Deathloop needed a more direct approach, its developers tell us.
We want to make that part of the experience.
The game doesnt want you to play a certain way!
Its whatever works for you.
This renewed commitment to player freedom is partially the result of an unexpected side-effect of Dishonoreds kill/no kill options.
However in practice, they often forced players into one of two predefined ways to play.
Shes here to get rid of him and end these things.
Maybe you shouldnt either, you should do whats fun.
That was always one of the objectives, its de-emphasising the idea that theres a right way to play.
I think, inherently, that immersive sims and Arkane games are about this dialogue with the player.
But in English you say that you beat a game it seems theres an antagonistic relationship in that culture!
At Arkane, we care a lot about the playfulness of getting towards an ending.
We like to have several endings in our games, its interesting, but its really about the journey.
Whats interesting is people setting their own challenges, and deciding what the game is for them.
Its not about what it is, its about how its made.
This is a different game.
That kind of like re-aligned the team towards that.
It’s like a train, it takes a little bit of time to slow down and change directions.
And what of the lessons from Deathloop?
What new alterations has Deathloop made to that distinct Arkane DNA?
I don’t feel any interest in making a completely linear campaign again, says Nightingale.
It’s not something I want to do again.
I fell in love with the way Deathloop is structured, where the players' goals are their own.
I feel like I wouldn’t necessarily have a job on a game structured like that.
And that’s really exciting for me.
We set out to make a game that would have a lot of flavour, Bakaba adds.
Polarising was the word we used quite a few times.
And that was the theme from one of the analysts we worked with.
They said it was a polarising game, but that it doesnt have to be.
Thats the weird thing about Deathloop.
Its a very unique game, its a strange beast.
But at the same time it got a lot of mainstream awareness.
We struck an interesting balance between mainstream appeal and making something completely weird.
I hope this encourages more people to take some risks, even with big games.
When you always give players what they expect, at some point that well runs dry.
I think its important to renew yourself sometimes, and propose something very different.
And now strangely, says Nightingale, Deathloop is something we know how to do.
