“At Arkane, we have a strong vision for Deathloop and we don’t want to compromise on that, but we also need to do everything we can to ensure the health and safety of everyone in the studio,” game director Dinga Bakaba said in a video on Twitter. “We are sorry for the wait, and we want to thank you all for your passion and excitement,” he added. “It’s the fuel that powers our creativity and our hard work.” Arkane have delayed Deathloop before, previously expecting it in 2020. But hey, game development is often unpredictable, and this sure has been an unpredicable period. Deathloop is an Arkane-y first-person shooter about assassins in a time loop on a spy-fi island. Blessed with superpowers, you’re trying to off eight targets, learning the island and the routines and behaviours of everyone on it with each loop. Meanwhile, another assassin is hunting you, and she can controlled by the AI or (optionally) another player. It sounds like Arkane are realising some of the “crossplayer” idea they had for The Crossing. That was a Source engine shooter they announced way back in 2007, with the idea of a story campaign where one player was the main character and other players filled out competing factions. Arkane put The Crossing on hold in 2009 and eventually cancelled it, but I always enjoyed daydreaming about the idea. If you’re curious, a Noclip documentary had more on it. Only one player will be against you in Deathloop, but it does sounds a lot more involved than the Dark Souls-style invasions that we see in many other games. I can wait a little longer to see that. We called Deathloop one of our most anticipated games of 2021.
