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Deathloop (PS4)

Status: Stopped playing - Got frustrated
I started playing this game on Sunday 15 October, 2023  //  I stopped playing this game on: Thursday 4 April, 2024
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.

April 4, 2024 11:14:36 AM
Argh. The longer you go without playing, the worse this game's experience becomes. This is almost entirely due to me forgetting both how to play, but also all the localized information and knowledge you pick up - like who is where, when, and so on.

I love the idea of a "clockwork" game where you deftly navigate your way through things that happen and certain times and places - there's a sense of beauty and elegance to the choreography you develop and create (sort of like when you watch those time loop movies and see a character weave through people and places because they know what's going to happen when and they've just learned it). BUT, that beauty also creates an entry barrier - at least a psychological one for me, because the game's on-ramp is past and now you're in the thick of it. But you've forgotten everything...


October 22, 2023 11:00:00 PM
Huh.

Strangely I'm not a huge fan of the imm-sims, mostly because I try to go stealth, get caught, and die a lot. Generally their gunplay isn't that "great" (I've probably played too much Destiny - so there's lots of muscle memory to undo).

I've played enough Deathloop to where the game opens up to the "real" game - so, all the intro tutorial and first few missions where you get everything set up such that you're now doing dull day runs. More importantly, I got to the point where the stuff you collect you keep - rather than having it all reset.

It's an interesting way to do it - the good is that I felt like I understood they why of certain things and it made me feel more involved. You're like Cole - have no idea what's going on and learning along with him. The bad is that I spent lots of time exploring and discovering things, that then got "reset" and that made me sad. Especially when on later visits to the same location, the special things (trinkets?) weren't there anymore. So, the rest made them disappear entirely? Maybe it's a bug?

I also died a lot more than I liked in the beginning. I think this was mostly me getting accustomed to how much damage enemies do, how to aim the weapons, and so on. I felt like later on I got a bit better or at least had a better handle of how things were supposed to go. Again, this meant that I wasted a lot of time early in the game, not having that much fun, and having to restart.

So, now I should be in a better position?

It seems like this is a sort-of-semi-rogue-like, but not really. Each run (day) is, as far as I can tell, a sort of "intel" gathering mission. You pick up clues and stuff until you've got it all mapped out. And only THEN can you do the "win the game in a single day" run - assuming it all goes well of course.

I was surprised by the fact that there's an entire upgrade system for weapons and such - and I don't understand how you keep what you want or not - it seems like the weapon you hold when you leave is what you keep? It makes sense - but again, sometimes there's a cool weapon I've dumped because I ran out of ammo...

This game's part of the seminar - so there are reasons to move on to other games, but I also kind of want to play this some more...


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria