A game that grabbed me with its 60s-style mod style and intriguing time-bending premise, Deathloop came out a good while ago and I didn't try it out until now (it helped that it was for sale on the PS Store for 20 bucks).
The premise, if you're not familiar, is that you are stuck in an endless loop on an island out in the "Polar Sea." After the game starts with your agonizing, brutal death, you wake up on a beach with no memories except for the odd floating text that shows up throughout the game, with a mission: break the loop.
Gameplay-wise, there's a bit of a Majora's Mask idea here - the island resets back to the same day each time, and you have to find a way to break the loop during that day, presumably so that time can move forward and people aren't trapped in this endless limbo - or at least, so that you aren't.
Essentially, the form this takes is that there are four broad maps, and each of them can be visited at four times a day - morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. Each is filled with people who have been encouraged to kill the player character and prevent him from breaking the loop. Why would they want this?
Well, the idea behind the loop apparently was to create a kind of utopian paradise where no one would ever die or even age. One could indulge in all manner of debauchery, violence, and hedonism with no fear of lasting repercussions. The hitch in that plan, though, it seems, is that the vast majority of people on the island don't actually retain their memories when the loop resets. To them, it's the first day of this grand utopian future - and it will always be that first day.
The exceptions are Colt, the player character, and Juliana, who now spends her time hunting him down and killing him - all in an effort to preserve this strange immortality they've achieved. In terms of gameplay, there's a Dark Souls-like Invasion system in which players can play as Juliana to show up in someone else's game and attack them (you can opt out of this is you aren't into PvP).
The game also uses a kind of loot system, and in the early missions, you find a way to hold onto individual items that you might like, with a resource called Residuum (also like Dark Souls, if you drop this when you die, you'll need to retrieve it before you die again, though enemies don't respawn as much).
It's funny, because I just watched a video essay about Glass Onion, the Rian Johnson film, which is also about a bunch of rich assholes who go to an island to escape some problem we mere mortals have to deal with (though this isn't just Covid, but time itself).
Deathloop is made by the same studio that did Dishonored, and while it's swapped out the 19th-century steampunk vibes for mid-century modern mod chic, I've actually heard it's set in the same world, perhaps just a century later (I'm 100% here for full on secondary-world fiction with a modern or semi-modern aesthetic).
Aside from Residuum, the other resource you have is Colt's memory - things like security codes can be auto-filled once you learn them, which makes traversal more efficient.
Currently, I'm stuck on a major foe who sits at the top of what would in a world without infinite respawns probably be a paintball or laser tag arena, though here they use live ammo. I've noticed a window high up on the building that is sometimes obscured by a cut-out of a planet (the arena is space-adventure themed) that I imagine is the quickest and most efficient way to take the guy out, but I don't know that I have the tools required to use that method yet.
Actually, infuriatingly, I actually took the guy down and nearly made it to the exit of the level, where I could use Residuum to infuse the "slab" he carried and thus be able to keep the teleportation ability of his for future missions and future loops (this might actually be how you can take him down quicker the next time) but died before I could get to the exit.
Like Dishonored, this is a game that favors a stealthy, strategic approach, though sometimes things devolve into a full firefight. Enemies hit hard, but sneaking up on them with your machete will let you take them out with relative ease (the violence is graphic, though not quite "Fallout 3 exploding skulls" graphic).
Ultimately, the game is setting things up for an eventual grand day in which you need to take out each of the eight major bosses in a single loop, but so far at least the game holds your hand enough to keep such a massive checklist of tasks manageable. I imagine there will be quick ways to take them out that you learn (like with that window) but only after you've amassed a great deal of knowledge and Residuum-infused gear.
Here, actually, the fact that there are only four levels (admittedly at four times of day each) makes the game's exploration an act of teaching you the maps, teaching you where the enemies are, and knowing where the paths of least resistance can be found.
I was kind of nervous going into it, but I'm starting to feel a bit more comfortable - though I'm devastated at that last death. We'll see how tricky it is to actually get through the end of the game.
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