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DEATHLOOP

Deathloop is an exercise in trial and error, you must use the knowledge you have gained from previous loops to set your pawns in place in order to strike at the heart of the loop. It’s like the worlds most elaborate game of chess.
DEATHLOOP Game Cover
81%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
optimization, stability
76% User Score Based on 17,425 reviews
Critic Score 87%Based on 73 reviews

Platforms

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DEATHLOOP Game Cover

About

DEATHLOOP is a single player and multiplayer shooter game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Arkane Studios and was released on September 13, 2021. It received positive reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

In DEATHLOOP, you play as Colt, one of two rival assassins trapped in a time loop on the mysterious island of Blackreef. Your mission: break the loop by killing eight key targets before the day resets. With each new loop, learn from your mistakes, try new paths, and gain new weapons and abilities to help you succeed. The Digital Deluxe Edition includes unique weapons, character skins, the original game soundtrack, and more. NO RELEASE DATE OR DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER MENTIONED.

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DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
DEATHLOOP screenshot
+21
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76%
Audience ScoreBased on 17,425 reviews
story2.1k positive mentions
optimization1.1k negative mentions
  • The vibrant and immersive soundtrack effectively captures the game's 1960s retro-futuristic aesthetic, enhancing the overall gameplay experience.
  • The unique time-loop mechanic and engaging character dynamics, particularly between Colt and Julianna, create a fun and rewarding gameplay loop.
  • The game's stylish visuals and art direction, combined with witty dialogue and humor, contribute to an immersive and captivating atmosphere.
  • The game suffers from significant performance issues, including stuttering, crashes, and poor optimization, particularly on PC, leading to a frustrating experience.
  • Many players find the gameplay loop to be repetitive and tedious, with a lack of depth and challenge compared to previous titles from the same developer.
  • The narrative is criticized for being fragmented and lacking emotional payoff, with some players feeling disappointed by the execution of character development.
  • story
    6,105 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of "Deathloop" is a blend of intriguing concepts and engaging character dynamics, particularly between the protagonist Colt and his rival Julianna, whose banter adds humor to the narrative. While the game offers a unique time-loop mechanic that encourages exploration and puzzle-solving, many players find the storytelling to be fragmented and reliant on environmental clues, leading to a sense of confusion and a lack of emotional payoff by the end. Overall, the narrative is seen as entertaining but ultimately underwhelming, with some players expressing disappointment in its execution and conclusion.

    • “The world of Blackreef is full of personality — from its retro-futuristic design to the witty banter between Colt and Julianna that keeps the story fun and engaging.”
    • “The story is intriguing and well-paced, slowly revealing the mysteries behind the visionaries and the island.”
    • “The story is fun and complex, with Colt and Julianna's relationship being both really funny and really fleshed out.”
    • “The game throws you directly these "leads", which are essentially hand-holding missions that you just have to follow individually with specific instructions of what to do and when.”
    • “The story wears out fast with endless repetition, the guns feel weak and unsatisfying, and the powers are just Dishonored abilities with new names.”
    • “The story is convoluted and hard to follow, and the characters are generally unlikeable, in my opinion, and I wasn't able to get far enough into the story to make a real judgment call on it.”
  • gameplay
    5,413 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay in "Deathloop" has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its unique time-loop mechanic and the blend of stealth and action reminiscent of Arkane's previous titles like "Dishonored." However, criticisms often focus on the repetitiveness of the gameplay loop, simplistic AI, and the sometimes frustrating invasion mechanic, which can disrupt the single-player experience. Overall, while the game offers engaging mechanics and a stylish presentation, some players feel it lacks the depth and challenge found in Arkane's earlier works.

    • “ Unique and exciting gameplay loop with fluid combat.”
    • “The gameplay loop is addictive — figuring out how to break the cycle, learn patterns, and take down the visionaries in the perfect run feels incredibly rewarding.”
    • “The gameplay is a mix of stealth, shooting, puzzle-solving, and a bit of strategy.”
    • “Once you figure out the stealth gameplay design, the challenge drops significantly.”
    • “The invasion mechanic is hit or miss sometimes; I recommend leaving it in single-player mode until you've progressed far enough in the game so you aren't getting absolutely bodied by higher-level invaders.”
    • “The gameplay loop is extremely repetitive and tedious.”
  • optimization
    2,806 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The optimization of "Deathloop" has received significant criticism, with many players reporting severe performance issues, including stuttering, frame drops, and crashes, even on high-end systems. While some users have managed to achieve stable performance through various tweaks, the overall consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, particularly for PC, leading to a frustrating experience for many. Despite these issues, the game's engaging mechanics and narrative have garnered praise, suggesting that it may improve with future patches.

