Bethesda have announced the delay of Deathloop from Holiday 2020 alongside the PlayStation 5, for which it is a timed console exclusive, to Q2 2021.
To the community, an update on DEATHLOOP: pic.twitter.com/XveoG6AgoT
— DEATHLOOP (@deathloop) August 18, 2020
The delay follows in the footsteps off another big next-gen launch title, Halo Infinite, with Bethesda also citing the need to polish their game further (Arkane’s games often lean on more emergent gameplay which can be difficult to polish and refine) and the challenge of working remotely to keep employees safe during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The decision is a bit of a blow for Sony, who had secured Deathloop as a timed console exclusive for PlayStation 5, and would surely have been eager to tout it alongside whatever first party games they are able to release, such as Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
The game is set on the island of Blackreef, with protagonist Colt trapped here in a mysterious Groundhog Day-style timeloop. Instead of trying to find love, he’s trying to take out eight targets across Blackreef before midnight. It seems simple enough except Blackreef has its own guard, Julianna and she enjoys killing Colt over and over again.
Colt appears to have various abilities including the Blink ability from the Dishonored games allowing him to teleport around Blackreef. Another ability allows him to flick enemies away, including out of windows. Players will have to learn the patterns of Blackreef and discover different paths to work out how to best move forward. There will be a lot of dying but each death will bring knowledge.
Deathloop does mix the singleplayer and multiplayer. While players experience the story of Colt others can take control of Julianna to hunt Colt through Blackreef and stop his progress. It is an optional choice as players can keep it so Julianna remains AI controlled instead of player controlled.
Deathloop will now be coming to PlayStation 5 and PC in Q2 2021. Any time-restricted release on other platforms, such as Xbox Series X, will likely also have been delayed.
Source: Twitter
Thomas Harrison-Lord
That’s a shame, thought this looked interesting.