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Screenshot of a game scene: Sometimes you meet yourself in this game
Photo: Arkane
So all over again. Colt Vahn wakes up on a deserted beach with an empty bottle next to him. He sits up with a sigh and staggers into a new day. Or rather: on the same day as yesterday. Again he will look for new skills and weapons. Again he will solve puzzles, again he will try to kill visionaries and thus break a time loop. And very likely he will soon be lying on this beach again with an empty bottle next to him. He didn't make it again. But then today!
»Deathloop« is the latest game from Arkane, a studio in Lyon, France. With the two Dishonored games, this has already shown how one can combine fantastic worlds with exciting gameplay. »Deathloop« perfects this approach, which stands in a tradition of games like »Thief«, »Deus Ex«, »Bioshock« and »Half Life 2«. Action games that want to be more than just blasts that are complex - both in gameplay and in story.
Blackreef is the name of the island that is caught in the time loop. The island is full of rugged rocks surrounded by a cold - and very deadly - sea. There are settlements, bunkers and a research station on it. Architecture that looks as if a ship with a set for a James Bond film from the 1960s has been stranded at some point and as if it has resulted in places like Updall or Karlsbucht. It's old walls that have been given a colorful sixties look, a brightly colored chewing gum shop in a gloomy commercial building, live-action games on a pinnacle by the sea. And then there's the loop, a huge rusty eye that towers over the island. Worlds collide in »Deathloop«.
This also applies to the few people who live there. They are divided into eternalists and visionaries. The eight visionaries are rich individualists, the Eternalists are the rank and file, wearing masks and inconspicuous. Only there to give an audience to the extravagant wishes of the top eight. They in turn do everything to keep the world as it is. As their playground caught in time, rejecting change. It makes sense to recognize swipes at space-faring super-empires and their satisfaction with the current state of affairs.
Blackreef is divided into four areas, the day into four time units.
Every area looks different at every time of the day.
From a sunny morning to a frosty and snow-bearing evening, not only does the weather change, but also the environment.
As the tide sets in, areas are exposed, and some houses can only be entered at certain times.
Little by little, a world that is interlocked and built on each other is being deciphered.
The island is not a backdrop, but an extremely important element of the game.
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Arcane
Deathloop: Standard Edition (PC)
USK: From 18 years
USK: From 18 years
From € 56.99
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16.09.2021 4.38 p.m.
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Unlike in the earlier games by Arkane, ie »Dishonored« or »Prey«, the studio gives players a lot more freedom. While you can easily commit yourself to one style of play in the other titles, here you can design each run, each visit differently and try to use different skills. They are essential in a game where you keep reaching your limits in direct shootouts.
Teleport, for example, moves Colt Vahn a few meters, Nexus couples opponents together so that a fatal attack on a figure also hits the figures connected to it. Colt Vahn can make himself invisible or hack devices. The more the skills are developed, the more varied the possibilities. It's not overloaded, on the contrary: »Deathloop« is great at giving as many tools as necessary and leaving the rest to the imagination.
So Vahn experiences every day from the beginning and always designs it differently.
Go to the same places at different times, choose new weapons and skills.
And experience a game that is wonderfully dynamic, that can turn from a stealth game to an action festival in a short time.
Wonderful worlds create their own stories here, and the depths of human existence are explored again and again.
And yet the game manages to tell all of this with a wonderfully light tone.
"Deathloop" by Arkane, for PC and Playstation 5 from approx. 60 euros; USK: from 18 years
