way, that the world design inspires with great attention to detail and invites you to explore – and that again and again.

Still, “Deathloop” is not suitable for everyone. On the one hand, because the level of violence is really high – the USK rating “18+” is not unjustified. On the other hand, because the complex game principle, which caused us enthusiasm, is likely to put others off. If you just want to shoot around changing locations in an uncomplicated way, you won’t have much fun with “Deathloop”. But there are also enough other alternatives.

Deathloop

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