Deathloop Review: An amalgamation of Arkane's best ideas over the last decade

The game takes place on an island called Blackreef, where a time anomaly has caused a single day to be repeated ad nauseam. You are placed in the shoes of Colt Vahn, a man who is forced to relive the same day over and over, slowly inching towards finding out what caused the loop. 

Juliana Blake, the head of an organisation called AEON, seeks to stop you from doing that. Deathloop outfits its story in a 1960's inspired art deco setting that sits close to Rapture from Bioshock and presents a failed utopia where elitism and spectacle run rampant. 

As with every Arkane game, the art style is gorgeous and stylish. There are many vistas here to gawk at and, all of them are done to a really high standard. 

Colt is also surprisingly light-hearted for a protagonist in an Arkane game. He isn't brooding like Corvo or Emily from Dishonored, nor is he a blank slate like Morgan Yu from Prey. He is surprisingly not averse to cracking jokes or witty one-liners at his predicament. 

He has some inspired back-and-forth interactions with Juliana that are some of the game's highlights. Sadly, the visionaries don't fare as well, nor do the common enemies in the game. Their voice performances are passable but noticeably a step down from Colt or Juliana. 

The music in the game takes inspiration from many of the same places that the visuals do. It's an eclectic mix of jazz, pop, rock and orchestral run through that 1960's filter and fits right in. Heck, the game's main promotional song, "Deja-Vu," sounds like it could be used as a theme in a classic bond film. 

Gameplay

Deathloop starts out simple but keeps adding complexity and unique modifier's to its rules as you go along. It lulls you in with simplicity before revealing how intricate it truly is. 

Blackreef is broken into four distinct areas - Updaam, Complex, Fristad Rock and Karl's Bay. Each one of these areas is unique in how it's designed. And each can only be visited once during the four time periods - morning, noon, afternoon and evening. 

When you die, the day resets, and you start over from the beginning. The same thing happens if you leave an area at night. Any powers, upgrades or guns that you find during the period will need to be infused, or you will lose them when the day resets. 

All your enemies respawn too seemingly, unaware of their loops, but here's where Colt has an advantage. He retains the knowledge of everything that has happened before he resets. This becomes the primary driving force for the game's plot and the world. 

As you explore the areas to break the loop by killing the eight Visionaries, the ways to accomplish your objectives expand. 

You can choose to be stealthy or go in guns blazing. You can choose to listen to conversations and gather clues about the best time to visit a location or visit an area later when you are more powerful. 

As you unravel more of the plot, more avenues to explore areas open up, and together with an expanding arsenal of guns and powers keeps, the game feeling fresh to the end. 

Every loop presents a different opportunity. The freedom in how you do so is the game's biggest strength. 

As if this weren't enough, Juliana will be a constant thorn in your side. She will randomly show up during missions, attempting to sabotage your plans. In a neat twist, another player can take on the role of Juliana and is incentivised with unique cosmetics and upgrades for killing Colt mid-mission. 

You can turn this option off in the settings, in which case Juliana will be controlled by an AI. 

Conclusion

Deathloop is a confident, well-made first-person experience from a studio that has now made it a habit at this point. 

At launch, I ran into some crashes and mouse stuttering issues on PC which have since been fixed. The only other drawback I can think of is that you have played other Arkane games, Deathloop, won't feel original. 

The powers are distilled from Dishonored. The Visionaries could be stand-ins for assassination targets from Dishonored as well. The time loop mechanic is similar to Prey: Mooncrash, a DLC add on for Prey. 

Despite this, Deathloop does well enough to stand on its own and is a compelling experience in its own right. 

You can buy Deathloop for the PlayStation 5 for Rs 3,999 or on PC via Steam for Rs 2,499.