DEATHLOOP Review Summary

Excellent level design and an engaging story offer multiple playstyles, but frequent crashes, repetitive gameplay, and poor optimization with high VRAM hinder the experience.

Excellent level design: Multiple players praise the level design, noting multiple paths and creative layouts. It is frequently highlighted as a strength of the game.

Time loop concept appealing: The time loop and roguelike integration is considered interesting and novel. Many appreciate the concept even if execution varies.

Excellent art direction: Visuals, aesthetics, and art style are consistently praised. The unique 1970s European style and detailed environments receive special mention.

Engaging story and world: The story is considered amazing with a good plot twist, and the world-building (60s spy theme, mysteries) is captivating. The narrative adds depth to the gameplay.

Multiple playstyles and powers: Players enjoy the variety of weapons, powers, and approaches to missions. The ability to choose stealth or combat with different abilities is highly valued.

Frequent crashes and instability: The game crashes frequently, including at launch, during missions, and at specific points, causing loss of progress. Many players report the game as unplayable due to these issues.

Repetitive and boring gameplay: Many reviewers find the gameplay to be repetitive and boring, with box-style levels and a gimmicky time-loop mechanic. The lack of variety and dull combat make it hard to stay engaged for long.

Weak and unengaging story: The story is described as weak, poorly written, and not engaging. Important lore is hidden in hard-to-find notes, and the narrative is compromised by the time-loop mechanic.

Game fails to launch or start: Many players report that the game fails to launch or start, even after multiple attempts. Crashes on startup are especially common with NVIDIA graphics cards.

Poor optimization and high VRAM usage: The game is poorly optimized, with high VRAM usage that causes memory leaks and makes it unplayable on some hardware. Recommended specs are misleading.

Invasive multiplayer element: A PvP invasion mode forces players into encounters with Julianna, an invading player character. This mechanic is considered forced and disrupts single-player progression for some.

Super abilities and powers: Players gain superhuman abilities and powers, similar to Dishonored's supernatural skills. These are used for combat and traversal across the time loops.

Varied weapon arsenal: Weapons include shotgun, minigun, rifle, SMG, pistol, dart gun, and machete. There are also tiered variants and a trinket/perk system for customization.

Time loop mechanic central: The game features a time loop where a single day repeats until the player eliminates eight visionaries. Time is divided into four periods, and the player must plan their actions accordingly.

Stealth mechanics flawed: Stealth is a key element but is poorly designed, with limited stealth space and broken mechanics. Players note it feels underdeveloped compared to other immersive sims.

Crashes at launch on NVIDIA: Multiple users report game crashing at startup specifically on NVIDIA graphics cards, often requiring driver rollbacks to older versions like 572.16. This is the most frequently reported issue.

Poor optimization and unstable FPS: Players describe the game as poorly optimized with unstable framerates fluctuating wildly, large FPS drops, and stuttering on various hardware, including mid-range systems.

General startup failures: Many users experience the game failing to launch, even on systems meeting recommended requirements. Troubleshooting steps often fail.

Driver incompatibility with new drivers: Latest NVIDIA drivers create compatibility issues requiring rollback to older versions such as 572.16 or 572.83 to run the game. Some users must downgrade to Windows 10.

Access violation errors: Several users encounter an Access Violation error (0xC0000005) or VoidEngine Access Violation, preventing the game from starting or running.

Not worth full price: Players feel the game does not justify its cost, with some suggesting it is only worth buying on deep sale or below a low price threshold. Clusters 2, 4, and 14 provide consistent feedback on pricing issues.

Poor PC performance issues: The PC version suffers from hardware requirements, crashes, and instability, leading many to recommend console play instead. Clusters 5, 6, 12, and 47 specifically target PC problems.

Only for die-hard Arkane fans: The game appeals strongly to Arkane loyalists but may disappoint others, including fans of previous titles. Clusters 10, 18, 21, 31, 42, and 44 provide varied perspectives.

Broken and abandoned game: Critical technical problems such as crashes, progress loss, and failure to launch make the game unplayable. Clusters 3 and 8 highlight the game being broken and abandoned with crashes resetting progress.

Overall not recommended: Many players strongly advise against purchasing the game, citing fundamental disappointment and lack of value. Cluster 1 and 19 both highlight a general 'do not buy' sentiment.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $30.00.

Game completion: 60.0h.

Story completion: 40.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Deathloop initially confuses and frustrates players with its tutorial and early lack of permanent progression, but becomes highly engaging once they unlock key abilities and item infusion at about 1.5 hours; fun may later decline due to repetitive content.

Reported time to anchor: 1h 30m.

Friction: Repetitive early loops with no permanent progress; Loss of items and progress on death before infusion unlock; Confusing tutorial and overbearing hand-holding; Multiplayer lag and crashes disrupting flow; Lack of clarity on infusion mechanic; Annoying or imbalanced invasions.

Knowledge-Seeking Time Looper: Methodically explores all four maps at different times, listens to dialogue, reads notes, and solves environmental puzzles to unlock the final solution. Motivation: Intellectual satisfaction of piecing together the loop's secrets and story through repeated play. Stance: buy.

PvP Invasion Thrill-Seeker: Keeps multiplayer enabled, often invades as Julianna or defends as Colt using stealth, gadgets, and abilities to gain an edge over human opponents. Motivation: Thrill of unpredictable PvP encounters and the satisfaction of outsmarting or eliminating another player. Stance: sale.

Disappointed Immersive Sim Purist: Tries to leverage stealth, gadgets, and powers creatively but is often frustrated by AI responsiveness and linear level progression. Motivation: Hoping for a deep immersive sim experience but left wanting; may play for the novel setting and story despite the shortcomings. Stance: deep sale.

Performance issues are widespread across all VRAM tiers, with lower and mid-range VRAM experiencing frequent stutters, crashes, and optimization problems, while high-end VRAM users report some crashes but fewer negative reviews overall.

Windows <8GB VRAM: negative. Most players report poor performance, including FPS drops on location transitions, terrible overall performance, and audio balance issues.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: negative. The majority report severe problems such as crashes, stutters, FPS bugs, and system instability, with only a few acknowledging the game's quality despite optimization issues.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: mixed. Some players manage to finish the game despite frequent crashes, FPS drops, and BSODs, while others report massive stuttering and lag, indicating a split experience.

Steam Deck: Deathloop presents a highly inconsistent and often broken experience on Steam Deck. Despite some users achieving stable gameplay after extensive tinkering with Proton versions, FSR, and graphics settings, the majority report frequent crashes, including system reboots, and attribute many issues to the Denuvo DRM. The game's verified badge is considered misleading due to these barriers, and small UI text further hinders usability on the handheld screen.

Linux and Proton: The game runs on Linux through Proton with some reports of optimization issues and a crash on SteamOS that can be resolved by lowering graphics quality. Overall, it is functional with minor tweaks.

External guides: The primary user complaints revolve around insufficient in-game guidance (particularly for quests and secrets) and technical issues with alt-tabbing, both forcing players to rely on external resources. There is also a positive sentiment regarding self-discovered secrets.