Deathloop (2021)

This is a great mashup of run based games, with a bit of loot shooter, Outer Wilds, and Mega Man. I love that games like this and Hades can tell great stories to keep you engaged as you repeat the levels over and over. And I have to say I prefer the leads system to the total open ended Outer Wilds.

I've played several hours of this game now, and I think it's brilliant, one of the most fun games Bethesda has ever put out, and certainly one of the very best titles on current-gen consoles. It strikes a very delicate balance between open-endedness and railroading that mitigates potential frustrations while giving you that great combo of short, medium, and long-term goals to be tackled in mostly the order of your choice. It's one of those games that constantly invites comparisons to classic titles because it just has so many good ideas put into one package that recall those past fun experiences. It also has one of the best instances I have ever seen of a game where it's actually fun to revisit an area you've already done, something I really don't like in general. Will go more in-depth in a review, but for now I'm just taking my time with the game over the rest of the week(end) and seeing where else it goes.

In their glowing 10/10 review, IGN says, “Despite using a “live, die, repeat” structure, it’s best to think of Deathloop as a temporal metroidvania rather than anything close to a roguelike.” They go on to explain how the loop-based structure is more about gathering information to access different areas and ultimately set up a final loop, than just linearly getting further and further through the game each time to execute a whole game in one go. This has really got my attention back on this game, after I was afraid it wouldn’t quite be for me. It almost sounds like the best ideas of Hitman, Outer Wilds, and Dishonored all rolled into one creative, stylish new thing. Very interesting!

Watching the PlayStation State of Play and I’m struck by the feeling that I’m kind of looking forward to rogulikes going out of fashion. There are a lot of really fantastic roguelikes available but the transition into mainstream AAA games likely indicates that it’s hitting its peak and might cool off soon. It also means that I think we are moving into the period where certain elements are codified as how it’s done and the genre will grow stale as time goes on. Deathloop seems to mash all of what Arcane is known for throughout Dishonored and Prey and shoehorns roguelike mechanics into it. It could be exceptional and a lot of fun to play, but I already feel exhausted by the loop from simply watching highlights.