Arkane's Deathloop

[henke]

Well, gameplay trailer is up.




Doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence. There are bits that look lifted straight from Dishonoured, but it seems far too comical to work as an immersive sim.

I love the part from 1:40-1:55 where it almost looks like stop-motion animation in a Into The Spiderverse kinda way. Tho I'm guessing it's been chopped up a bit extra for the trailer in order to look that way and the actual game will play more like the segments before and after that.

[Jason Moyer]

There's finally some more info about the game on Bethesda's website https://bethesda.net/en/game/deathloop

The gist of it seems to be:

The player controls Colt, the guy trying to end the deathloop by assassinating 8 targets across the island in one day.
The player's abilities are customizable and stealth, guns, and powers seem to be the primary skills you can focus on.
It's a PS5/PC exclusive.
Juliana is trying to stop Colt from completing his mission. She can be controlled by AI or by another human, who can "sneak into another player's campaign", although this is totally optional.
During each loop you're trying to uncover hints to help take out your 8 targets.
The setting is 60's retro-futurism.

This sounds pretty awesome, I can't lie. Then again Arkane could probably release a version of Monopoly that doesn't suck.

[Harvester]

Damn, that's a stylish trailer, looks great!

[Brethren]

For the record, I think it looks great. A couple other items to add to the "things we know" list:

-The game will be out before the end of the year.
-It will be a timed exclusive. I take that to mean that it is a timed console exclusive, and will still be available for PC at launch.

[twisty]

There are bits that look lifted straight from Dishonoured, but it seems far too comical to work as an immersive sim.

I dunno, it kind of fuses some of the flavours of their past IPs with a No One Lives Forever vibe. Despite the comical silliness, I think that most fans of the game would agree that it was quite immersive in its own way.

[henke]

So it sounds like the gameplay loop will be a roguelite thing kinda similar to Prey Mooncrash? I only played a little bit of Mooncrash so I can't say for sure, but that one also focused on replaying the same scenario over and over until you could complete all its missions in one go, right?

[heywood]

I dunno, it kind of fuses some of the flavours of their past IPs with a No One Lives Forever vibe. Despite the comical silliness, I think that most fans of the game would agree that it was quite immersive in its own way.

But NOLF was intended to be a spoof, this is not (as far as I can tell). Even though it was a spoof, I would say NOLF still qualifies as an imm sim. It works because the story, art direction, dialogue, villains & henchmen, and gadgets all fit together like puzzle pieces of the same concept.

Based on the trailer, I don't like the look of this game at all. It looks like Dishonored with bits of Fallout or Bioshock inspired 20th century retro dropped in. With weird villains. And too much shine.

[Thirith]

To me the aesthetic of the game looks cohesive and interesting, drawing from the same well as We Happy Few but giving it a very Arkane spin, with a dash of The Prisoner and a healthy helping of grindhouse. It won't be for everyone, but I'd rather have more diversity in what games can look, sound and feel like.

[Bucky Seifert]

I always appreciate it when a game gives us furries something to latch onto. :3

Yeah! I mean, not that I know anything abou- aw hell who am I kidding I'm total furry trash too.

But for reals though this game looks really great, and I'm always down for any game from Arkane, especially since their writing as been gradually improving over time and this looks really good in that regard so far.

Also great to see a AAA game where you play a POC.

[heywood]

To me the aesthetic of the game looks cohesive and interesting, drawing from the same well as We Happy Few but giving it a very Arkane spin, with a dash of The Prisoner and a healthy helping of grindhouse. It won't be for everyone, but I'd rather have more diversity in what games can look, sound and feel like.

It's ironic you said that, because Deathloop looks derivative to me. The resemblance to Dishonored is striking, at least to my eyes. But it's also not far from the Bioshocks, Outer Worlds, and even We Happy Few. I'm not sure what to call it, maybe "cartoony reality".

[Judith]

Environment took a significant hit since Dishonored 2, but that was really super high bar already. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to make something that plays cool first, with models, shaders and all the AAA stuff being more budget-restricted now. I'm okay with that; gameplay is still king, the rest is secondary.

[Starker]

I also think it looks a bit like Dishonored, but I like the look of Dishonored, so for me it's not a bad thing. Also, I thought Dishonored was the most boring when it was played by very patiently depopulating the level one by one and the most interesting when you played as a stabby stabby assassin and it looks like Deathloop delivers more on the latter point. Hopefully they have made the enemies more of a challenge this time.

[Sulphur]

Environment took a significant hit since Dishonored 2, but that was really super high bar already. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to make something that plays cool first, with models, shaders and all the AAA stuff being more budget-restricted now. I'm okay with that; gameplay is still king, the rest is secondary.

Exactly. I think this art style's a function of a lower budget, and I'm 100% okay with that if it means more immersive sim games get made. They've used a clever stylisation to make that not that stand out, which is the comic book + 60s kitsch aesthetic. I can take or leave the art style, it doesn't do much for me, but I'll be more interested in how the game plays.

It sounds like they may be going for a Hitman-style design with NPCs going through a set of routines that rewind with the clock, so you can predict where targets will be and choose your means of assassination, and they're layering on top of that a drop-in multiplayer or AI 'invasion' mechanic for Julianna as a more dynamic assassin throwing a wrench in your plans.

edit: or what JM said further up, days ago.

[Judith]

Exactly. I think this art style's a function of a lower budget, and I'm 100% okay with that if it means more immersive sim games get made. They've used a clever stylisation to make that not that stand out, which is the comic book + 60s kitsch aesthetic. I can take or leave the art style, it doesn't do much for me, but I'll be more interested in how the game plays.

