MULTI Deathloop

Entwickler:

Deathloop transports players to the lawless island of Blackreef in an eternal struggle between two extraordinary assassins,” publishers Bethesda Softworks say in their brief description.” Explore stunning environments and meticulously designed levels in an immersive gameplay experience that lets you approach every situation any way you like. Hunt down targets all over the island in an effort to put an end to the cycle once and for all, and remember, if at first you don’t succeed… die, die again.

Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

DEATHLOOP is an innovative first person shooter launching for PlayStation 5 and PC from Arkane Lyon, the award-winning studio behind the critically acclaimed Dishonored franchise. Launching Holiday 2020!

Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

You’re crashing a party at the end of the world, stuck inside a time loop, and the only way to escape is to shoot your way out, killing eight targets before the clock strikes midnight and the loop resets. Deathloop presents a world without consequence, where even those you kill will resurrect when this violent groundhog day spins back up.

“You can really go crazy, go loud, go silent, explore as much as you want or be as fast as you want, but without missing out on the content,” game director Dinga Bakaba explains. “So, there is something that furthers the Dishonored paradigm to an extent, in terms of gameplay.”

Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

“You choose which district you want to go to, and what you want to do there,” Bakaba tells me. “You can go and do some assassinations, or you can just go and explore a district where there are no targets. So, there are a number of things you can do. So, it’s a little bit like a Dishonored game, but where you would make your schedule for the day, in a way like a Persona game, where you would organise your day, and say, ‘Okay, today I want to do this, and then that, and then this.’ But the structure is closer to Dishonored, with a bit more choice and agency about how you go about things.”

Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

There’s also that clock, counting down to midnight, and each objective you take on will reduce the time you have left for the remaining targets when you return to your hub. If you run the clock down before killing them all, you’re back at the start of the loop, each time with newfound knowledge for levels, NPC routines, routes, and tactics. There’s a glimmer of DNA from Prey: Mooncrash – not quite a roguelike, but designed to be mastered through repetition and experimentation.

“The acquisition of knowledge, and understanding what’s happening on Blackreef, and basically, as the trailer says, piecing together the puzzle, that’s the core of the game,” Bakaba says. “Understanding what is happening, who are those people, what are the rules of this world, what are the rules of the island, and then, how can I actually do this thing? Because when you say, ‘Eight targets, one day,’ that sounds easy. Actually, it’s not as easy as it looks.

“So, trying to unpack all those things, learning a little bit more about the targets, what they do, who they are, what makes them tick, what are their weaknesses, etc, and trying to line them up perfectly, is the core of the game. One of the ways we like to call this is the murder puzzle. It’s like an inverted Cluedo. You have to make a perfect run, and you will need lots of knowledge and understanding.”

Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

Deathloop will have players living a day over and over as the uncover the mysteries of the adventure’s setting, the island of Black Reef.

And while the loop of starting a run, dying, and restarting from the beginning makes Deathloop sound like a rougelike, Bakaba made clear that a few key choices differentiate it from the popular genre.

“You are piecing together what happened on the island, who you are, and what you are doing here and how you can escape,” he said. “The way it's a bit different from a roguelike is, imagine that I find an important clue, and I die just after that. Progress is still made. You might lose the gun that you found, but the story has moved forward. [The Protagonist] Colt now knows something and the player both knows something important and they need to act on this thing.”

Sounding reminiscent of last year’s acclaimed The Outer Wilds in that way, Deathloop also distances itself, according to Bakaba, though the team wants to preserve some of the mystery as to why.

“Not trying to say too much, but there is a turning point in the game where the progression becomes even more different than a roguelike,” he teased. “You play that same day over and over, but you don't necessarily do the same things, you are not necessarily in the same places, you don't have the same goals.”

The Arkane team wanted to make sure that players didn’t feel restricted by the time loop itself, and Bakaba cautions that players don’t need to worry about feeling limited by Deathloop’s timeline.

“The one thing we wanted to make sure is that it doesn't mean that the player is literally on the clock in their moment-to-moment gameplay,” he noted. “If you want to play very deliberately, very slowly, and take your time, read every note, look at every painting, the game will not punish you for that.”

Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

Deathloop marks Arkane’s first PS5 release, coming at the start of the next-generation console’s life. Both Bakaba and Mitton spoke to what it means to take advantage of the new console technology while also developing for PC.

“The first thing that it means for games is just comfort, like higher resolution, higher frame rate, things like HDR, some use of ray tracing, etc.,” Bakaba noted of the next-gen capabilities.

“Just having higher fidelity on screen to make Seb's team's work shine in a way that it never did before is really exciting. Of course, I mentioned the frame rate. I think that's something really important. Until now our games and consoles have always been 30fps. Being able to target 60 for an action game, it's very exciting.”

Zum Vergrößern anklicken....

Bakaba also noted how the DualSense is allowing for a new level of immersion, which is so important to Arkane’s design philosophy.

“It's got a lot of nice features with the haptics feedback, the active triggers. We are a first person game. We really value immersion a lot in our games,” he said. “Really feel the weapons in your hand, its reaction, how it reloads, how it reacts to reloading, etc... I think that players will enjoy those functionalities.

“This is something that we are...extremely proud to be part of, it's something so big. A new generation of console and the launch of them. It's not every time in a career that you have this opportunity. So, we are really thrilled,” Bakaba noted.

Zum Vergrößern anklicken....