Recenze Deathloop » Vortex

If you’ve been looking sad for the third installment of the Dishonored series for five years, you can finally stop. The developers from the Lyon branch of the Arkane studio come up with the game Deathloop, which fills an empty space and demonstrates what the sequel to Dishonored might look like if the developers just didn’t want to offer fans another piece cut for the third time from the same cake. Deathloop has a lot of positives – an interesting story, a very stylish setting, a satisfying visual style and, in addition, most of the things we loved so much about Dishonored. But that’s not the end of the offer, because the novelty from Arkane also plays very nicely with the element of rougelite games, and when you least expect it, it will also use the online mode and the involvement of another player. Personally, I expected everything possible from Deathloop, but after less than 20 hours spent on the island of Blackreef, I can only ask two questions – what was it supposed to be, and where is the next part ?!

A wonderful but functional mix

Deathloop was presented in various ways during the marketing campaign launched at E3 2019. At one point, it seemed that we would experience Na Hromnice a day more in the 1960s. Then there was a growing belief that the game would be a PvP action in which a duo of main characters would follow. Subsequently, Deathloop really looked like a more modern Dishonored, so that in the end we get a combination of everything. I can say at the outset that this wonderful mix works – at least for me – and the game continues to surprise with its depth and open design, encouraging you to try different techniques. You can play Deathloop quietly, loudly, day, night, in the snow, indoors and outdoors, but most importantly, all the time. With all that, Deathloop will look great and surprise you with visual ideas and its very distinctive style. At the same time, it is very legible, it maintains its consistency throughout the playing, and with each subsequent pass through the districts – moreover, at different times of the day – you will probably not stop nodding admiringly.

As you probably understand, repeating the time loop is the central theme of the whole game. However, the developers did not have enough technical processing of this mechanism, as was the case, for example, in the game Returnal from the Housemarque studio. No, Arkane wraps the new loops with the story of a confused gunslinger, Colt, who tries to find out what happened on the strange island. Deathloop is a surprisingly very funny game, despite the fact that almost all the story takes place in the form of radio dialogues between the aforementioned Colt and his… What exactly is Julianna? Mistress, adversary, colleague? Or just someone trying to keep the time loop running for some reason while Colt wants to break the repetitive pattern? The level of unconsciousness and the associated charm mediated by discovery are fantastically balanced, and regardless of the fact that you will constantly return to only four not very large locations, you will not get bored.

Do exactly what I tell you!

The purpose of your efforts is to find out whether it is possible to kill eight selected targets – the Visionaries – in less than 24 hours, divided into four daily phases. At first, it seems that Deathloop throws you into the water, lets you get all the information, and most importantly, compiles a whole plan of murders. Eight destinations, four districts and four daily phases, in which it is always possible to visit only one part of the island. You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to understand that you will have to kill targets several at a time in one area. Finding out how you can achieve this then makes up the vast majority of the game time. After the first loops and getting acquainted with the fact that after death, your body will be on the shore of the island again, however, a tightly bound scenario begins, which will take you by the hand until the very final. In a relatively heavy menu with many tabs and sections, the individual lines associated with the eight Visionaries will begin to open in front of you. In them, it is necessary not only to confront the opponents with Colt’s arsenal of weapons and special abilities, but mainly to collect clues, based on which you will know their daily routine.

Suddenly you can find out that two of the Visionaries have a very warm relationship with each other and at one point they are both in one place overflowing with romance. You can also find out that if the planned experiment fails today, he would rather go to a party. Everyone will behave in a similar way, which you will find out before the game wants to fulfill one of Colt’s perspectives on a flawless day in the hope that something will finally happen. But I see the biggest problem in the fact that the system of discovered tracks and guides is so straightforward and pre-bound to the scenario that it basically does not allow to get out of the way. Each time you head to one of the island’s districts, the pointers and description of that part of the mission will clearly guide you forward and explain exactly what you need to do. Of course, you don’t have to follow the tracks through the game interface if you don’t want to, but Deathloop only provides a sufficient amount of natural, or rather situational hints, and this approach doesn’t work at all. It’s a pity, because those designer crutches, how to have a player exactly where he is needed at a given moment, come to me backwards and the result, but not a partial course, is relatively harmful.

