Deathloop

Deathloop is set on an island called Blackreef. The player controls Colt, an assassin who is stuck in a time loop. Colt must eliminate eight targets called Visionaries across Blackreef before midnight; if one Visionary remains alive, the time loop will reset and undo Colt's work. Deathloop has a multiplayer mode in which the player can alternatively play as Julianna, a Visionary tasked with protecting the time loop and killing Colt.

When the player takes this role, they enter a random player's game and may interfere with their play. Juliana has a unique ability named Masquerade that allows her to swap her appearance with any non-playable character (NPC), enabling her to blend in with crowds and stay concealed. If the player disables multiplayer, Julianna will be controlled by artificial intelligence.

Deathloop is set on the subarctic isle of Blackreef that is trapped in a continuous time loop that makes the island and its inhabitants repeat a single day. Originally home to a quiet fishing village, a military base was eventually established to research the mysterious temporal anomalies that began appearing on Blackreef. Decades later, reclusive scientist Egor Serling intended to harness these unusual properties as a means of gaining immortality. He recruited eight other eccentric individuals, collectively known as the "Visionaries", to found the AEON Program, with the goal of using the infinite time loop to pursue their own unusual interests, with scores of fanatical followers known as "Eternalists" under their influence. Because the loop continuously resets at midnight and restores everything to its prior state (even reversing death), most of the island's inhabitants have given Blackreef a debaucherous, and often violent, party-like atmosphere, as there are no permanent consequences for any action as long as the loop continues.

While most inhabitants retain no memory of the prior loops' events, two individuals have proven to be an exception: Colt Vahn, who seeks to use his acquired knowledge (and mistakes) across multiple repeated days to break the loop and escape the island, while Julianna Blake aims to prevent him from doing so, even if that means killing Colt. Every morning, Julianna warns the entire island about Colt's betrayal, turning everyone hostile towards him. In order to break the loop, Colt must gradually learn how to kill all of the Visionaries in a single day, as they each harness the interdimensional energy that causes the loop. This energy has also granted them superhuman abilities, harnessed through mysterious artifacts known as "Slabs", which Colt is able to acquire and upgrade with each Visionary's death.

Deathloop was developed by Arkane Lyon, the studio behind Dishonored (2012) and its sequel Dishonored 2 (2016). Development began in 2018, initially as a smaller project for Arkane. According to studio co-founder Raphaël Colantonio, the studio's goal was to experiment with multiplayer and identify ways to recycle gameplay. Arkane previously experimented with the roguelike genre with Prey: Mooncrash (2018), and Deathloop was built to further expand on the idea of remixing gameplay using a limited amount of assets.

Deathloop's scope significantly expanded during development and it was launched as a fully-priced product in September 2021. Before Colantonio departed the studio, he appointed Dinga Bakaba and Sebastien Mitton as the directors for Deathloop.

Deathloop received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. 92% of critics recommended it, according to OpenCritic.

Edwin Evans-Thirwell from Eurogamer described Deathloop as one of the most enjoyable games Arkane had released; he noted its connection to the Dishonored series, and called Deathloop a significant refinement over its predecessor while also being an "accessible introduction to Arkane's grittier immersive sims". Writing for GameSpot, Tamoor Hussain said "observation and dynamic thinking" are as important as combat in Deathloop, and players are rewarded for carefully planning and understanding the system and rules. He also enjoyed a sense of progression because the ease of navigation and combat significantly increase as players gain more powers and become increasingly familiar with each location. Several critics said Deathloop is a very original game; Matt Purslow from IGN praised the developers for turning disparate-yet-interesting ideas into a cohesive package that is "fascinating unique", and integrating elements from games such as Dishonored, Hitman, Outer Wilds and Dark Souls. Many critics noted the player's large arsenal of tools and powers were no longer shackled by Dishonored's morality system, meaning players can embrace action as a viable mean of progression, encouraging them to experiment with the systems, improvise and take risks.