    • “The performance was solid - depending on the situation, I was able to get 90 to 120 fps without any stutters (and probably even higher if I tweaked the settings a bit).”
    • “Love the art style and visuals, optimization was good for me, but the stupidly confusing story and gameplay mechanism which there are too many of them are too much for me.”
    • “Despite the performance issues (which is no doubt going to be fixed), it's a well made game that brings things both from Dishonored and Prey, creating a fun replayable (or loop-able) game.”
    • “The performance is unbearable though.”
    • “The optimization is so bad, the cooler sent my PC into space.”
    • “It's a shame this AAA title keeps coming out with C- performance.”
  • graphics
    1,740 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of "Deathloop" have received mixed reviews, with many praising its stylish 1960s retro-futuristic aesthetic and vibrant art direction, which create an immersive atmosphere. However, players have reported significant performance issues, including stuttering and crashes, particularly on high-end graphics cards, leading to frustration over the game's optimization. Overall, while the visuals are considered appealing and unique, the technical execution has left some players disappointed.

    • “The graphics are stunning, blackreef is a gorgeous setting.”
    • “The 1960s aesthetic visually pops with a wide spectrum of colors and there is always something that catches the wandering eye.”
    • “Deathloop boasts a striking art style that blends retrofuturism with 60s mod sensibilities.”
    • “Crashes on launch with seemingly the only fix being rolling back several years worth of graphics drivers; avoid unless they fix it.”
    • “The game is unplayable on Steam due to so many graphical problems.”
    • “The graphics are outdated and the game runs poorly on hardware that should be able to handle it, with major stuttering even on low settings.”
  • music
    766 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in "Deathloop" has received widespread acclaim for its vibrant and immersive soundtrack, which effectively captures the game's 1960s retro-futuristic aesthetic. Reviewers highlight the blend of jazzy, funky tunes and high-energy combat tracks that enhance the gameplay experience, with many recommending the soundtrack for standalone listening. While some players noted occasional repetitiveness in the music, the overall consensus is that the audio design, including voice acting and sound effects, significantly contributes to the game's engaging atmosphere.

    • “It's just bursting with creativity, and I fell in love with its visual style, retrofuturistic vibe, and the soundtrack.”
    • “The voice acting is top-notch, and the soundtrack fits the game’s 60s spy-thriller vibe perfectly.”
    • “The soundtrack expresses a diversity of tempos, as well as musical styles performed from electronic music to swing, jazz, psychedelic rock, and pop from the 60s.”
    • “I think the worst crime is some of the audio, such as one level having a boring looping song and one enemy playing possibly the most annoying audio loop any enemy has ever induced on me. I will never have this achievement because I physiologically need to kill this enemy every time I hear them; my brain will not allow less.”
    • “However, the music leaves much to be desired, lacking creativity.”
    • “The only minus for me was some of the more repetitive music scores in locations like Fristad; the music really grinds on you when you spend a longer time on some of the maps.”
  • humor
    582 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in "Deathloop" is a standout feature, characterized by witty dialogue and engaging banter, particularly between the main characters, Colt and Julianna. While many players appreciate the lighthearted and often absurd tone, some find it grating or overly forced, leading to mixed reactions. Overall, the game's humor is described as fresh and clever, contributing significantly to its charm and replayability, though it may not resonate with everyone.

    • “Colt’s sarcastic humor and his constant banter with Julianna make the narrative even more enjoyable.”
    • “The writing is hilarious and the acting is perfect, and the art design is amazing.”
    • “The dialogue between Colt and Julianna is very well written and acted out to the point where they were both naturally funny.”
    • “All I ask is that the humor in games not be too cringey or memey (fine if you're into that, it's just not for me).”
    • “Julianna is basically f-ing Claptrap from Borderlands 2... that is to say not funny, but every line is delivered like it's supposed to be funny. Good thing I have to listen to her f-ing constantly.”
    • “She is unfunny, is most of the time just an annoyance at best or straight up unbearable at worst and really makes me not want to progress in the game since it just leads to more interactions with her.”
  • stability
    434 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The stability of the game has been widely criticized, with numerous users reporting frequent crashes, freezes, and various glitches that significantly hinder gameplay. Many players experienced issues such as audio stuttering, menu locks, and game-breaking bugs that resulted in lost progress, making the game feel unpolished and frustrating. While some users noted that the game runs smoothly on high-end systems, the overall consensus is that it remains a buggy and unstable experience, particularly on lower-end hardware.