It sounds like they may be going for a Hitman-style design with NPCs going through a set of routines that rewind with the clock, so you can predict where targets will be and choose your means of assassination, and they're layering on top of that a drop-in multiplayer or AI 'invasion' mechanic for Julianna as a more dynamic assassin throwing a wrench in your plans.

edit: or what JM said further up, days ago.

After rewatching the trailer I actually noticed quite a few setpieces from Dunwall and Carnaca, although they look a bit simpler either due to different shaders or simpler lighting.

And about the gameplay, I wonder if the game will have anything to stop the player-controlled Julianna from actually helping the main character end his loop. Because that's one of the first things I'd love to try out

[Owl2]

I loved it too, but i hope it comes out for pc.
I still havent bought dishonored 2 yet because its so costly :c
Cant wait.

[Anarchic Fox]

Also, Arkane is consistently bad at making trailers that show off their games' strengths. The trailer for Prey comes to mind, which emphasized horror above all else.

[catbarf]

It's ironic you said that, because Deathloop looks derivative to me. The resemblance to Dishonored is striking, at least to my eyes. But it's also not far from the Bioshocks, Outer Worlds, and even We Happy Few. I'm not sure what to call it, maybe "cartoony reality".

Yeah, and it's not just the graphical style; the sequence of teleporting up to a roof and then jump-assassinating an enemy looked straight out of Dishonored.

It reminds me a lot of Bioshock Infinite, in that it looks like very similar graphical style and core gameplay as the prior games, but drawing art inspiration from a different era. Then again, maybe the trailer doesn't represent the gameplay, or was deliberately meant to evoke Dishonored.

[chk772]

TBH, this is the least appealing Arkane game for me so far. Just have no use for such action based games... (and I doubt that it will be a good seller, TBH. I'm sure most kids will be like "WTF is that?" after seeing the trailer).

It seems like Dishnored is not ceased forever, according to a guy from Arkane Studio (can't remember where I read it some weeks ago), so, I have hopes for that in the future. Or a Prey 2, which would be absolutely awesome (actually, I'd even prefer that over another Dishonored).

[Thirith]

I loved both Dishonored and Prey, but IMO both of these completed their stories. I can imagine further games in the Dishonored world, but I don't want them to churn out sequels just so that there is a sequel.

At the same time, I love what Arkane does with the immersive sim genre. Perhaps there'd be different kinds of scenarios that could benefit from their talents. Perhaps an immersive sim spy game, something with a touch of Alpha Protocol? Or Valve could actually let them complete a Half-Life spinoff?

Deathloop looks more actiony to me, which is why I'm not as excited as I might otherwise be. They've shown they can do action with Dark Messiah, but I prefer having time to enjoy the environments and definitely am more of a stealth afficionadol. But I do hope that Deathloop works out for them, because they're definitely among my favourite developers.

[froghawk]

I can easily imagine Prey 2 Hell on Earth style. That's what they seemed to be hinting at with the ending - the only issue is it would have to be a much bigger game to capture the same sort of open design.

Did anyone play Wolfenstein: Youngblood? The reviews scared me off. Sounded like it had great Arkane level design but the gameplay loop was loot-bollocks.

[chk772]

I loved both Dishonored and Prey, but IMO both of these completed their stories. I can imagine further games in the Dishonored world, but I don't want them to churn out sequels just so that there is a sequel.

At the same time, I love what Arkane does with the immersive sim genre. Perhaps there'd be different kinds of scenarios that could benefit from their talents. Perhaps an immersive sim spy game, something with a touch of Alpha Protocol?

I'd love that. Especially when it involves stealth gameplay.

[heywood]

I would be up for that as well, especially now that the Deus Ex franchise has been put on the shelf.

[EvaUnit02]

At the same time, I love what Arkane does with the immersive sim genre. Perhaps there'd be different kinds of scenarios that could benefit from their talents. Perhaps an immersive sim spy game, something with a touch of Alpha Protocol? Or Valve could actually let them complete a Half-Life spinoff?

These are definitely pipe dreams. Prey, Dishonored 2 and its expand-alone were big flops. The fact that Bethesda has taken a console timed exclusivity bribe for Deathloop from PlayStation speaks volumes, to mitigate some of the financial risk.

The rumours were that Bethesda didn't know what to do with Arkane, hence putting them to work assisting on the poor quality Wolfenstein spin-offs from 2019. Don't be surprised if they get rechristened as a Bethesda Game Studios satellite studio in future, assisting on TES, Fallout, etc.

[Jason Moyer]

Peak simultaneous players on Steam:

Dishonored: 19,930
Dishonored 2: 22,269
Prey: 24,594
Wolfenstein Youngblood: 6,481

I don't buy the idea that their games have somehow been getting less successful or that putting them on big franchise side projects is beneficial. Dishonored 2 was only a flop in the sense that it didn't sell as many physical copies as its predecessor, but even on console I'd wager that difference is down entirely to the difference in how people bought games in 2016-2017 vs 2011.

[EvaUnit02]

Peak simultaneous players on Steam:

Dishonored: 19,930
Dishonored 2: 22,269
Prey: 24,594
Wolfenstein Youngblood: 6,481

I don't buy the idea that their games have somehow been getting less successful or that putting them on big franchise side projects is beneficial. Dishonored 2 was only a flop in the sense that it didn't sell as many physical copies as its predecessor, but even on console I'd wager that difference is down entirely to the difference in how people bought games in 2016-2017 vs 2011.

Uh huh. I picked up both Prey and Dishonoured 2 on 50% off clearance ONE MONTH after both their respective releases. They were pseudo deluxe editions too, D2 came in in a cardboard digipak with a comic and Prey came with a black goo enemy stress ball.