Deathloop in the test: Die on the same day

Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman (zən-DAY-ə; birthed September 1, 1996) is an American starlet and vocalist. She is the recipient of many awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Satellite Honor and also a Saturn Award. Zendaya began her job as a child design and backup dancer. She increased to mainstream importance for her function as Rocky Blue on the Disney Network sitcom Shake It Up (2010-- 2013). In 2013, Zendaya was a candidate on the sixteenth period of the dancing competitors series Dancing with destiny. She generated and starred as the titular spy, K.C. Cooper, in the comedy K.C. Undercover (2015-- 2018). Her efficiency as a struggling, medicine addict teen in the HBO dramatization series, Euphoria (2019-- existing), made her the youngest recipient of the Primetime Emmy Award for Impressive Lead Starlet in a Drama Collection. Her movie duties include the music drama The Biggest Showman (2017 ), the superhero movie Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and also its sequels, the charming dramatization Malcolm & Marie (2021 ), the live-action/animation hybrid sporting activities comedy, Area Jam: A New Legacy (2021) and also the sci-fi epic Dune (2021 ). Along with her acting job, Zendaya has ventured right into music. In 2011, she launched the singles Boodle It Out and also Watch Me , the last a collaboration with Bella Thorne. She authorized with Hollywood Records in 2012 as well as subsequently released her debut solitary, Replay , which reached the leading 40 on the U.S. Signboard Hot 100 graph. She launched her eponymous debut studio cd in 2013 to modest success and also important acclaim. Zendaya's most significant business success as an artist featured her Zac Efron partnership, Revise destiny , from The Greatest Showman soundtrack in 2018. The solitary gotten to within the leading 20 of several record charts and has received multi-platinum sales qualifications internationally.

Deathloop is a true action highlight, but leaves a little bit of originality we expected.

Since March 6, 2021, the song Déjà Vu is found in our favorites list on Spotify. And yes, we know that this title only brings you little, because there is probably hundreds of songs that are called. Of course we mean the title song of Deathloop. It would also be very good in the intro of a new James bond adventure and sweetened the waiting time to the new work of Arcane, the creators of Dishonored Games. And this wait was not even short, the title should actually appear a year ago. But now he is finally here and we can not only listen more to a great song, but have already seen through several loops, loved, ballert ... and died. Deathloop is the same as a close-enough enjoyment as its title song - with one, two small cuts.

Rogue-Like or Rogue-Lite? Neither

In the run-up was difficult to tangible, which Deathloop is actually actually or how it works. We knew it is an action game and that main character Colt is caught in a time loop. On an island named Blackreef he always wakes up the same morning on the beach. His only way out to escape this loop: he must kill eight target persons, the so-called visionaries, within the one day who is available to him. Do not die all these characters before the clock beats at night, or bits Colt before the grass before, everything starts from the beginning.

Is Deathloop So Rogue Like? The developers have repeatedly emphasized in advance that it was not that way. But in fact, you lose your equipment if you die or does not stop the loop. So did Arcane lied to people who can not do anything with games like Hades, The Binding of Isaac or Returnal (to call another game with time-biting issue) Not at all. Deathloop is indeed no Rogue Like or Lite, even if it is a small element of this genre. On the one hand, it is relatively easy to secure equipment so that you are available for the rest of the game. On the other hand, you make progress with every pass of time loop and there are (as well as no) random factors. In addition, you do not have to defeat the same bosses several times, otherwise the game will not go on.

Deathloop is not Outer Wilds with violence

After clarifying the genre question, we dedicate ourselves to the other major question mark that all the time was in the room: how does Deathloop work? It was not clear to us before we played it myself, as the title is structured. We knew there are four individual, non-contiguous areas where the eight visionaries stop, and that they all need to die within a loop to finish the time loop and thus the game. But would Arkane would simply throw us in this setting and say, Yes, then looks himself how you solve the situation, as Outer Wilds handled? And are we under time pressure?

