Deathloopwas recently free on theEpic Games Store, and as I claimed my complimentary copy on PC, I found myself thinking: “Do I even like this game?” I playedArkane Lyon’s asymmetrical multiplayer immersive sim when it launched back in 2021 and, as I started my journey through Blackreef, I found myself agreeing with the critics who buoyed it to a92 percent recommend on OpenCritic.
But I was increasingly disappointed with it as I neared the end, and four years later, I rarely think about it. Cultural footprint is hard to measure, but in comparison to older Arkane classics likeDishonoredandPrey, it seems its tread was relatively light despite securing 10/10s at thebiggest media outletsin the world.
The impact crater left byRedfallalso changes how we view Arkane in 2025. Deathloop getting perfect scores feltright. It was a big, new, much-hyped game from the team that made Dishonored, Dishonored 2, and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (of which it even shares a world). Prey was underrated at launch — notching adevastating 4/10 from IGN due to a game-breaking bugthat was laterraised to an 8— then quickly reevaluated as a classic. We couldn’t fail to appreciate a new Arkane masterpiece once again.
But, looking back, did Deathloop deserve it? I’m not so sure.
What Deathloop Does Right
Deathloop sounded like a perfect Arkane game on paper. It had a cool retro vibe, stylish leads, and a concept that seemed like the perfect fit for the immersive sim design that Arkane does so well, with the addition of a time-based element that put the game in conversation with modern classics like Outer Wilds. You would need to play the same day through, over and over, studying the environment and collecting clues so that you could, eventually, kill all your Visionary targets in a single run.
I revisited Deathloop today and, on a visceral, moment-to-moment level, it feels really good — especially with Prey as a comparison point. The guns in that game felt awkward, more like tools you might need to use if the situation called for it than satisfying weapons you wanted to use. That was basically fine, because it supported many different playstyles, and you could avoid fights much of the time. But Deathloop is a real shooter. It’s actually kinetic and fun to play as a balls-to-the-wall action game — and guilt-free, too, since every NPC you merc will be reborn at the beginning of the next loop. The melee kick feels great and especially punchy thanks to its mapping to the right control stick. And sliding around the rooftops quietly dispatching NPCs is a dream.
It similarly delivers on the baseline Arkane environmental quality and density. Levels are packed with documents to read, secrets to find, and quests you’ll need to scour the game for clues to complete. The art design is a strong point, too. The ‘70s aesthetic, complete with conversation pits, sleek neo-futurist architecture, and grindhouse typefaces makes Blackreef Island a vividly realized place.
Why Deathloop Isn’t Arkane’s Classic
But where Deathloop falls apart for me is the loop. It’s kinda likethe Euthanasia Coaster: the loop is exciting and rewarding at the beginning, and then, by the time you reach the end, it kills the experience. The things that make the run-based design promising — story slowly dripping out through conversations with Julianna between levels, putting together a master plan to take out the Visionaries in one day once you’ve pieced their routines together — become its greatest liabilities.
Revisiting the game, I was reminded of how little I ended up liking Colt and Julianna. He’s constantly swearing in a way that kinda reminds me of those self-help books with names like The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fck and Unfck Yourself. He’s supposed to feel raw and funny, but ends up feeling corny instead. Julianna, meanwhile, is abrasive without anything to endear you to her, constantly demeaning Colt for reasons that you, as a player, don’t understand until the game is reaching its conclusion. And when you find out why, the twist somehow makes it worse. Both characters looked incredibly cool in the marketing, but each mostly annoyed me in the final game.
But the bigger problem is how much the game holds your hand through the challenge that should feel like the final test. Killing the Visionaries should force you to put together everything you’ve learned in a way that the rest of the game doesn’t. I would have been happy to replay this section over and over again, trying out different strategies until I finally managed to kill them all in a single run. Instead, I nailed it on the second try (maybe even the first; I don’t remember exactly, this was four years ago, people). It let the air out of the game like a balloon punctured by a round from Colt’s nail gun and killed my desire to return to it.
Now, starting a second playthrough, I’m reminded of how much the game does well. I still have faith in Arkane, but I hope with Blade it can double down on what it does well and send the rest flying off a cliff with a satisfying kick.
