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Deathloop 2021
Deathloop is a 2021 first-person shooter game made by Arkane Lyon and released by Bethesda Softworks. Players control Colt Vahn, a killer trying to break free from a repeating day cycle by murdering eight people called visionaries before midnight arrives each time. The narrative takes place on an island called Blackreef. Every day splits into morning, noon, afternoon, and evening phases; traveling between the island’s four areas makes time move forward. With Colt's collection of tools and abilities, players must figure out how best to kill all targets within a single day. Like previous works from Arkane, Deathloop uses an immersive simulation style that lets players choose many different paths to complete tasks.
Work on Deathloop started in 2018 as a smaller project allowing Arkane to try out new gameplay ideas. The title draws from earlier projects like Dishonored, bringing in non-linear play and removing moral choices so that risks don’t affect the story outcome, along with Prey: Mooncrash which tested roguelike mechanics using limited resources. Arkane included asymmetrical multiplayer features taken from their unfinished game The Crossing where a second player controls Julianna to hunt Colt. Story and visuals were shaped by movies and shows such as Groundhog Day and The Avengers, while the island design was inspired by the Scottish Highlands and Faroe Islands.
Deathloop launched on 14 September 2021 for Windows PC and PlayStation 5, followed by releases on Xbox Series X and Series S on 20 September 2022. Even though the setting is part of the Dishonored universe, Bethesda didn’t promote it as a spin-off due to its own unique plot and characters. Critics responded positively to the game overall; they liked its gameplay structure, visual style, characters, and storyline but pointed out flaws in AI behavior. Many called Deathloop innovative and considered it one of Arkane Studio’s strongest efforts. At launch, over five million people played it, and it was shortlisted for multiple year-end awards including Game of the Year at the Game Awards, D.I.C.E. Awards, and British Academy Games Awards.
Crew
- Director
- Dinga Bakaba, Sébastien Mitton
- Designer
- Gauthier Roussel
- Programmer
- Hugues Tardif
- Artist
- Sébastien Mitton
- Writer
- Paweł Kroenke, Sandra Duval
- Producer
- Yoann Guilloud
- Music
- Tom Salta
Details
- Developer
- Arkane Austin
- Publisher
- Bethesda Softworks
- Platforms
- PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
- Engine
- Void Engine
- Series
- Dishonored