    • “The good, controls feel grand, UI and the art direction is consistently on point, the invasion mechanic is quite fun and tense, I rarely felt frustrated or cheated by the game, the general gameplay loop kept me engaged till the end, this would be really fun facing off against a friend, and lastly it feels entirely bug free.”
    • “On the technical side, voice acting and overall audio are awesome, graphics could be better but works flawless on ultra-widescreen, maybe up the texture resolution a bit... no glitches or game-breaking bugs encountered, excellent performance throughout, and no crashes or freezes since day one!”
    • “Had a full, bug-free playthrough of a game with a decent story, interesting concept, and solid gameplay.”
    • “It's still buggy and crashed a few times when I played it.”
    • “The game is an incomplete, buggy mess.”
    • “The amount of random crashes and bugs/glitches which force you to kill the game is staggering.”
  • replayability
    399 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The reviews on "replayability" for the game reveal a mixed reception. While some players appreciate the potential for varied approaches and the engaging multiplayer component, many express disappointment in the overall replay value, citing a lack of meaningful content beyond the initial playthrough and a linear progression that diminishes the incentive to replay. Overall, the game is seen as having limited replayability compared to previous titles from the same developer, with some players finding enjoyment in exploring different strategies while others feel the experience becomes repetitive after the first completion.

    • “The open layouts give you countless options to approach objectives however you like, which greatly boosts replayability.”
    • “This design promotes exploration and replayability, as each loop offers new opportunities to uncover secrets and refine tactics.”
    • “Smart, hilarious, and endlessly replayable, Deathloop makes dying feel like the most fun you’ll ever have.”
    • “Limited replayability: once the loop is solved, the incentive to replay diminishes.”
    • “Sadly there's not much replay value after the main campaign, which is kind of weird for a game based around a time loop.”
    • “The replayability of the same levels, over and over again is the whole game.”
  • grinding
    322 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and repetitive due to the necessity of replaying the same areas multiple times to progress. While some appreciate the evolving strategies and discoveries that can make repeated runs feel rewarding, others feel that the lack of variety and the punishing save system contribute to a frustrating experience. Overall, the grinding can detract from the enjoyment, especially as the game progresses and the novelty of the time loop wears off.

    • “The hint and tracking system was well done and really helped make it not tedious.”
    • “There is little to no grinding and it isn't a rogue-lite where you farm endlessly for minor upgrades.”
    • “The story is so-so, and even though there is technically no grinding, the game still manages to feel grindy.”
    • “After that it can get stale if you want to unlock everything, which can get tedious and boring.”
    • “The necessity to replay areas to gather information and eliminate targets can feel tedious, especially when progress is lost due to unforeseen events or mistakes.”
    • “While the time-loop mechanic initially feels fresh and exciting, it quickly devolves into a tedious grind of repeating the same tasks over and over again, with little variation or innovation to keep players engaged.”
  • atmosphere
    160 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its stylish 60s aesthetic, immersive art direction, and engaging sound design, which together create a captivating and unique environment. Players appreciate the blend of humor, dynamic level design, and a soundtrack that enhances the overall experience, although some feel it lacks the depth found in previous Arkane titles like Dishonored. Despite minor criticisms regarding AI and technical issues, the game's atmosphere is considered a standout feature that draws players into its world.

    • “The audio design complements the game's atmosphere, with a soundtrack that blends period-specific music with more contemporary sounds.”
    • “The retro-futuristic aesthetic of Blackreef and the atmospheric soundscape contribute to the game's immersive quality, creating a world that feels both familiar and alien.”
    • “The atmosphere is fun and unique, the soundscape is a masterpiece, the level design is superb, the gameplay is very layered and fluid once you get the hang of it.”
    • “I recently played Doom 3 and Myst IV—both had far more atmosphere and artistic depth.”
    • “Another installment of Arkane's tight gameplay and brilliant level design, but it lacks the atmosphere that Prey and Dishonored had.”
    • “The game is bleeding atmosphere and it shows Arkane Studios' attention to detail; people have said the AI is janky (it is, don't kid yourself), but they are lore-wise a bunch of random party animals who know they can't die, so they are gonna do some weird stuff.”
  • emotional
    77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The emotional aspect of the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding the character dynamics, particularly between Colt and Julianna, to be both humorous and poignant, while others feel the story lacks depth and emotional payoff. Many reviewers noted that despite strong voice acting and engaging gameplay, the narrative fails to create a lasting emotional connection, often leaving players feeling hollow or frustrated by the lack of meaningful resolutions. Overall, while there are moments of emotional resonance, they are overshadowed by a repetitive story and a disjointed emotional landscape.

