Recently, the lovely folks over at Bethesda invited MKAU to their hands-off digital event for DEATHLOOP, an exclusive title promised back at E3 in 2019. Presented by Arkane Lyon’s very own Dinga Bakaba (Game Director) and Sébastien Mitton (Art Director), we were treated to some very impressive in-game footage and given the opportunity to ask some pressing questions.

Described as a Murder Puzzle, DEATHLOOP feels very much like Dishonoured, which comes as no surprise given it was created by the same developers. Players acquire and use a whole range of arcane-like abilities and weapons that could almost exist in real life as they hunt down the 8 Visionaries to eventually break the loop and escape the island. What makes this game very different from Dishonoured, however, is that if the character is killed off, the time loop is reset, and you’re back at the beginning.

This is very craftily demonstrated during the hands-off demonstration as fellow assassin Juliana finds and kills Colt, sending him back to the shores of Blackreef where he woke up on, but instead of simply starting again Colt remembers all that he had learned in his previous loop, and little reminders appear around the environment as you approach an area you’ve been before, giving you a bit of an edge over the opponent.

The footage and gameplay we were able to see has a very familiar feel to it. It seems to take place in a more realistic world, but has a slight Fallout feel to it, mainly in that the scenery and props have a bit of that 1970s feel to them. With such beautiful scenery, we were excited when we found out that you can take as long as you want to explore the world and complete the objective at hand, and we can see ourselves losing a few hours doing just this when we manage to get our hands on DEATHLOOP.

There is also plenty of replayability on the line for all kinds of gamers. Fancy speed running? Go for it! Want to emulate some of those impressively brutal kills you’ve seen in Dishonoured on YouTube? Have fun! There really is no right or wrong.

Another exciting aspect of DEATHLOOP is that multiplayer has been included, but not in the way you’d really expect. Your biggest in-game rival is fellow assassin Juliana, and while she is quite random as an AI in single player, things get more exciting as random players gain control of her if you happen to make use of the multiplayer option, and it’s only fair that you can do the same to them when it’s your turn to take the reins.

Probably the biggest thing that caught us by surprise is that death plays such an integral part in the mechanics of the game. Yes, you could theoretically finish the game without dying, but the looping mechanic is such an interesting concept that you’d have to be really crazy to not want to give it a try. One prime example that was demonstrated was a PIN-coded door very early in the game, and it wasn’t until a few deaths later that the code itself was found opening up yet route and option to tackle the level.

There’s always the option of heading all the way back to it, but why bother when you can just as easily wake up and slaughter your enemies all over again in a more and more spectacular fashion. Perhaps you’d like to manipulate it so your targets are in the same place at the same time – use the loop to your advantage to learn about their daily routine and make it happen!

We have to say, at the E3 announcement we weren’t particularly excited for this one as it didn’t really speak to a lot of us, but after the presentation held by Dinga Bakaba and Sébastien Mitton, and being given the opportunity to ask some questions after sitting down watching some actual gameplay, we’re really excited. We loved the gameplay of Dishonored, and DEATHLOOP takes everything that was great about that game, amplifies it, and throws even crazier mechanics into it.

Written by: MKAU Gaming