In fact, both questions can only be denied. Neither are Deathloop great stress, nor does it take you to the leash. In the first hours it is even very linear. In the course of a longer tutorial (but that feels just as such), it sends you in a fixed order in three of the four areas and call you concrete goals that you have to fulfill to continue. As soon as Colt is clear that he has to kill the eight visionaries, the game opens and you can decide freely when you go where.

More retail hands than thought

You can proceed on two kinds. Possibility number 1: It follows the clues that the game collects for you in a clear menu. Notes is not only literally to understand, but also as a synonym for missions . Deathloop is not a complete sandbox in which you have to open up everything yourself. Clear, lots of information just gets you if your own drive explores the game world and write letters, computer entries and other documents to you or listen to audiologs. But the game always shows you several directions you can go in. Who wants, so follows very classically the mission markings. This has the advantage that it is accessible to players for a wide mass. The game never lets you hang and you know what to do next. The disadvantage: Deathloop feels a little less special. It becomes a pretty ordinary, mission-based game in which you do not find out many things themselves, but guided by the game to these findings.

But you can also ignore all the help and try to find out on completely own fist as you succeed in eliminating all the visionaries in one day. However, there is only one solution for that. To break the loop, you have to turn off the people in a specific order. So you do not offer several alternative solutions, which reduces the playback value a bit. Here Deathloop does not fully expose its potential.

Ok, the game is not sooo especially as it could have been. But that does not mean that it is not an original and above all very well designed experience.

The best backtracking in the world

At the beginning of a loop you are in the mission selection screen. Here you give you an overview of all the information you already collected, chooses your next destination and the area in which you want to leave. And you decide to whatever daytime you want to visit a place: in the morning, at noon, in the evening or at night. Important: You can only enter each of the four areas once a day and only one area per daytime. And that you can not jump back to the morning after an exploration tour in the evening, without completely releasing the loop, explains itself.

Once you are on a level, the time stops. There is no dynamic day / night change. Looking at it more like this: Deathloop offers four maps, of which you can explore several versions thanks to the times of the day. There are quite bigger differences and those are the salt in the soup when it comes to why the concept of Deathloop is so great. The day, for example, is not a bit of snow, but at night everything is white. That may only be visual, but there are strong differences in leveldesign. Some buildings are not subject to a daytime, to another. In the evening, some other ways are open to you than in the morning. In Updaam, for example, at night the water (which is so cold is that you immediately die when you turn into ice cream, so you can run on it.

In general, you have lots of freedom in Deathloop thanks to the open structure of the areas. The areas are anything but big, but stuffed with secret paths. This will not boring to visit you again and again and also several times the same visionary to send over the Jordan, especially since their latter can do in tremendous many different ways (shaft, put them on Hitman and make the murders look like accidents). On top of that, there are also some optional things that you get to special weapons, for example. Explore it is greatly worth it, especially since it does not only promote you in the gameplay, but you also have a lot about the characters and the whole situation on Blackreef.

Knowledge is progress

Arcane in Deathloop tells a lot about the things you can discover in the levels, be it now documents and voice recordings or story events. Again and again NPCs talk to each other and if you listen to them, you will learn more about the characters and what they do while the loops on the island - and you just receive new information that will help you with your task. The fact that in Deathloop knowledge about figures and events is an important part of the progression, story and playful progress connect to a strong unit, as we rarely have experienced it in games away from the Adventure genres.

In addition, the world that created Arcanes is extremely interesting. We were always interested in learning more about the visionary, but also about Colt itself. Why does he really want to break the loop? Why is he on blackreef? Deathloop raises some exciting questions and at least if you explore the world carefully, you will also get them all answered - what conversely means that the experience for those who prefer to see the end and do not want to go far from the main path. will be unsatisfactory. However, they should also ask themselves the question of whether such an exploratory game like Deathloop is something for them at all.

A good shooter ...

In all the gameplay scenes shown before the release, it was as if Deathloop was less a laughing game such as the Dishonored parts and more a stylish ego shooter in which you are finally all and everyone to be punished without being punished (Dishonored Players know). And yes, you can play through in Deathloop in Rambo Manier. The title presents you a wide arsenal of firearms and skills available, thanks to which you can sneak really well. And that makes a lot of mood.

