Broken Loop Redux – Deathloop Xbox Series X/S Review

If you haven’t heard of Deathloop by this point, you’re either a very casual gamer or you’ve been living in a cave.  This unique FPS from Arkane Studios (makers of Prey and the Dishonored series) and publisher Bethesda made the rounds as an exclusive PS5 game last year.  Now Deathloop has come to the Xbox Series X and it’s time to take a look at what you’re getting once again.

We reviewed Deathloop last year here.  That review stands and there’s no real reason to go too heavily into the game, but in case you just want to have a synopsis, here we go.  Deathloop takes place over the course of a single day.  You can play either Colt, an angry guy who’s lost his memory or Juliana, a spunky, vicious gal.  Black Reef, the place where the game takes place, is stuck in a human-engineered time loop and at the end of the day, the day returns to the beginning.  If you die, you ‘loop’ and start back over at the beginning of the day.  Colt is trying to ‘break the loop’ and escape Black Reef and Juliana is trying to protect the loop and everything they’ve created within it.

Deathloop has a fun 1970s vibe to the whole experience with jazzy music, fun quips, and beautiful background scenery.  It’s also a more complex game than you might think.  Dying sets you back and escaping levels moves you forward.  Your goal as Cole is to kill all the ‘visionaries’ imbued with the powers Black Reef has to offer in order to shut the whole thing down.  As Juliana, you actually play multiplayer and hunt down various Coles by invading their games, a fun approach to multiplayer.

Powers are provided by Slabs that you collect in game, super-powering your character and weapons.  It’s remarkably reminiscent of the skill progression in Dishonored (go figure).  There are a wide variety of weapons, slabs, and upgrades available through the game and as this is a modified roguelike, you might have to earn things multiple times depending on your skill level.  Manage to salvage enough stuff with Residium (the magical loop-proof element) and you’ll be wildly overpowered for most situations.  In addition, the Deluxe Edition of Deathloop comes with some rather powerful extra weaponry.  Conveniently, you don’t need to preserve any of those excellent weapons with Residium and they just come back even when you loop, allowing a bit of a bypass to the roguelike elements of the game but also reducing the strategy and skill required by a fair margin.

Naturally, this is also a gorgeous game that looks amazing on the Xbox Series X.  The visuals are top notch and the detail levels are fantastic.  The backgrounds and characters are wildly creative and the whole things comes off as an FPS as seen through a retro ‘60s fever dream.  Tack onto that an excellent soundtrack and some AAA level voice acting through the whole game and you’ve got one hell of an experience here!

There are a few downsides to Deathloop as well though.  The menu system is fairly complex which is in itself a bit intimidating.  Menu management is never enjoyable for most people, but there’s so much backstory and so many notes to read in Deathloop that it becomes almost a chore.  It would be a bit more bearable if the lore was more interesting but it’s only moderately so at best.  Saving items can be a hassle too, but it’s a part of the mechanics of the loop and residium is pretty plentiful.  Harvesting it is a bit random, but there’s lots out there if you’re paying attention.

While those are minor quibbles, it is kind of hard to tell where to go at times and it’s easy to get lost in Blackgate.  Sure, you can turn on a mission tracker and see where to go, but getting there is often quite roundabout and many places are nearly abandoned, leaving you to sneak around all paranoid for no good reason.  Stealth takes time in this game and unless you have lots to spare, guns blazing is generally just quicker once you master the controls.  The controls themselves are pretty standard FPS fare, but they’re finicky and accurate so there’s a bit of a learning curve to combat.  Initially, you’ll get beat down pretty fast by standard enemies, but that vanishes as you get the hang of the game’s head shots and aiming.

Ultimately, Death Loop is an excellent game with some neat options.  The main game with Cole is fun and once you get the hang of the loop, you’ll blaze through in about 12-15 hours.  Tack on another 15 or 20 if you’re a completionist and you want to go through everything and plenty more if this is right up your alley and you love killing Coles with Juliana.  Either way, you’ll get your money’s worth out of Deathloop.  This is an FPS that has it all, a solid story mode, a unique multiplayer system, excellent graphics, a rocking soundtrack, and best of all, a good script!  The simple fact of the matter is that Deathloop is worth your time and if you’ve been waiting for an Xbox release, now is the time!  The Xbox version is simply excellent with no lags or crashes, beautiful graphics, and the wildly useful Quick Resume which makes everything about the game just a tiny bit better!  Now go!  You owe it to yourself to break the loop!

This review is based on a digital copy of Deathloop provided by the publisher.  It was played on an Xbox Series X using a 55” Sony 1080p TV.  Deathloop is also available for PS5 and PC on Steam.