If you’re a regular VG247 visitor, you’ll know how much we loved Deathloop when it launched in 2021. In his review, Alex called it Arkane’s best game yet – a confident successor to Dishonored, and a bold demonstration of what developer Arkane can do when it’s unshackled from legacy IP (whether or not it has a choice in the matter).
But I, like many others I know, did not play this exemplary realisation of the immersive sim genre when it launched. The game dropped to $40 on the PS5 just weeks after launch. The conversation around it dried up quickly. And that’s not fair on the game, not really, because it’s a little slice of video gaming perfection, dressed up with stylish 70s-esque cool, loaded with more quips than a Bond flick, and brimming with enough genius gameplay ideas to make even the folks at Irrational Games blush.
It’s not the first time the prohibitively expensive nature of new-gen, platform-specific games has caused issues for developers trying to find an audience (here’s looking at you, Returnal). These experimental, impressive, and – in my eyes – essential games are simply overlooked by many, purely because that initial point of entry asks for so much cash.