There’s no getting around the fact that Arkane Lyon’s Deathloop is a very strange game. It is somehow a rogue-lite, first-person shooter, stealth game, and Twin Peaks-esque mystery all rolled into one glorious, confusing product. From the opening moments, Deathloop presents its rollicking narrative with a dash of humor, a healthy dose of style, and a shockingly wonderful set of guns and skills that never cease to delight. And if that’s not compelling enough the pervasive sense of discovery is more than enough to carry anyone across the finish line of this truly mesmerizing video game.

Story

Deathloop starts right in the middle of the action: you’re stabbed to death before waking up on a beach with no memory of who you are or how you got there. Many of the disparate elements that make up Deathloop might seem familiar at first, but Arkane Lyon has recontextualized them in such a way that the result is greater than the sum of its parts.

Deathloop utilizes its rogue-lite structure as an ingenious method of storytelling; it presents the very nature of its world as your ultimate target. The mystery of how the loop began and how the Visionaries, Colt, and Julianna are connected to it unravels at just the right pace and in some truly surprising ways.

Deathloop is a mystery at heart and it devotes itself to this premise: you know nothing about the Visionaries other than a few hastily scrawled words about their personalities and special abilities. Building out each Visionary’s profile and learning about them both as people and adversaries are among soem of the most fun aspects of the entire game.

Deathloop weaves a thrilling narrative that keeps you guessing through to the game’s conclusion (and even beyond). The Visionaries are all well-crafted, interesting individuals with their own motivations and proclivities, many of which can be used to your advantage. The dialogue is often hilarious especially the interactions between the main character, Colt, and one of the Visionaries, Julianna.

While the game’s story is strong where it counts, I did find the objective-based approach for learning each Visionary’s routine distracts a bit from the larger narrative. No part of the story feels bad or superfluous, but it can be easy to get so focused on a particular Visionary that you forget about the bigger picture.

Gameplay

Knowledge is power in Deathloop, and the means of collecting and analyzing all that knowledge is the best part of the game. Every loop offers new opportunities to pursue leads you gleaned from the previous day’s adventures. What you’ve learned sticks with you from loop to loop so every discovery feels momentous and no moment feels wasted.  

From solid gunplay to the more science-fiction Slab abilities that turn Colt into a super-powered assassin, the combat is a blast. Guns feel good no matter which archetype you’re holding, and the rarer firearms allow for deep customization depending on how you want to play. Trinkets allow you to specialize both Colt and his weapons to suit the challenge ahead, creating a near-infinite sense of replayability.

The Slabs elevate everything about Deathloop’s combat to another level, allowing Colt to leap up to out-of-reach rooftops, turn invisible, and toss enemies around with his mind. They’re as much fun as they sound and allow for some wild setups when taking on large groups of enemies.

The Visionaries are some of the best boss battles I’ve ever experienced in a game; Arkane sets up each region like a playground tailored to that Visionary’s style, which gives you plenty of opportunities to set up some spectacular murders. Taking down the Visionaries is also how you unlock and upgrade their Slabs, offering an additional incentive to go back for a rematch.  

And even as you start to get the hang of combat and the routine of a particular region, Deathloop can throw you another curveball: Julianna. At any point during your game, Julianna might stop by for a visit, locking down your exit routes and hunting you doggedly. But Julianna is no ordinary enemy: she’s another player. Smarter, stronger, and more nimble than any other foe, Julianna can shatter any well-placed plan in an instant.

Playing as Julianna is thrilling in its own right. Taking Colt down is a rush unlike anything in the main game, even taking on Julianna herself. There are incentives for creative play, as well, with better gear and cosmetics offered as you level Julianna up. This side of Deathloop is so much fun that it has me excited for the possibility of Arkane working on a dedicated multiplayer game sometime in the future.

Audio & Visuals

Deathloop sports a lovely 1960s aesthetic that is pervasive throughout Blackreef. The dated décor in each region has an almost haunted look to it: faded neon signs lie, forlorn, on the ground and vending machines litter the streets in various states of disrepair.

No one area looks like the other, and every region carries a different vibe depending on the time of day. You may find a beautiful sunrise in the morning only for the entire map to be covered in snowdrifts by evening. In some cases these environmental cues have practical effects: hidden passages open up depending on the time of day Colt happens to be there.

The interiors are downright gorgeous, echoing both a bygone era of American design while also playing into the island’s suspended place in time. Even the more brutalist architecture has a certain beauty to it, leaning into the abandoned military complex motif and creating a sense of foreboding through sheer scale and color.

And if the visuals are impressive the soundtrack is just as good. It strikes a perfect balance between minimalism and period accuracy, swelling to life with a groovy beat when combat starts. A striking note plays whenever an enemy notices you, and the way the music settles back down from its combat theme is an exceptional use of sound design.

Verdict

Deathloop was an unsettling experience at first, but once I settled into its rhythm I was hooked. It’s a tantalizing mystery backed by complex, versatile gameplay and exceptional art design, and will undoubtedly be looked to as a benchmark title for narrative delivery, level design, and the stealth-FPS genre for years to come.