Prepare to Die and Die and Die
DeathLoop is a first person shooter game that adds some pretty unique game play. It is made by Arkane Studios and Bethesda. I was pretty intrigued with this game before launch and I decided to give it a try and I am glad that I did.
If you watch the trailer, you can see how weird the idea for this game is. Basically, you are on an island that is stuck in a time loop where you basically live the same day over and over again. The only way to break the loop and get free from the island is to kill 8 "Visionaries" in the same day.
So every day, Colt, your character, wakes up on this beach and starts the lives the same day over and over again.
The goal is to break the loop by defeating the 8 visionaries, but the problem is they are all in different places throughout the day and you must find out where they are going to be and when by searching the island for different clues on their locations.
The island is broken up into four different locations and when you are outside of Colt's bunker exploring the locations, time essentially stands still, but once you go back into the bunker, time advances to the next phase. There is the morning phase, noon, afternoon and night time phase, and each location is different depending on the phase you are playing it in.
So you essentially just spend your time searching the different locations at different times and gather clues on the whereabouts of the visionaries and plan the best time to try and kill them.
The only problem is that you are also being hunted by an assassin named Julianna and she can appear at any time in any of the zones. So as you hunt down these visionaries, Julianna is also trying to hunt you down to protect the loop from ending.
The game is basically a single player game, but you can open your game lobby up for a multiplayer experience where other players can join your game as Julianna and hunt you down. You can also choose to play as Julianna to invade other people's games and mess with them. I haven't tried it yet, but I am looking forward to it and to try and keep other players from closing the loop.
I got this game when it released on the 14th, but I wanted to wait a while before I gave my first impressions on it because I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first. The idea for the game was so foreign and it took some time to get used to how it all worked. At first I thought it was kind of stupid, but the more I explored the island and figured out how the whole thing worked, I really began to enjoy it.
The visionaries are all basically scientists that created this large structure on the island that keeps it in an endless time loop. I have no idea how long this loop has been going, but you do eventually learn that Colt was there for at least 50 years the first time he was on the island and he did escape, but for some reason he came back.
When you die in the game, all of the gear and abilities that you get during the day are lost, unless you infuse them, which makes them persist through death and the days. It is a pretty cool progression system that is essential to being able to defeat the visionaries.
The graphics are really good and each area has so many little secrets to explore depending on the time of day. All the enemies also switch places depending on the time of day. The main square can be empty during the morning time, but towards the end of the day as the party begins, it starts to fill up with a lot of enemies, so it is best to avoid this area early on before you have built up some nice gear.
The progression system is pretty cool in the game as you collect weapons, upgrades and trinkets and then decide which ones that you want to infuse to keep for later runs. The visionaries also drop an upgrade called a slab that is like a special power, and the more times that you defeat them, you can upgrade their powers.
One thing that is pretty cool with the game is that they are taking full advantage of the new PS5 controller. When you fire the guns, there is some nice feedback with the triggers and when people talk to you through the walk talkie, it comes out of the controller's speaker.
Overall, I am really enjoying the game and it keeps getting better the more I discover things in the game. It is going to be pretty crazy trying to kill all of the visionaries in the same day, all while avoiding Julianna. It is a very different concept for a game, and one that does take a bit of getting used to, but once you do begin to understand how time works in this game, it really is a blast to play and the progression system rewards you for playing through, even if you die, which you will die quite a bit when you first start out.
This game is not for everyone, and I am sure it will come down in price soon, so if you are on the fence with this one, I would suggest waiting until it goes on sale to pick it up and give it a try. It is a fun game that is a nice break from the traditional game formula.
