Deathloop is the first Arkane game to actually click with me

As you’ve heard a dozen times by now, Deathloop very much feels like fellow immersive sim Dishonored. But here’s the thing—I didn’t like Dishonored. I really wanted to, I loved the idea of it, but for whatever reason the game and I just never clicked. So I was mildly apprehensive when I landed in Blackreef with Colt, Deathloop’s trapped-in-a-time-loop hero: because I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the trailers, the off-hands preview, everything about this game has been begging me to play it. Would I fall into the same trap I did with Arkane’s earlier immersive sims?

Deathloop’s premise is a simple one: eight targets, one day to kill them all. They call themselves Visionaries, unique bosses with their own personalities and slabs—powerful abilities that you can loot from them once defeated. Things like teleporting short distances, temporarily turning invisible or chaining enemies together to take down in one fell swoop are the prizes for taking down each foe. Killing all eight is the key to blowing apart the time loop. Leaving one alive or getting killed off instead means being flung straight back to the beginning of the day.

All’s not lost when you wake back up on Blackreef’s sandy shores, however. What I forfeited in weapons or attachments, I gained back in knowledge. The code to a safe that I was too late finding in my last loop could now be cracked open with ease. I had a better idea of where enemies would be, and how to efficiently take them out. After more exploring, I was able to begin retaining certain equipment across different loops, making me a little stronger with each new-old day. Untangling the island’s various mysteries using both brawn and brains is honestly far more compelling than I ever imagined.

Floating words through a broken window that say 'jump'

(Image credit: Arkane)

This is why Deathloop clicked with me where Dishonored didn’t. Dishonored made me feel like there was a right or wrong way to play. When I was handed cool powers on a silver platter, I felt like I would be punished for using them, forcing me into what I viewed as more boring non-lethal methods. But Deathloop never tells me off for messing up, and it pushes for experimentation. Having to start over again doesn’t feel like a failure.

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