In mid-May, Bethesda held a private presentation of the new game called Deathloop, an upcoming project from Arkane Studios, the creators of Dishonored and Prey, which will be released on September 14. The development director and art director of the game talked about how the game works, whether it will have a timer and, how a time loop can be useful, and also showed a fragment from the gameplay.

In terms of gameplay, Deathloop is a typical "Arkane game." In the Deathloop universe, there was a place for elements of previous Arkane projects, ironic retrofuturism in the spirit of The Outer Worlds, and the slight craziness of Fallout 4.

Deathloop is the story of Colt, the assassin. The events unfold in the 60s: the time of hippies, pop art, and freedom in everything. Colt ended up on Blackreef Island and fell into a time loop: the main character experiences the same day over and over again. It unknown yet what is happening on the island and why Colt ended up in a time loop. It also turned out that Deathloop has no timer, and the plot is as important as the gameplay itself.

Colt must kill eight targets, the people who run the island, and not become a victim himself to get out of the loop. However, he is not the only assassin in the area. He also needs to get rid of Julianne. She is also a killer, but for some reason, she does not hunt for targets, but for Colt himself. Another player can play for Julianne. Of course, this is not necessary because you can play alone as well.

The problem is that the targets of the protagonist do not sit in one place. The daily routine of the targets depends on the time of day. They go about their business and move around the locations during the day. However, from day to day, the enemies do the same thing, simplifying the task a little. Only Julianne does not have a clear schedule – she can wait for Colt anywhere.

The island consists of four districts, each of which can be visited at different times: in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon, and in the evening. The time of day changes when you move from one district to another, and you can save the progress at these moments too. On the other hand, you cannot save while being in one of the districts. Each loop gives you new experiences, things, and, most importantly, information.

It is impossible to see and learn everything in one day, explore every area and find all the valuable items. You have to go back to the beginning of the day and continue using the knowledge that Colt has acquired in previous cycles.

As in other immersive simulations like Dishonored or Deus Ex, in Deathloop, you can enter the building through the front door and shoot everyone who gets in the way of Colt, or you can look for another way and, say, climb into the desired room through the window. They also allow you to deal with targets in different ways.

Colt also gains supernatural powers from unique artifacts. They can let him rewind time after death, make him invisible, or even accumulate damage received and turn it against enemies at the right time.

The time loop in Deathloop is not just a plot background – it is a very important element of the gameplay. The authors decided to lock Colt in one day not to hurt him. They did this so that he and you, as a player, had the opportunity to learn by heart everything that happens during these hateful days. You will learn more and more about the Blackreef and the targets, about what they do at any given moment of the day, day after day. And all this in order to one day deliver a decisive blow to all opponents at once.