All right, do what you want…

But where the scenario is fixed, there is gameplay that can be completely tailored to your tastes and needs. This is where Deathloop approaches Dishonored the most, and presents all four parts of the island as fun playgrounds with lots of obstacles in which you can proceed at will. It is also up to the player to choose the order in which they will complete the story missions, and it will also be entirely up to them with what equipment they will enter them from the underground base in the tunnels. Probably the most distinctive feature, thanks to which you can clearly recognize the game from the headquarters of the Arkane studio, are the already mentioned special abilities of the main character, such as Shift, ie identical to the short-distance teleport processed in Dishonored. But you will also be able to use throwing enemies aside, throwing them into the air or invisibility, which works exactly as in the mentioned series with the hero Corv Attan. Their use is well explained and satisfying, whether you are fighting or just looking for other ways and shortcuts. The only thing I struggled with a little is to switch between active abilities using the directional cross. If you are fleeing from enemies, the left thumb is busy with an analog lever and there were times when I died due to a short stop.

In Deathloop, however, you do not literally die, after each death the whole cycle is restarted and before that you can use a double short rewind in time, which works as a second, resp. third life. That rewind – repetition, as the function is named in the game – typically occurs during a fight, which can be quite stiff in the later stages of the game. Since there is no difficulty setting in the game, you will have to get used to it or look for alternative ways. When it comes to fighting, enemies rely more on numbers and progress from different directions than on exaggerated intelligence, and you won’t even enjoy their various types that would require you to change tactics. The differences come from their equipment, which you can scan by marking the enemy at a respectfully long distance, but don’t expect any animals or superhuman monsters. The answers from Colt’s side, on the other hand, are technically and visually diverse, and there are plenty of weapons, divided according to rarity and with the possibility of further modification, in the game. But you don’t have to change them like on a treadmill, and I’m a good example of that myself – for most of the game, I’ve had time with an improved pistol, shotgun and rifle for a longer distance. However, if you want to be creative, there are no limits to the combo of two one-handed weapons, which slightly complicates your access to hacking equipment and the special abilities mentioned. Also, the commentary on the actual shooting, which resembles Fallout rather than Call of Duty – must not be left out – that is, it is not as responsive and fast as you would probably expect, and in some moments it does not work well to catch projectiles behind railings. does not notice the impact on the person standing next to him.

Equipment that will last

Depending on what you equip in the partitions between the different parts of the day in your base, your passage through the individual locations will also look like. In some places it is possible to move more freely, in others due to the constraints of what Visionary is in the district, a little less. However, the most effective way is still a silent process until the action is inevitable, and even this can be quite individual in the eyes of each player. In other words, it should be possible to go through the game really quietly, with the help of traps or appropriately placed automatic shots, without having to directly kill anyone other than eight bosses, and this could potentially be a reason to play Deathloop again. However, I dare to anticipate that the reality will be a little different for most players, which also supports the possibility to keep their equipment between cycles, and thus not to change, but to hone their own style. Unlike the strict roguelike games in Deathloop, you never start from scratch, which I evaluate positively, although the game may lose a bit of competitiveness. To make the equipment permanent, just fill it in the base with Residue. It’s the power you draw from fallen bosses or objects all around. The joke is that not only weapons are destroyed between cycles, but also their partial improvements or special abilities, so you must first make sure that your build is maintained, and this is not entirely easy given the relatively large amount of Residues. However, because this ability will be unlocked shortly after the start, there is no frustration and you can achieve the desired result with a very fast game.

However, you must be careful about the moments when you die, even when using rewind time. Your mailbox with all the Residue collected will remain at the point of death and you must go for it to recover the substance. But this is usually waiting for Julianna, who appears in the game here and there and is one of the strongest and most unpleasant opponents. What’s more, Julianna can be controlled by a live player – including you invading an alien game – who sets out from his own base and relies on another set of unique abilities. Julianna, whether she is controlled by artificial intelligence or a living person, sets traps, takes the opportunity to take on the form of anyone she sees in the location and, most importantly, is extremely accurate thanks to her sniper rifle. But if you manage to kill her, you will also get a lot of useful things from her and a large amount of Residual, which Colt will not forgive to comment on during the next cycle, when he and Julianna talk again on the radio. But revealing any other details would interfere with the spoilers, and as I said a moment ago, I would ruin your experience and the joy of discovering who Colt is, who leaves him all the glowing news and how he is – if at all – in the whole Blackreef Island entangled.

After finishing the game and successful… well, I won’t even tell you what, I have to say that Deathloop surprised me. With its imaginativeness, visual style, technical flawlessness and gameplay, which really shakes up memories of Dishonored and is its proud successor. Thanks to several adjustments in the gameplay, but also a large number of first aid kits and cartridges, you will probably not get stuck anywhere for too long and playing will not start to frustrate you. You don’t have to worry about time loops if you’re scared of rogue games, and feel free to bite into Colt’s story without much worry. Deathloop will meet you and let you spend one crazy but supremely satisfying day on an island full of deranged maniacs and murderers. And that sounds like a pretty solid start to the fall season, what do you say ?!