    • “Voice acting is another strength, with performances that bring the characters to life and add emotional weight to the story.”
    • “Julianna and Colt's relationship is both heartbreaking and very funny, and the unique dialogue they both have is amazing.”
    • “However, Colt and Julianna show more emotional depth as you uncover their pasts, and their relationship becomes more complex than just two assassins trying to outplay each other.”
    • “A temporarily fun gameplay gimmick with a fairly boring story lost interest about 5-10 hours in but pushed through to beat it.”
    • “The repetitive levels and the boring story means that the only fun part of the game is the actual action of fighting enemies, but even that gets old quickly when, once again, you have to play the same 6 maps over and over again to gather intel so that way on your 5th run of the level you can finally accomplish the objectives (usually assassinating a high-value target) properly.”
    • “This game has a boring story, cliched shooter mechanics, and an amnesiac trope main character.”
  • character development
    52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising the character designs and voice acting, particularly for the main characters Colt and Julianna, who are noted for their charisma and engaging dialogue. However, several reviewers criticize the execution of character arcs, citing a lack of depth and meaningful progression, especially for secondary characters and villains, which detracts from the overall narrative experience. While some players appreciate the unique storytelling approach and the integration of character development through environmental storytelling, others feel it falls short, leading to a sense of disappointment in the game's conclusion.

    • “The character designs are great, and all the little props and details of the world are a nice touch.”
    • “There was actual character development and interaction with you as a player directly affecting each individual loop.”
    • “The character development is actually pretty decent between Colt and Julianna as they deliver witty dialogue throughout the multiple loops.”
    • “I don't know man, I just feel like the plot and character development here is just very poorly executed and they could have accomplished it in such a way that it's established early on and then they could have left you to your devices for the whole second half of the game when you try to figure out how to kill 7 people in one day.”
    • “A main cast of only trigger-happy mad scientists and eccentric artists with no straight-man is aggravating and tiresome; even worse, only the protagonist and main antagonist get character development because of the time loop.”
    • “There is no substantial character development whatsoever.”
  • monetization
    46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization aspect of the game has drawn significant criticism, with many users expressing disdain for the prevalence of microtransactions and viewing the game as a cash grab rather than a genuine artistic endeavor. While some appreciate the game's design and unique elements, they feel that the monetization strategies detract from the overall experience, leading to frustration and disappointment. Overall, players are divided, with some praising the absence of microtransactions while others lament the rushed and unoptimized feel of the product.

    • “Because these guys spend their money in the art and design departments instead of marketing and monetization schemes.”
    • “Arkane Studios is one of the last standing western studios that are willing to take risks and create actual video games, not products that drive the sales of microtransactions or gaming-themed casinos.”
    • “The gaming industry is cynical and greedy mostly because being cynical and greedy is hugely profitable, so when games without microtransactions, season passes, 'time savers' or live service content are financially successful it sends a message that we still want unique and interesting games like Deathloop.”
    • “I blame Bethesda's 'GaaS, in-game purchases' fever dream post-2016 for what really ruined Arkane.”
    • “This feels like a quick cash grab, and my cash... they grabbed.”
    • “The idea of the game is great, but this unoptimized cash grab is a waste of $60.”
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87%Critics’ scoreBased on 73 critic reviews
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17h Median play time
21h Average play time
16h Main story
35h Completionist
6-30h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 195 analyzed playthroughs
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Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

DEATHLOOP is a shooter game with science fiction theme.

DEATHLOOP is available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, PlayStation 5, Windows and others.

The main story can be completed in around 16 hours, while the entire game is estimated to take about 35 hours to finish. On average players spend around 21 hours playing DEATHLOOP.

DEATHLOOP was released on September 13, 2021.

DEATHLOOP was developed by Arkane Studios.

DEATHLOOP has received positive reviews from players and positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its optimization.

DEATHLOOP is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Returnal, Remnant II, Prey, Dishonored 2, Chernobylite and others.