Reseña de Deathloop

He estado pensando mucho en Deathloop últimamente: de camino al trabajo, paseando al perro, en la ducha. Mis días han estado salpicados de preguntas candentes, nuevas teorías, posibles rutas a través de los niveles, tanto que he estado escribiendo notas, notas muy detalladas. ¿Conoces el famoso meme de Charlie Day con su tablero de teoría de la conspiración cubierto de hilo rojo? Ese he sido yo a lo largo de todo mi juego de Deathloop , y todo lo que quiero hacer es jugar más.

Mira, aunque Deathloop te guiará de la mano hasta cierto punto, hay innumerables formas de jugar al nuevo juego de disparos hiperelegante de Arkane Studios. Animar a los jugadores a experimentar con la variedad de sistemas, actualizaciones, armas y más, encontrar su propia manera de resolver la tarea en cuestión es parte de la diversión. Espera, déjame volver al principio aquí.

bucle mortalte pone en la piel de Colt, un hombre que se despierta en una playa sin saber dónde ni quién es. Da la casualidad de que está en Blackreef, una isla misteriosa donde todos los días son iguales y lo han sido durante algún tiempo. El estado purgatorio de la isla es solo uno de los muchos misterios que me moría por descubrir desde el principio, y el viaje por esa madriguera de conejo es uno que probablemente no olvidarás. Afortunadamente, Colt tampoco. A pesar de despertarse con amnesia y vivir el mismo día una y otra vez, en realidad puede recordar nuevos descubrimientos de cada bucle. Aquí radica el concepto principal de Deathloop; cuantos más días juegues, más conocedor y, hasta cierto punto, poderoso, se vuelve Colt. Recibido por la voz de la igualmente críptica Julianna cada vez que se despierta,

La vista es hermosa. Sería una pena que pasara algo malo…

No, ni la muerte le dará a Colt lo que quiere. El ciclo simplemente comienza de nuevo. Y Colt morirá mucho. Sin embargo, si bien describir a Deathloop como un roguelike es correcto, también se siente increíblemente reductivo. Sí, morir (o completar un ciclo de un día completo) hará que Colt regrese al principio con nada más que una metralleta oxidada y su confiable Hackamajig (sí, así es como se llama), un dispositivo de piratería que le permite a Colt abrirse camino. a través de una serie de situaciones que resulta útil con demasiada frecuencia.

Pronto descubrirá que hoy (y todos los días) Blackreef organiza una gran fiesta. Y vas a colarte en esa fiesta una y otra vez. Cada uno de los cuatro entornos del juego se prepara de una manera diferente y visitarlos en diferentes momentos del día (mañana, mediodía, tarde, noche) conducirá a diferentes descubrimientos. A lo largo del día, estos entornos se alterarán y sus ventanas de oportunidad cambiarán a medida que pase el tiempo. Así que simplemente correr a la guarida secreta de un Visionario a primera hora de la mañana puede no ser suficiente para algunos. Están ocupados, tienen cosas que hacer. Sin embargo, una nota dejada apresuradamente o un mensaje de uno de los ocho a otro puede revelarlo todo. Progresar a lo largo del día, ya sea cambiando de entorno o manualmente desde su casa segura, puede ser la única forma de atraparlos.

Entonces, Deathloop es en realidad más un juego de rompecabezas disfrazado de tirador que cualquier otra cosa. De alguna manera, también está inspirado en los juegos de aventuras de la vieja escuela y vincula su historia con el juego de manera muy clara con la mecánica de roguelike. 

Cada pieza del extenso rompecabezas lleno de acción de Deathloop se reinicia al amanecer de un nuevo día, cada enemigo en aproximadamente el mismo lugar, cada elemento de vuelta a donde pertenece. Todo lo que necesitas hacer es averiguar cómo quieres resolverlo. Fue increíble darse cuenta de que todas las piezas del rompecabezas están en juego y que solo necesitas descubrir los pasos para alinear las cosas para crear el día perfecto. Fue sobre este descubrimiento que Deathloop hizo clic y caí perdidamente. Sin embargo, solo pensar en matar a un Visionario era difícil. “¿Cómo voy a sacarlos en un solo ciclo?” es una pregunta que persistió durante mucho tiempo. 

Resulta que una pistola de clavos de alta potencia puede ser increíblemente sigilosa.

The sheer amount of information, systems, add-ons and upgrades was initially overwhelming but, thankfully, Deathloop also has a great guiding hand feature to steer you along the path and make switching goals and returning to a thread very easy. Although the menus are a little cumbersome, this was particularly helpful in the early game where adding to your options is key.

Following ‘Arsenal Leads’ on the menu will lead you to Slabs — powerful ingots carried by Visionaries that Colt can wield for himself. These include the ability to kill multiple enemies with a single strike, telekinetic powers to ragdoll enemies across a room, simple teleportation, and will also help to inform and augment your playstyle. Killing a Visionary will allow you to collect their Slab, alongside a whole load of Trinkets. Trinkets allow you to upgrade Colt’s weapons or perhaps even Colt himself. Just like your weapons, Trinkets come in a variety of colour-coded grades and can be found in the world. They can do things like add some extra speed when aiming, make your health recover faster, or even be as vital as a double jump.

