Questions About Deathloop - Gunplay, Replayability, and Story

[Jackson]

Hey everyone,
I’m considering picking up Deathloop and had a few questions before I dive in. I really value gameplay above all else, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on a couple of things:

Gunplay: How is the shooting in Deathloop? Is it fast-paced and satisfying? Does it feel fluid and responsive, or does it fall flat in some areas?

Replayability: Since the game resets after dying, does it feel repetitive to start new playthroughs? Or does the game manage to keep things fresh and engaging, even when you’re repeating sections?

Unskippable Cutscenes/Story Segments: I’m someone who prefers to focus on gameplay. Are there any unskippable story segments or cutscenes that slow down the experience?

Any other insights on how Deathloop balances story and gameplay would be super helpful too! Thanks in advance!

[Jack Demon]

First of all, I bought the game a few days ago. I'd say that I'm still very green.

Gunplay:

If you played Dishonored 1&2, the guns feel like the cross bows or the pistols with better accuracy. I usually sneak around and use the silenced pistol (deluxe edition). Popping heads with it is kinda fun but whenever I get spotted, I switch to the Rapiér (rifle) and it's quite satisfying because it packs one hell of a punch.

When Deathloop got released, I heard that it was a buggy mess.
Maybe it got fixed but it runs very smoothly on my end. I have a 3080 10gb.

The gunplay feels great and I don't have any complaints to be honest.

Enemies: The enemies aren't the smartest and when you run away, they give up on chasing you quite fast. But when you are close to them, they will shoot at you and the melee enemies will throw rocks which plays out quite fine.

I'd say that the enemies aren't the worst but also not the best. I tell myself that those people are just really stupid because they believe that they get "looped" anyway.

Julianna and the targets behave similar but they have powers which makes it more interesting.

Replayability:

At first I thought that I would get bored after a few loops but eventually I realised that I have to explore the levels more carefully and gather more information instead of trying to kill all the targets immediately.

The gameplay is quite enjoyable because you keep getting better at what you do and you can approach your targets in all sort of ways especially because you will have very similar powers like the ones in Dishonored.

Story/Cutscnes:

I'm still new to the game and haven't beaten it but it doesn't have many cutscenes as far as I can tell. One in the beginning and some animated ones after killing an enemy. The animated scenes only play once after you kill a target for the first time.

There are also very short scenes that you will see very often.
The waking up on the scene which eventually gets reduced to a few seconds after you beat the tutorial and the one when you start a level. The one when you enter a level always has a different dialogue which is kinda funny. Some might find it annoying but I liked it.

FYI: The deathloop deluxe edition DOES include the DELUXE PACK DLC.

For some reason it doesn't show that you will get it after purchase but I can confirm that you will get it but it won't be shown in your steam DLC list for some reason.

You will get your items after beating the tutorial. It will be in your stash.

There is also an option to switch to offline play if you don't want to get invaded by Julianna (online players). You can only switch to online/offline when you are in your base.

Currently I have only 11 hours of playtime but if you have any other questions, I'll gladly answer them.

[Jackson]

Thank you for the reply!

I'm still on the fence, but leaning toward purchasing at the moment. Few questions to pose to you specifically.

Gunplay -

Do you feel like the AI makes the game better or worse? I've only played Dishonored 2 of the games you mentioned, but I wouldn't say the crossbow felt particularly enthralling if it was the main weapon. As in, if you compare it to most shooting games, I wouldn't say it would make for a strong first person shooter. I could see the AI being less stressful due to it being more room based, so I could see that as a perk, but that's just based on the observation you provided.

Replayability -

My main concern is that the game is I dunno, x hours long, and lasts for xx hours that's stretched. For example, 2 hours long and 20 hours of actual play time because I didn't know whatever information. Does the 18 hours in this example feel like it's being spent actually progressing or spinning your wheels trying similar plans? I do think having multiple powers will add a lot to the replay, as it makes the Dishonored gameplay much more enjoyable too.

Story/Cutscenes -

The animated ones upon killing a target does not sound like it would irk me in the slightest, but the beginning one does give me some pause. I think particularly as you are regularly replaying the game, I could very easily see myself getting annoyed/frustrated with repeating the same scene. I guess, another way to ask my question, how much of the beginning of a run feels like it's you performing the same actions until you get to the unique content? Like, is it holding forward until you get to the world and then you're off?

Deluxe Edition -

This wasn't something on my radar until you brought it up haha, though I do appreciate it! Is the deluxe edition worth having? Do the unique weapons and charms feel justified for being an additional cost or are they just a little more flavor sprinkled into the game you can find outside of these items?

Thanks again for taking the time to respond!

[Jack Demon]

I think the AI is just fine. They behave just like the ones in the Dishonored series.
They don't pose that much of a challenge until they all gang up on you. Then it's your choice to run or shoot like a maniac. It's fun either way. It's basically Dishonored but with guns.

I guess one can't compare it to a AAA fps game but shooting is quite fun regardless.

Replayability:

By just trying to kill the targets, you won't succeed because they are located in different areas and some only show their face during a certain time which means that you can't kill them all that easily. If you could, Deathloop would be a very short game.

When you explore, you will find random notes and hints will get added to your "discovery". Your discovery and leads tab will provide you with informations that you gathered. It would be a nightmare if the game expected you to remember everything by heart...

I don't feel like my time is wasted because I learn new information about my targets and what they did or are going to do at a different time.

