When I first heard about Deathloop, I was quickly hooked because it seemed like such a unique concept, which is why I hate to say this is probably the most disappointing game I've played in a good while.
My main issue with this game is that it didn't commit to its concept and use the unique mechanics timeloop games come with, leaving it with every negative that comes with timeloops with none of the benefits. I generally understand why they ended up doing it this way, especially because most people tend to not finish AAA games if they get even slightly confused once, but as a whole it makes me wonder why they even made a timeloop game in the first place.
The main goal of the game is to kill all visionary targets in a single loop, which presents the chance to really allow for creativity. I was really looking forward to going through the island, learning about the world and the visionaries, and how to get them in different places in time and kill them using different approaches, but this is not how it went.
There is a single linear assassination method for every single target that are presented as quests packed with markers and fetch quests that you're forced follow one-to-one. They even give animations detailing every step you have to take for each target. It's straight up impossible to finish the game without following and completing all of these methods, the final quest to kill all the targets in one loop doesn't even get unlocked if you don't. To make a comparison, this ends up making the game feel like modern hitman games if every target had a single mandatory story mission and using any other assassination method locked you out of progressing.
The use of the time loop is also kinda lame at best and just terrible at worst. Each loop is split into 4 parts of the day, morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. Outside of a few specific questlines and visionary kills, these times are completely isolated and don't interact at all. Nothing you do in updaam in the morning will carry over to updaam in the afternoon. I get why they did it this way since it would be hell to actually make all that stuff carry over and it's not really my biggest issue at all, but it really makes me wonder why they made a timeloop game.
Unlike the previous problem which was just mildly annoying, the infusion system is actually awful. While you normally lose your gear at the end of a loop, you can infuse them with a currency called residuum you can gather, which makes them permanently stay in your arsenal. This defeats the entire point of the timeloop in the first place. Once you infuse a decent weapon and two powers, you're set and you never have to look for gear or improvise.
As if that wasn't enough, the game makes it extremely easy to optimize the fun out of it by giving you access to silenced pistols super early depending on how lucky you get. I found one after the third time I killed a visionary and had no reason to use anything else for the rest of the game. This also applies to powers. Sure, the game has a bunch of powers, but once you find the one that you like the most, there's never any reason to use anything else. You can only bring two powers to missions, meaning it almost feels like the game asks you to find two things you like and use nothing else.
With all of these choices, the game just ends up being a repetitive grind where you start a loop, equip the same broken weapon and powers, and do tedious quests until the game is satisfied and lets you do the final loop. This repetitiveness is not helped by the fact that each loop is the exact same. This wouldn't be a problem on its own, hell, it probably would have been a strength if there was anything to learn and master, but with everything else involved it makes the game feel even more boring. Loop stress is technically a mechanic apparently, but I didn't notice a single effect of it my entire playthrough.
I would be lying if I said the game had no positives though. The writing is pretty shaky at the beginning because the dialogue wasn't great, but it does get better. I started enjoying Juliana and Colt's banter later into the game, but it took a while to hook me. Some of the visionaries are actually pretty interesting. The quality of their writing varies a lot, but it can be neat now and again. The gunplay was also decently fun as well, though I really wish I had any reason to use guns other than the same 3 ones.
The game does have a single really cool mechanic though, in the form of Juliana. Other players being able to invade your world as her and the fact that they can hunt you in so many unique ways from setting traps to just rushing in and beating you to death is great. I am still conflicted by the fact that the only good mechanic of the game requires online, though. Juliana's AI is terrible so it feels like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off and be a mechanic you never really see once people move on from the game.
Overall, I wasn't hating the game my entire time through it, with some good narrative moments and the occasional fun gunplay, but almost the entire game was boring samey questing with all of the repetitiveness of a timeloop and none of the creativity they allow in playstyles and experimentation. To make another comparison, it almost made me feel like I was playing a roguelike with no random generation or build variety with a full linear questline.
My main issue with this game is that it didn't commit to its concept and use the unique mechanics timeloop games come with, leaving it with every negative that comes with timeloops with none of the benefits. I generally understand why they ended up doing it this way, especially because most people tend to not finish AAA games if they get even slightly confused once, but as a whole it makes me wonder why they even made a timeloop game in the first place.
The main goal of the game is to kill all visionary targets in a single loop, which presents the chance to really allow for creativity. I was really looking forward to going through the island, learning about the world and the visionaries, and how to get them in different places in time and kill them using different approaches, but this is not how it went.
There is a single linear assassination method for every single target that are presented as quests packed with markers and fetch quests that you're forced follow one-to-one. They even give animations detailing every step you have to take for each target. It's straight up impossible to finish the game without following and completing all of these methods, the final quest to kill all the targets in one loop doesn't even get unlocked if you don't. To make a comparison, this ends up making the game feel like modern hitman games if every target had a single mandatory story mission and using any other assassination method locked you out of progressing.
The use of the time loop is also kinda lame at best and just terrible at worst. Each loop is split into 4 parts of the day, morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. Outside of a few specific questlines and visionary kills, these times are completely isolated and don't interact at all. Nothing you do in updaam in the morning will carry over to updaam in the afternoon. I get why they did it this way since it would be hell to actually make all that stuff carry over and it's not really my biggest issue at all, but it really makes me wonder why they made a timeloop game.
Unlike the previous problem which was just mildly annoying, the infusion system is actually awful. While you normally lose your gear at the end of a loop, you can infuse them with a currency called residuum you can gather, which makes them permanently stay in your arsenal. This defeats the entire point of the timeloop in the first place. Once you infuse a decent weapon and two powers, you're set and you never have to look for gear or improvise.
As if that wasn't enough, the game makes it extremely easy to optimize the fun out of it by giving you access to silenced pistols super early depending on how lucky you get. I found one after the third time I killed a visionary and had no reason to use anything else for the rest of the game. This also applies to powers. Sure, the game has a bunch of powers, but once you find the one that you like the most, there's never any reason to use anything else. You can only bring two powers to missions, meaning it almost feels like the game asks you to find two things you like and use nothing else.
With all of these choices, the game just ends up being a repetitive grind where you start a loop, equip the same broken weapon and powers, and do tedious quests until the game is satisfied and lets you do the final loop. This repetitiveness is not helped by the fact that each loop is the exact same. This wouldn't be a problem on its own, hell, it probably would have been a strength if there was anything to learn and master, but with everything else involved it makes the game feel even more boring. Loop stress is technically a mechanic apparently, but I didn't notice a single effect of it my entire playthrough.
I would be lying if I said the game had no positives though. The writing is pretty shaky at the beginning because the dialogue wasn't great, but it does get better. I started enjoying Juliana and Colt's banter later into the game, but it took a while to hook me. Some of the visionaries are actually pretty interesting. The quality of their writing varies a lot, but it can be neat now and again. The gunplay was also decently fun as well, though I really wish I had any reason to use guns other than the same 3 ones.
The game does have a single really cool mechanic though, in the form of Juliana. Other players being able to invade your world as her and the fact that they can hunt you in so many unique ways from setting traps to just rushing in and beating you to death is great. I am still conflicted by the fact that the only good mechanic of the game requires online, though. Juliana's AI is terrible so it feels like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off and be a mechanic you never really see once people move on from the game.
Overall, I wasn't hating the game my entire time through it, with some good narrative moments and the occasional fun gunplay, but almost the entire game was boring samey questing with all of the repetitiveness of a timeloop and none of the creativity they allow in playstyles and experimentation. To make another comparison, it almost made me feel like I was playing a roguelike with no random generation or build variety with a full linear questline.
PeronColorado
11 months ago