The Time Loop Simulation That Deserves to be Played | Deathloop Review
More players need to experience Groundhog Day with guns
More players need to experience Groundhog Day with guns
Deathloop is an incredible game, made by an extraordinary team of people. I enjoyed it, and am here to recommend it.
In order for me to persuade you to play it, I think it’s most important to give you a clear idea of what the game is actually like. I am specifically calling this out, because I personally haven’t read or heard of any coverage on Deathloop that accurately described what I thought encapsulated my experience. So what do I think makes it a great video game? At its core, lies a triangle of three foundational ideas. Deathloop is:
A time loop simulator. A mystery puzzle game. A first-person shooter with some stealth elements.
Dealthloop, as the name implies, is, first and foremost, a game that is confined by the inherent natures of a time loop. The loop is composed of four periods of time, and the island you’re on has four locations you can visit during those times. If at any point you die, or reach “the end of the day”, (which is after you leave your chosen fourth location), the time loop restarts.
I’ve seen critiques of the game, where the argument is that “Deathloop has only four maps (locations) with little variation”. This has a correct statement, but it’s presented negatively. You have to think about the implications of what a true time loop video game would be like to understand why it’s not just correct, but actually a positive argument.
Your actions have cascading consequences on the game world. There are multiple things you can accomplish at specific times of day that direct what happens during the next segment of time. So while “they” might boil it down to 4 maps, there are, realistically, in the very least, 16 variations of major scenarios for you to play out. On top of that, there are multiple micro-forking paths of events you can choose to pursue or not, making no two days feel entirely the same.
For example, one area during the daytime has lighter enemy patrols, as compared to the afternoon shift, which has a much denser enemy population. During the night, the area is overrun with traps you need to avoid. Some buildings have electricity earlier in the day, but are locked out at night. One area gets set up for a party in the evening, and you can see how the planning for that unfolds through the day. These are just some non-spoiler examples.
To further press on how much I hate that “four map” argument, if there were any more maps, or even larger maps, could you truly appreciate the beauty that comes from the flaws AND triumphs of a well executed time loop based video game?
For example, when I started playing Deathloop I gravitated towards stealth, as the game nudges you to do, which is a safe but slow way to play. With each new loop, I found myself still being stealthy, but because of my compounding experiences in any particular location, I was able to find faster routes to key items or events. On top of that, I had memorized enemy placements on the way to them, making me a deadly, fast, and silent killing machine.
My point is, that becoming a god-like being in ANY conventional time-loop requires repetition in order to gain mastery over it. Even as Bill Murray had to do in the movie, Groundhog Day (1993). So, if I had to go through even one more area, one more time of day, or had to learn how to use a few more types of powers or weapons, I’m not sure if I would have the mental capacity to truly feel like a master of the time loop itself.
Now that I’ve established this time loop foundation, everything else should be pretty straight forward. So let’s talk about the mystery aspect. Colt, the main character, wakes up in the loop with amnesia. All he knows is that he’s on a mission to break the time loop so he can escape, and just hopes that he’ll get his memories back along the way. The questions are, how will you do this? And why did the time loop get started in the first place?
For those of you who enjoy playing games with deep narratives and rich lore, you’re in for a real treat. The world is brimming with things for you to compile and file away in your mind as you seek the answers to these questions. Some mysteries naturally solve themselves, some, the game guides you through, and others, you just have to play detective to crack ’em wide open.
Answers to clues may require you to loop through the game world to a specific location at a designated time, to do a particular activity or take down unique enemies. A building burns down in the afternoon. Can you prevent it from doing so by visiting earlier in the loop? Perhaps in that building you’ll stumble upon a key code here. A note there. Some internal character dialogue might trigger to keep you thinking about your quest. Maybe you’ll find a way to dispatch a boss enemy without even gunning them down, by setting up a chain reaction of events just right.
You’ll learn more and more about the world, and the set-up, all the while Colt will continue to feel the familiar threads of his lost memory. How does he fit into the big picture? Why is Juliana against breaking the loop? Speaking of, Deathloop has really strong characters, that are written and performed phenomenally, especially Juliana and Colt. It’s all very motivating.
It’s these narrative threads that REALLY give you purpose through the loops, and without them, I’m sure you could imagine, this would not be a very compelling game. Those moments of gratification from completing a little mystery at the end of a narrative thread, by weaving your run through the day very precisely, is extremely satisfying. Often times while running around for these objectives I’d find a cache of weapons and items, that I could steal in future loops. If I was lucky, I’d learn an even bigger piece of the puzzle: one of the steps required to break the loop. Seeing through to the end of these mysteries is what kept me coming back for more, above any other aspect of the game. After completing every major beat, solving all the major puzzles, and seeing through their mysteries, I was very satisfied with how it all came together and eventually concluded.
Despite my praise there, none of it would matter if Colt didn’t feel good enough to play, so it’s good that he does. The “Slab” powers are really fun to mess with. Colt is pretty zippy and tight to control. The shooting’s excellently tuned, I liked it. I think “punchy” is the best word for most of it. Guns feel balanced and all have a sense of uniqueness and purpose. I loved the legendary variants, and the wacky perks you could find on them, or equip to them. And all of that is bundled to neatly work within the stealth sandbox that it’s presented within.
So, you might have thought at some point, “time loop. So I lose all my weapons at the end of every day?” You can, and in the beginning, you will. But eventually, you won’t. There’s a little resource you earn pretty early on that you can spend to keep your stuff between loops, and it piles up quick. In this sense, Deathloop is a bit like a Rogue-Lite, I suppose.
So those are the three biggest components that I think make up the game. But let’s talk about a possible… fourth one, that also makes it stand out.
1v1’s against Juliana.
It’s a really cool mechanic. Another player invades your game with the intention to send you back to the beginning of the loop… unless you can kill them first. It adds a TON of tension when you’re invaded. You could be at the last location of the day, about to solve some puzzle you’ve been working on, and someone will invade… You don’t know where they are, what weapons they have equipped, or the Slab powers they’re using. The only thing you can do, is use the location to your advantage, and hope that you can outsmart them. Which either means, being a better shot, or being sneaky enough to escape through the tunnels. It’s a pretty fun game of cat and mouse. You can actually pick Juliana at any time if you’re just feeling like ruining someone’s day, but if you’re not in the mood for any multiplayer shenanigans while playing as Colt, you can just restrict invasions to just “story moments”, which was appreciated for my 5am gaming sessions where I am NOT ready to get sweaty.
For what it’s worth, this game ran with no issues, at 60fps on my computer which is composed of a Ryzen 7, 3070, and 32gb of RAM
Overall, I enjoyed my experience and I came out of it with a much better opinion of it than when I started. It took some time to get familiar with the time looping, and feeling powerful within that framework. But it did not take long for Deathloop to be a compelling game that had me itching for more every time I put it down. I say, if you can get down with doing some detective work in a time loop with some first person shooting on the side… you need to pick it up and give it a try. To you, I definitely recommend it. To everyone else, I hope you’ll consider it, especially if you read this monster of a review. Thanks for reading.
Originally published at https://backloggd.com.