![]() The art design is extrapolated so far out from reality that it could easily have been its own thing, especially as everyone talks like glib YouTubers – not someone born during the Second World War.ĭeathloop – Julianna deserves her own game (pic: Bethesda) ![]() Speaking of odd design decisions, the game is set in an alternate history version of the 60s and for absolutely no obvious reason. The masks were probably to prevent the game from being too disturbingly violent but surely the sensible option would’ve been to just have less gory kill animations. This means that there’s never any chance of missing an opportunity because you were too late, but it also means the game feels off-puttingly sterile and empty, as while it’s always filled with people you can’t interact with any of them except down the barrel of a gun.Įavesdropping on guards as they talk is often vital to your progress, especially discovering side quests, but since everyone wears masks – often making them look like animated shop mannequins – they never really feel human, despite some fun dialogue. Unlike Zelda: Majora’s Mask you don’t see people walking about, going about their business, even though the layout of an area has often changed because of actions (some caused by you) earlier in the day. Once you’re in an area there’s no time limit but there’s also no schedule to keep up with. It’s not that playing as her is super easy but more so that poor weapon balancing discourages you from experimenting. ![]() Especially once you start getting flooded with trinkets every time you level up. And yet the gun she starts with, an explosive long range rifle, is so useful there’s rarely any need to use anything else. If you choose to play as Julianna then you get to invade someone else’s game and are able to level her up by completing in-game achievements. Others are gained by killing one of your targets and stealing theirs, which range from partial invisibility to a limited form of telekinesis and being able to link up enemies so any damage done to one is felt by all. You start off with one which grants you two extra lives, rewinding time a few seconds every time you die – with the final death resetting the loop to the morning. The basic map is the same whatever time of day it is but things do change, including your targets being present or not and things like buildings getting set on fire.Īs well as a variety of firearms, which often have unique buffs or abilities, you also have special powers gifted by the anomaly. There’s no time limit within an area and you can leave whenever you like, but doing so automatically advances you onto the next time period, before looping back round. The island is also divided into four separate open world areas, so each day you have to make a choice of which one to visit and when. ![]() Your goal is to get all seven targets in the right place at the right time, so you can kill them in one loop, but rather than that being something you have to puzzle out as a player the game explains each step in detail, which is further simplified by splitting the loop up into four sections: morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. The key difference with something like Prey is that Deathloop provides much clearer instructions on how to progress, to the point where the only thing you have to work out yourself is the combat tactics. Publisher Bethesda has tried their best, but this is a difficult game to explain unless you actually play it and it’s almost certainly not what you think it’s going to be (which, ironically, means it would’ve been perfect for Game Pass, except it’s a timed PlayStation 5 console exclusive – one of the last deals Bethesda made before being acquired by Microsoft). It’s not hard to imagine the game Arkane Studios must’ve envisioned when they first started work on Deathloop, and the unavoidable compromises they had to make in order to turn it into a mainstream game. It’s exactly the same game as before, although an update including an extended ending is coming to all formats as a free update. The makers of Dishonored and Prey create a Groundhog Day style adventure where you have to escape reliving the same day again and again.Īlthough it was a PlayStation 5 and PC timed exclusive at launch Dishonored is now also available on Xbox Series X/S, and because Microsoft now owns publisher Bethesda it’s also on Game Pass. Deathloop – not quite what you’d expect (pic: Bethesda)
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