Deathloop

01 Jun 2022

The things left unexplained

Why did Colt come back to the island and bring along Egor and help found the Aeon project and etc. and etc. Like, what was the point of all this? Colt was there with a military group before. He got trapped in a different loop. He got out. Ok but why did he hook up with Egor afterwards? Why????

The only answer I have comes from literally one tiny scene and it is pretty boring. Colt’s wife lilia died while he was stuck in the loop.

Oh side note. So is the rest of the fucking world still going on while this loop is in place????? Its not like, there’s a loop starting in 1963, it goes on for ~16,000 years and then once the loop’s done we go back to 1963. We actually go to 18,000?? Is that for real? Because that seems to be what happened to Colt. 17 years passed outside the loop while he was stuck in it. Fuck that’s so stupid.

The story points are great, the trend is good, why do they make the ending suck so much?

The minute to minute story in deathloop is great! There’s mystery, but there’s also answers to the mystery. It’s funny in a really weird way. Every character is narcissistic and fucked in the head in multiple ways. The reveals are great!

Here are some of my favorite mysteries and their slow resolutions.

Colt is some guy on the island, there’s a big project going on here, but what has Colt got to do with it?

1. Oh he’s the security guy! Kind of ironic that he’s trying to stop the loop.
2. Oh, he’s friends with Egor and Frank and he brought Egor to this island!
3. Oh, Colt is literally the linchpin of this whole operation. He was on the island before, he brought Egor here, he set all this up.

Julianna’s some girl on the radio

1. Julianna is your wife/girlfriend? Partner for the island?
2. Julianna is your DAUGHTER BRO. But she’s close in age to you so must be some WEIRD TIME STUFF.

But there’s other mysteries that just don’t get explained well. Really stupid ones.

How do I break the loop?

1. Idk
2. Destroy the loop machine!
3. Get the LPP
4. Oh shit I gotta kill all these visionaries.

The ending is so short it’s laughable.

• You get your ammo refilled. You get your health refilled. You get to the center of the hub and it is very impressive! There’s no option where you fight Julianna, there’s no enemies. It’s not even a minute of cutscene. If Julianna is trying to stop us from breaking the loop could she at least send a couple of her alternates at us? Let me fight a Havoc and Shift Juliana at the same time and prove I got good at the game.

No info gets revealed in the ending. You discover that this world is probably the future of dishonored. Julianna shows you a set of pistols that look like Corvo and the guard’s pistol from Dishonored. Yet earlier in the game,here’s not a single call back to dishonored. It’s a pointless reveal. Maybe a reveal that we’re in the dishonored universe could have recontextualized things. Harriet’s cult could have more closely resembled the Brigamore witches. There could have been references to moving from whale oil to batteries. There could have been an arc pylon or a wall of light, or better yet another successor continuing the trend. (sidenote: are we also in the Prey universe because the Deathloop turrets are an asset flip of the Prey turrets???)

There’s somehow fewer options to kill your target than in the dishonored games.

Colt can kill each visionary in about two ways. He can only kill Alexis and Harriett in one way.

General questions I have that are left unanswered and my top 3 best guesses

Why can only julianna and Colt remember the loops?

1. Idk
2. Idk
3. Idk but wenjie knows they remember the loops AND NEVER DOES ANYTHING WITH THAT INFORMATION. It would be so sensible for Wenjie to use Julianna as a conduit to pass information onto her next versions.

Why does Colt remember nothing at the start of the game?

1. idk
2. idk
3. Because he has a hangover at the start of the loop??? What the FUCK.

Why the fuck does julianna drill into Colt’s head that he wants to break the loop.

1. Julianna actually wants to break the loop and she tricked Colt into reversing roles. Julianna thinks Colt is probably going to win the fight so reversing roles helps her. Arkane were originally going to use that twist at first, but cut it from the game without changing that dialogue.
2. Poor writing.
3. Julianna got bored of amnesiac Colt not trying to break the loop so she subconsciously wanted a change.

Why does Julianna never guide the Visionaries to adopt more secure positions?

• Julianna should tell computer geek and emo painter girl to knock off the fornicating after the first loop Colt catches them shagging. Yet Julianna never even acknowledges how Colt offs the two lovebirds.

The best part of Deathloop is the voice acting

Specifically, Colt’s voice actor is one of the best in video-gaming. But knowing Arkane they’ll probably dump him same as how they dumped the original Outsider voice actor. Arkane can’t recognize voice acting talent if it slaps them in the face.

Really though, I can’t express how much Jason Kelley carries this game. I absolutely loved how he delivered every one of his lines. He made the dialogue really shine in a way it wouldn’t have with a lesser VA. He’s befuddled, he doesn’t know what’s going on. I can really picture him just being an everyman waking up on a beach. “What the fuck’s my name,” could be a terrible line if delivered poorly. But the way he belts it, “What the Fuck’s mu NAME!” is absolutely perfect.

Overall good game tbh. Gameplay is honestly not terrible, moment to moment story is fun, and voice acting+sound is top notch. Would recommend to play but be aware that story is shit.