Whether pistol, shotgun or carabiner, the baller feels really good. It may not quite reach the level of a Call of Duty or Doom, but the weapons are powerful and the hit feedback is very satisfying thanks to successful animations and blood sprayers, which remain glued on walls behind opponents. However, the shootings are lacking. Yes, Colt does not even stop so many hits, but on the one hand, Heil-Items are quite generously distributed in the levels and, on the other hand, the KI counterparties are not very smart. Something like coverage you do not seem to know at all and you do not even try to take you through edge maneuvers in the shortage. Therefore, they are only a danger to you in large numbers.

... and an excellent creech

It is all the more beautiful, however, that Deathloop works wonderfully as a power fantasy - and only right when you really use all tools and sneaks. Who wants, plays the title without firing just once a firearm. With the machete, the enemies can be erased just as well. Thanks to the open and very vertical leveldesigns, there are many creeppaths and options to surprise your adversaries from the ambush. In addition, there are the supernatural skills that you gradually unlock. Some of the visionaries are in possession of so-called panels that can equip their equipment to telepore you as in Dishonored by the area, invisible or to skid enemies by telecinese through the area. Especially cool is the Nexus ability to connect several opponents with each other. If you do one of them then, for example, with your blade, everyone else will suffice the same destiny.

Another important tool is your Hackamajig, with whom you not only manipulate sensors so you do not recognize you, but also reprogrammed automatic guns so you do not fire on you, but on your enemies. And the best thing is: You can also put the things together, take them into hand and reactivate at a place of your wish. On top of that, the Strelak blast transducer, a multifunction grenade. You can use it both as a normal hand grenade as well as approximate expressions and stumbling wire trap. It's always always fun to lure non-owing enemies with a bottle throw in death through an explosion.

Lots of carrots

Deathloop offers a lot of activation options. On the one hand, the various weapons, of which there are only quite a few basic types, would be in several quality levels. Higher stock specimens offer more slots for weapons seals. These are improvements that increase the damage or reduce recoil. Purple creaking also have special features. For example, we have found an automatic shotgun that slows opponents. A pistol in turn has generated poison clouds for each goal. This offers Deathloop then a little more variance in his arms arsenal, when you would think at first glance. Nevertheless, a few other basic models would have been desirable.

Not only the shooting bias can be improved, but also the panels. If you kill one and the same visually multiple, your upgrade is free for its ability. On top of that, there is seals for Colt himself, which, for example, make sure he sneaks or chokes faster. Again, there are special specimens. For example, a seal allows you to overload Eletronik with the Hackamajig, so that your sensors, guns and co can hunt into the air. Since you can only equip a maximum of four pieces, you often have to make hard decisions because there are not a few cool seals.

You want to resist time? Grab to Residuum!

Now Deathloop, as mentioned above, is not Rogue-Like. However, if you get the temporal blessing and the time loop starts again, you lose your entire equipment including your panels and seals. But no panic! First, you always have three life thanks to the reprisals that you unlock during the tutorial. At first and second death, Colts's life is virtually unwound by a few seconds and her again appears elsewhere. And if you move the area and progresses and thus progresses the next daytime, the whole thing is reset.

On the other hand, you have residuum as hedge. This is a material that can extract from dead visionary as well as some, random objects in the game world. You can do all the weapons, boards and seal enriches so that you always have them available for the rest of the game. The high-quality one item is, the more Residuum costs this process of course. You will probably never be enjoyed to take all your favorite objects from a loop into the more, even because you usually sacrifice objects to have enough residuum to enrich. By the way: If you survive a loop, you then have the opportunity to decide in peace, what you want to retain and what can be sacrificed. Even if, so if you do not die, but voluntarily restart the day, you lose everything that is not secured with residuum.

Through this system you are always motivated to take care of it, especially if you have a really cool weapon that you do not want to lose. This ensures extra tension, without Deathloop becoming so difficult and frustrating like a Rogue Like.