Story/Cutscenes:

I doubt you will get bothered by the beach scene. It's just three seconds. Calling it a scene might be even exaggerated. Sorry about that.

After a few loops you will start to plan what you want to do in that specific level during that specific time. Doing the same thing will result to the same outcome which is why you will follow the hints and leads that you picked up in-game instead of doing the same thing again.

Deluxe edition:

If it wasn't for the golden silencer, I'd say that the deluxe edition is not worth it.
The silenced pistol is my main weapon because it's quite op. It shoots fast and silently.
There are other silenced weapons but I haven't found anything as good as this thing.

[Jack Demon]

I forgot to mention that the game is not an open word game. It's four levels. During each time of the day (morning, noon, afternoon and evening) you can decide where you want to go. The levels also look differently depending on the time and some areas/doors are only available during certain times.

[MelvinSmiley]

They haven't fixed the infamous vram leak to this day which is just unacceptable. Shows how much they value pc players and pc ports.

[zilog180]

Originally posted by MelvinSmiley:

They haven't fixed the infamous vram leak to this day which is just unacceptable. Shows how much they value pc players and pc ports.

Hi Melvin, How long do you play? I can play for hours (just did) and I haven't had any problems. I have over 400 hrs logged. I haven't put a profiler on my desktop to check vram usage, mainly because I have not had a problem. I'm curious to know how to recreate the problem you are having. I have a GPU w 8GB of vram and a mid range AMD CPU. Thanks.

[PlebNC (UK)]

Gunplay: Good, satisfying. If you've played other games by this developer you know what you're getting.

Replayability: Despite having only 4 levels, it's actually more like 16 as each level changes based on time of day, within which different challenges and areas are accessible based on the time of day and if certain conditions are met before. It's like Groundhog Day if it was about murder. The time loop stays fresh as you're encouraged to explore which reveals information about your targets and the ability to infuse items so they persist between loops allows you to accumulate power if you want so success is inevitable.

Story: Most story is delivered via environmental storytelling, NPC chatter and notes/audio logs. There's a lengthy tutorial at the start which has some cutscenes but they're well made and I believe you can skip them. Once the training wheels are off only cutscenes are brief animations to do with specific discoveries and radio calls from Jullianna as you enter a level (they're short and hilarious)

Invasions: Other players can invade your game. The good news is there's a friends only and offline modes so you can avoid getting curb stomped by tryhards. Bad news is the game will instead send an AI controlled Jullianna instead of a player so you will have to deal with invasions eventually. However beating an invader gets you some good rewards to it can be worth the hassle.

The AI: It's good. They see you from an actually realistic distance away and can be quite lethal once they spot you. As others have pointed out, they're quite dumb and have short attention spans. I see this as good as it makes running away a valid tactic. It also appears to be intended design as there's lore explaining that all the enemies who aren't the Visionaries are literally the bottom of the barrel dregs of society.

Deluxe Edition: Don't buy it. You don't need it. Don't reward bad publisher behaviours.

The soundtrack: It slaps. Buy it.

[Crypto Gamer]

I have a GTX 1660 and I had 5-6 hour play sessions with no VRAM issues even though it was close to my VRAM limit of only 6GB.

The game performance is much better than on release.

If you play offline mode you can also tweak your game eg. easier or harder enemies.
1 hit kill enemies......

But I just recommend default values.

Enemy AI is not that good but better than on release.

The game mostly has cutscenes in the very early game and then rarely.
Not much total.
It is mostly an immersive sim with many options to play.

The tutorial is kinda long and teaches you some basics good idea to follow it first.

And once it is done start exploring.

The game has plenty of secrets and stuff.
Eg.Code may be found in the Afternoon on Map 3 and that can unlock the door in the morning of Map 1.(this was just an example.)

The game has some pretty smart puzzles as well.

I did not fully complete the game but I will plan to.


BE WARNED. The game autosaves ONLY once you leave the map.

Early on you will likely spend more time on the map as you will collect notes, and have crap weapons, and skills.

Later time you might only visit a map for a few minutes then leave.

[Jackson]

Thanks friends, I'm going to go for it. I'm going to stick with the standard edition and potentially upgrade if the game grabs me. I appreciate everyone's replies.

[zilog180]

Originally posted by Jackson:

Thanks friends, I'm going to go for it. I'm going to stick with the standard edition and potentially upgrade if the game grabs me. I appreciate everyone's replies.

Have fun. I have over 400 hrs and am still finding new things to do.

[Jackson]

Originally posted by zilog180:

Originally posted by Jackson:

Thanks friends, I'm going to go for it. I'm going to stick with the standard edition and potentially upgrade if the game grabs me. I appreciate everyone's replies.

Have fun. I have over 400 hrs and am still finding new things to do.

That is very impressive, I rarely hit 3 digit hours on any game. I am enjoying the game, but I have had some technical issues that were frustrating. Sadly, playing as Julianna is entirely unplayable due to frequent rubberbanding, but as long as the random frame drops and crashing stops as Colt, I will keep enjoying the experience.

[zilog180]

Originally posted by Jackson:

Originally posted by zilog180:

Have fun. I have over 400 hrs and am still finding new things to do.

That is very impressive, I rarely hit 3 digit hours on any game. I am enjoying the game, but I have had some technical issues that were frustrating. Sadly, playing as Julianna is entirely unplayable due to frequent rubberbanding, but as long as the random frame drops and crashing stops as Colt, I will keep enjoying the experience.

Yeah, when playing as Julianna your experience is largely controlled by Colt's connection, because that is where the server is running. :-|