‘Visionary Leads’ on the other hand will help you to kill each Visionary individually. These paths are often a series of smaller objectives that will help to connect the dots between each of these eight island-dwelling oligarchs, progress the story, and work towards building the perfect loop. I recommend following these ‘critical paths’ in the early going as they can help you find your feet and get you used to how the game plays. The game’s ‘tutorial’ section, for lack of a better term, leads you to your first which also results in Colt being able to collect Residium — a pretty vital substance that allows him to ‘infuse’ weapons and Trinkets to keep them with him in the event of death. This one helps a lot and Colt will need all the help he can get.

That’s because Blackreef is not a friendly place; especially if you’re Colt. As well as the eight Visionaries, the world is inhabited by The Eternalists. Julianna has spread the word that you’re coming, so these nameless and faceless violent mannequins are often your first obstacle. In the beginning, Deathloop will encourage you to take them out quietly and proceed with caution — sometimes even written as messages that both the player and Colt can see. This tentative and vigilante approach gives off the impression that Deathloop is all about stealth. Whilst being sneaky does pay dividends, allowing you to learn more about the world through conversations and other environmental cues, or perhaps discover alternative routes through each environment (I’m still discovering new ways to traverse each environment now), it’s not one that you have to take. 

Did you hear something?

Admittedly stealth was my preferred way of playing the majority of the game, and choosing tact over firepower makes a lot of sense in the early going. After all, Colt has very little at his disposal. However, stealth often became merely a precursor to a firefight. As the bullets start flying, a cacophony of jazz kicks in and it’s time for fight or flight. If you feel like you have the tools, then the gunplay and movement is similarly satisfying. Each weapon feels distinct and the haptics and adaptive triggers of the DualSense controller elevate that even further. Colt’s almost superhuman kick also needs to be highlighted. Not only is it an excellent parry during heated one-on-one combat, but the satisfaction of booting an unsuspecting enemy off a cliff or a pier, or anywhere is so gratifying. There’s more than a little old-school action movie style to combat too, so you can go full James Bond if you have what it takes. Turning Colt into a tank is an equally viable option though, and you can mow down enemies in seconds with the right tools, Slabs, and Trinkets at your disposal. However, if you find yourself woefully unprepared, as I often was, running for your life and making it back to safety, either elsewhere in the level or to the true safety of Colt’s tunnel system, is equally thrilling.

The Eternalists aren’t shaken easily either. Hyper aware and bloodthirsty, they’ll spot you from a fair distance if you’re not careful and taking out large groups of them is virtually impossible without a huge amount of firepower or some clever use of your abilities. Watching windows and doorways is so important, with the potential for eyes to be on you everywhere you are. The first time an enemy spotted and began shooting at me through an open window was such a surprise I panicked and died — back to the beginning for me. This tiny moment encapsulates a lot of what I love about Deathloop. The level design and clever enemy AI combined to create something that I’m still thinking about now. The fact Deathloop can do all of that whilst spinning the plates of different Slabs, Trinkets, weapons and more whilst still providing a challenge is important. The game teaches you that the right tools combined with the proper insight could result in some really special moments, be that a perfect stealth run through an environment or all out chaos. Can you game the system a little? Sure. However, this layered and varied approach to gameplay is crying out for you to not just break the rules but make your own.

So much for keeping quiet.

Knowledge is the true power in Deathloop. The more I played, the more I learned. This made revisiting levels multiple times refreshing, not only because I could approach them multiple ways each time, but also because new discoveries could be made with each repeat visit. As you add more powers and to Colt’s infinitely customisable arsenal, the more new ways you’ll find of achieving your goals. One particular example involved confronting Charlie Montague — a Visionary who designs live action games. Upon first approaching his cleverly designed mansion, which he had turned into a game for Eternalists to play, there seemed to be only a couple of routes through with plenty of resistance. However, upon killing him and returning to do the same again for an upgrade, the encounter was much more brief thanks to both the understanding of how to approach it and my new found teleportation Slab.

It’s as if each environment was designed with the philosophy of “What if?” As such, no two runs will ever feel exactly the same and multiple players could get to the same point having had vastly different experiences. This makes return visits just satisfying (if not more so) than the first. Perfecting that gameplay loop — excuse the pun — is Deathloop’s biggest achievement. Without being able to make each run feel fresh it would lose its appeal very quickly. Thankfully, each return visit often presents a new discovery or potential to upgrade. Plus, these self-contained sandboxes are packed with hidden secrets, easter eggs and other things to discover. Not all of them will help you towards your end goal, but it was fun all the same. 