Cool multiplayer with bad views

Now we have already written so much and no word about Julianna lost. She is actually the great major tagonist in Deathloop and the character, with the Colt moved most words. She is one of the eight visionaries, but instead of waiting for a certain place to wait for her to come and she wants to do, she makes her once a loop hunt for you. In this case, the level outputs are blocked and you have to chop a particular antenna to undo. Julianna, in turn, can emerge anywhere in the level and attack you what makes you a unpredictable factor that ensures even more tension.

Even more interesting will be the feature that another player can slip into the skin of Julianna, who then to say it with Dark Souls, Invaded . Conversely, you can of course also play as Julianna and missed other colts the day. That's not just a small gimmick, because there is a separate progression system for this. Through different actions your points collect, rises in the hunter rank and switches easier to better equipment. The multiplayer thus offers a lot of long-term motivation. The thing has only one hook: both players must first play a few hours until they unlock the feature, and they can only penetrate the world of the other if it is currently on a map on which at least one visionary present is. And then, that's what the Deathloop multiplayer will only be alive for as long as people play the singleplayer. The danger that you hang in the game search forever in a few weeks forever, is very big. We do not want to arrive that the game, because basically all yes a cool idea, which was also properly implemented. But in the long run, it is likely to be no added value.

Next gene looks different, but pretty it is still

Deathloop appears (for the time being) only for the PS5 and the PC. A variant for the Xbox Series X / S is likely to follow at the earliest in one year, but for the previous console version, the game does not exist. Now we have played the title on a high-end computer with RTX 3080 Ti, so without any problems, all regulators have changed, and had to find out: Like a pure next-gene game, Deathloop really does not look like. It is strange that just this title does not appear for the PS4, a Gran Turismo 7 or God of War Ragnarök, on the other hand.

But that should not mean that Deathloop is an ugly duckling, completely on the contrary. The graphic generates a very coherent overall picture. The detailed levels and the beautiful lighting moods plus raytracing shadows make a lot ago, and the kind of design arcane-typically is a big class again. But there are also various textures that do not get a price for high sharpness, and we are also used to more detailed character models. At the acoustic level, Deathloop is again a true direct hit.

The music, be it the tracks that run in the background, or the pieces with singing, which sounds here and there from speakers in the game world, and all have such a certain 60s flair that pleases us very well. In addition, the speakers can be heard, especially in the original version. The English voice of Colt is a high enough enjoyment and comes in the credited and often very funny dialogues between him and Julianna very well. But the German language output is not bad. Here the protagonist has the same voice as Idris Elba in The Suicide Squad .

ATTENTION, PC players!

A small note still for the technical condition of the PC version: which always flowed in the test in the test, but we crashed us several times, but mostly in the menu - thank you, because during a mission is not possible. Who simply finishes the game so, must start the respective section completely from scratch next time. The hope is, on the one hand, that Arcane is concerned with patches crash problem with patches, and on the other hand, that the developers will at least install the feature that the game is automatically stored as soon as you ended - of course with automatic deletion of the game, as soon as your Deathloop starts again so that the whole thing can not be exploited. The lack of memory function is not really bad, as the missions are usually quite short.

Conclusion

Deathloop is not so brave as we thought in advance. The fact that they give you concrete missions and thus leads to the solution, it plays more conventionally than expected despite time loop. But that's not bad, because a cool experience is still. That the game succeeds, for example, to keep us in the same areas, without it bored, is an art for themselves. This is due to the fantastic leveldesign. Even with the fifth visit of an area, we have discovered new ways and secrets. There are also a really good story in an original setting and a fun gameplay core. Whether creeping or fiercely, Deathloop makes you always fun and encouraged to experiment thanks to the great freedom. For the highest rating, it is not quite enough due to the weak Ki and the lack of courage, but it is still one of the best games of this year.

Deatloop

Per

Great leveldesign

Good story

Enormous exploration

Powerful gunplay

Very good Stead gameplay

Coherent look

Strong setting

Nice multiplayer mode

Contra

Only one solution

Primitive Ki

A little a few basic types

Some crashes on the PC

4.5 / 5 stars

Buy Deathloop now!