Deathloop Reviews
Deathloop brilliantly transcends its shackles as an amalgamation of "Arkane's Greatest Hits" by offering players a thrilling, stylish take on shooters. Combat puzzles involving webs of untruths and harrowing escapes turn Blackreef into a time loop you won't want to break from.
If your prefer your time-looping adventures to be more stylish and violence-oriented, then Deathloop may be for you. Even with its various issues, there is satisfaction to be had in learning each map and completing the perfect series of assassinations.
DEATHLOOP is a cathartic blend of stealth, gunplay and powers that culminate in a satisfying gameplay loop as you explore the eccentric island of Blackreef. Whilst the narrative payoffs don’t always live up to the intriguing premise, there’s an undeniable sense of style and substance that help carry the game into really favourable territory. Knowledge really is power in DEATHLOOP and there’s a pleasurable novelty to much of the game’s design that allows it to feel engaging even when the player’s hand is held a little too tightly. Even within a year of time loop releases, DEATHLOOP stands out as its own unique beast worth experiencing.
The positives easily outweigh the negatives; Deathloop offers up a highly enjoyable gameplay loop shrouded in mystery.
DEATHLOOP won't be a game for everyone—however, if you are a fan of sandbox styled titles or if you just like games like Dishonored, DEATHLOOP is a familiar feeling experience presented in a unique way that makes it feel fresh and fun to play.
It's not an easy thing Arkane has done here in serving up a genuinely fresh take on one of the medium's most enduring genres. Deathloop redefines what a shooter can be, and the developer has used their entire toolkit to get there. Satisfying action, world-building that's second-to-none, style and substance, and a genuinely enthralling riddle at the centre, Deathloop delivers it all. And it's through these triumphs that Deathloop earns its place in the first-person shooter pantheon, and puts its hand up during Game of the Year talks.
Hiding in plain sight using an upgraded Aether slab and surprising and invading Julianna with a swift machete stab she never saw coming.
Deathloop is a good game that's just a little too afraid to fully take its hands off the wheel and let the player drive.
Level targets have many ways to complete, and players can switch between fighting and sneaking at any time. Julianna's "invasion" adds to the uncertainty of the game, but the tension can also disrupt the player's gaming experience. Many bugs in the process, will occasionally affect the player's mood when playing.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Deathloop layers a refined take on Arkane's signature mix of ability-driven action and stealth onto a time-looping premise, and the result is one of most memorable games of recent years. While many of the pieces may be familiar, the combination is fresh and full of surprises.
Deathloop is based on Dishonored foundations and uses many of its level design tropes. It must be considered a smaller project, but a very brilliant one, with very good ideas and an intriguing game concept.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Deathloop takes Arkane's well known brand of first-person action stealth and artfully melds it into a time-bending multi-assassination power fantasy.
Grab a copy and start dying as soon as you can!
It might take a flow-chart or two to understand its premise, but it takes experiencing a loop or two or three to discover its genius.
Deathloop takes elements from games like Bioshock and Dishonored, combining them with a Groundhogs Day like timeloop to create the coolest, most stylish, and best game of the year.
Deathloop is seriously slick. It’s a game that entrusts its players to engage with its systems in their own way, and while you’ll never at be a loss on what to do, you won’t have your hand held, either. It’s fast, it’s smooth, it’s a hell of a lot of fun. I almost don’t want the loop to end, quite frankly.
Going into our Deathloop review, we tried to have reasonable expectations. With any Bethesda game, you expect a certain level of bugs. Thankfully, Deathloop was rather bug-free; yes, there were a few bugs but nothing game-breaking. Arkane Studios did a great job crafting a story around Colt but sadly dropped the ball with Julianna. The team could put in a DLC at a later date expanding on her story or create an alternate tale. The game definitely has a learning curve because it does not hold your hand like other AAA titles.
And that’s the core paradox of Deathloop, the worst game in recent memory from a studio so good at what it does that it’ll still inevitably land on our Game Of The Year list when December rolls around. It’s a great game in spite of itself, and its titular selling point; the loop might be broken, but Arkane’s grasp of its core mechanics remains solid as ever.
Deathloop makes re-runs fun like never before.
Overall, I’d say that Arkane Studios may have possibly dropped the best game in the middle of this quality game drought we’re currently in (but I haven’t played Tales of Arise yet.) Deathloop isn’t nearly as original as it is refreshing and inventive. In fact, you could argue that Deathloop borrows the very best elements of everything that it rips off pays homage to and manages to stitch it together with a quality that’s not quite designer level, but considerably more convincing than a Wal-Mart brand knockoff.