Fun is something that very much seems to inform a lot of what Deathloop is about. This is not a game about punishing the player or frustrating you until you eventually succeed. Arkane invites every player to mess with its systems, explore the environments and try everything once. Death is frustrating, but it rarely feels like failure. I always felt like I’d picked something up along the way or learned something new, and it never takes too long to get you back to where you were last. The game even starts you off with a failsafe in Colt’s very own Slab, offering two chances to revive without resetting the world. Everything about Deathloop and the way it’s put together feels thoughtful and polished in a way that few games ever do. 

Hi Julianna! How are you? 

Even the soundtrack is superb, underscoring both the stylish art deco and brutalist concrete of the world with a blend of jazz and funk that also serves as a gameplay device, letting you know when you’re spotted and when you’re off the hook. It melds perfectly with Deathloop’s achingly cool aesthetic that clashes Goldfinger and grindhouse — with Colt the perfect protagonist at the centre of such a mashup.

The other core tenet of Deathloop, aside from addictively good gameplay, is personality. Deathloop would have been a very different game if it wasn’t for a focus on not only characters but the personality of the world too. Colt and Julianna as the game’s main pair have a relationship built on one upmanship and the pair will banter back and forth regularly, their verbal sparring filling in the gaps in both of their stories whilst also adding a little extra fire to the game’s multiplayer elements — more on those later. Although they look and feel like crash test dummies, The Eternalists also have plenty about them. They’ll stagger drunkenly through environments as they get caught up in the Blackreef festivities, others will fight to the death as things get out of hand, whilst conversations between groups can often be both entertaining and informative. The environments themselves are incredibly dynamic, changing drastically and becoming more debauched as night draws in. The phenomenal blend of jazz, funk and soul in the soundtrack providi  The neon colours and art deco design choices are front and centre, but Blackreef is also home to a grey militaristic underbelly. The smaller interactive buildings each tell their own stories, whilst the larger spaces are almost overflowing with identity. That identity is often linked to the Visionaries who you’ll find in a particular area, and you’ll learn more about them as individuals as you play. It’s safe to say that none of them are particularly likeable, but the way their stories are drip-fed so you learn more about them from each new loop is also pretty exceptional.

The way the story of Deathloop is told is also fascinating. Like a 1,000 piece jigsaw of a plain blue sky, it comes together piece by torturous piece through snippets of conversation, audio logs, notes, and other environmental tells. The risk versus reward of scouring the environments, hoping that an Eternalist doesn’t spot you and raise the alarm is all part of the thrill. The discovery of one of a new thread, whether it’s part of the critical path or not, feels like a huge deal. As such, there’s a real sense of achievement and plenty of eureka moments to be had. However, if your focus is elsewhere then it may be hard to make sense of and I could see some feeling like they’ve not quite gotten the full story by the end of the game. However, in a game that is all about discoveries and research I thought it was excellent. Did I ever wish they’d given me a little more? Of course. But that just kept me motivated to play. 

I can feel how satisfying this kick was

Slowly but surely, you’re solving this puzzle and seeing how the sections connect to one another. Once a section is complete you can continue building out the next until you have the right tools and know-how to take out the visionaries and break the loop. But what if someone was to come along and impede your progress? Perhaps taking you out just before you escaped with that new Slab you’ve been working towards and a pocket full of Residium that you really could have used? That’s where Julianna comes back into the fray; not just as a voice on the other end of a radio but as another player with their own set of skills and upgrades.

Deathloop’s multiplayer may be the only time the game truly starts fighting against you; allowing Julianna to be the thorn in your side that she tells you that she is. So yes, the other side to Deathloop is a multiplayer melee that pits two players against each other where the goal of whoever is playing as Julianna is to invade your game and ruin your day. And whilst playing as Julianna is fun and she has her own set of upgrades and a separate loadout to Colt, offering new life to players who may have finished Colt’s story (or not; it’s not required) as a tormentor to others. Getting invaded is incredibly stressful but, just as with any big firefight in Deathloop, escaping with your life and the spoils — either by hacking a beacon and regaining access to Colt’s tunnels, or killing your pursuer — is such an adrenaline rush. And, because Arkane knows that multiplayer isn’t for everyone, you can avoid these encounters by locking your game. 

“I have the power!”

Yet again, it appears Arkane has thought of everything when it comes to Deathloop. It’s a roguelike that gives players a second chance from the off, that allows you to play almost however you please, will guide you by the hand or let you explore at your leisure and will even let you enjoy it without having to worry about spontaneous multiplayer bouts. Deathloop feels like the culmination of years of hard work, of trial and error, and of listening to players. That’s incredibly important and goes a long way with me. There are elements in Deathloop that can be found in Prey and both Dishonored games that have been polished and perfected here and the results of all this work are astounding.

Deathloop is an exceptional game and discovering everything about Colt, Julianna and Blackreef has been fascinating. Sneaking through an area undetected and pulling off the perfect Slab heist is as equally satisfying as a chaotic firefight where I only just make it. It’s a roguelike where death is so rarely frustrating and where progression comes from every new run. It does so many things at the same time and it’s baffling that it does them all so well. You simply have to play this game.