March 22, 2022

Analysis of DEATHLOOP by Arkane Lyon

What is DEATHLOOP?

DEATHLOOP is a PC game where the player plays as Colt Vahn, a man who has no memories of who he was or where he is, all he knows is that he must break the loop.

The loop, also known as the AEON Program, is a scientific experiment that was created to keep people young forever, specifically the eight visionaries. The loop repeats the same day repeatedly, meaning every morning you start from the start again. The loop was built on an island known as Blackreef, and is home to these visionaries and people called Eternalists.

The only exception to the loop effects are Colts new memories, Juliana Blakes memories (One of the visionaries), a robot called 2-bit and an anomaly called residium.

The rules

• The day always resets, meaning anything you do during the day will be reset the next day, this makes mistakes frustrating as you then need to wait another day to do it again.

• If Julianna appears to attack you, you must deactivate a tower in order to leave the level alive.

• You must kill all eight visionaries in one day in order to finish the game.

• Every time you visit an area and leave said area time moves forward.

• Residium is the only thing that allows you to bring items through the loop.

• You are only allowed to dual-wield small arms like pistols.

• You can only carry 4 weapons at a time, one of which has to be your melee weapon.

• You are only allowed 2 powers at a time.

• You can only die twice in each level before the day resets.

The Narrative

The narrative takes a couple forms, the firstly the game communicates to the player via text that is left floating in the air or on walls, these texts are clearly not meant to be there and tell the player that maybe Colt is a bit crazy or is mentally unstable, but the player quickly learns that these texts help Colt find a way safely through the environment. The story is also told via dialog between Colt and Julianna, where they talk about each other’s plan to stop each other, Julianna also drops bits of lore, like who Colt is and how he has attempted this before in previous loops.

More importantly though, Colt finds Audio messages and emails by the visionaries, telling him their plans and allowing him to make a fool proof plan to kill all of them in a single day. The player is allowed to keep information such as passwords from loop to loop.

This allows the player to push forward in the story with Colt, and makes the player feel the progression as they slowly gain access to parts of the map that were not accessible before hand. That said the narrative seems to be forced onto the player, just like a movie there seems to be one real path the player can follow to finish the game, except at the end where the player is given a choice between three options, subtly hinted at, to finish the game.

Characters

• Colt Vahn is whom the players play as, the protagonist. Colt doesn’t have any memories from before the loop, or from any previous loops before the player started playing, all he knows is that he must kill all the visionaries to break the loop. Colt discovers that he was the previous head of security for the AEON Program. Colt also finds out that he had a romantic life before hand with Lila Blake, and assumes he is trying to break out of the loop to find her again. He is a gun fanatic and loves to shoot things, but can also be stealthy when needed, he is handy with any weapon the game offers and is very good at moving around the level, unlike most characters. Colt makes sure he always stays on course and doesn’t let anything get in his way, Julianna describes him as stubborn but persistent.

• Julianna Blake is the main antagonist. She is out to kill Colt and warns Blackreef every morning that he is out to kill them and stop the loop. Julianna has the ability to send versions of herself to previous loops, in an attempt to kill Colt, slowing him down and trying to stop him. Julianna is a sarcastic character, constantly taunting Colt to break the loop, but when Colt replies with witty comments of his own, she gets frustrated and reminds him that he will lose. Julianna relationship is an interesting one as later it is revealed that Colt’s lover, Lila Blake, is also Julianna’s mother, making their whole dynamic change. It’s revealed that Colt never came back from a test flight for the AOEN program, and left Julianna to be raised by a single mother, explaining her hate towards Colt. Juliana is AEONS Archivist and new head of security.

• The Visionaries are the reason the loop stays running, they are all fundamental parts of the AEON Program and have their roles to play. Aleksis Dorsey, Charlie Montague, Egor Serling, Fia Zborowska, Frank Spicer, Harriet Morse and Wenjie Evans are their names, at no point are they all at the same place. But with careful planning and flawless execution you can get some of them together and kill them all in one day, for example you can make sure Egor Serling’s experiment fails so he attends Aleksis Dorsey’s party. Along with their own quirks and personalities all the visionaries have their own abilities and weapons, making them all a challenge to defeat.

Number of Players

This is an interesting topic, as the main story and game is played like a single player game, but it does have a multiplayer aspect. Every time Julianna appears, she is controlled by another player, this means that Julianna will never be the same and cannot be predicted. Although this can be turned of in settings making the game single player, that said Julianna will still appear, but will be controlled by an AI. Alternatively the player can play as Julianna in another Game mode, invading other peoples timelines and trying to stop them.

setting, geography and representation

the game is set on the Isle of Blackreef, it is an anomaly-engulfed island in the Polar Sea, it used to be a fishing colony and then as turned into a military research base, afterwards it was bought by AEON, which began building the loop on the island. The island has fishing ports, bunkers and research facilities darted around the island. The layout of the levels don’t always make complete architectural sense, showing that when the military arrived they built what they needed where they needed, leaving the older structures, and AEON di the same thing, leaving a mishmash of buildings around the place.

What is interesting is you can always see another part of the island from where you are, and makes the island feel both large, and small.

Graphical Style

The art style is photorealistic, it tries to make the game look realistic with a twist of illusionism. Most of the game assets are modelled off objects found in the sixties, with a lot of colour and clunky props. The menus and illustration art for cutscenes have a sort of 60’s poster vibe, they POP with colour and have coloured accents notably orange, which is a colour you can associate with the game.

The game is in first person, making the photorealistic art more realistic and believable.

game audio

The audio plays a vital role in the gameplay, the music alone tells you when action begins and when the enemies have lost your location.

Also, when events happen, such as Julianna hunting you or when a visionary is killed, a sound plays, one which the player begins to associate with the events.

The audio also tells the player when they run out of ammo, use their ability, get hit, shoot and move.

Other than notifying the player, all AI in the game can hear as well, meaning you can throw bottles or run to detract or alert enemies.

Culture

The games fan base is very supportive of the game, with a fleshed-out fandom wiki page and many tutorials and informational blogs on the game. The game has won many awards and was nominated for game of the year, it won best art direction and best game direction. The Game continues to be played due to its multiplayer functionality, puzzles and easter eggs found around Blackreef. The game also continues to be updated, but the story seems to stay the same.

Citations:

Anon, 2022. Deathloop. Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathloop [Accessed March 22, 2022].

Anon, Deathloop Wiki. Fandom. Available at: https://deathloop.fandom.com/wiki/Deathloop_Wiki [Accessed March 22, 2022].