Word Vomit: a writing project where I talk about games that I enjoy in a very messy format, sorry
Arkane Studios have cemented themselves within the industry as the premier developer of deep, first person action games — often labeled as an Immersive sim. From the bizarre Arx Fatalis all the way to recent releases Dishonored 2 and Prey, their catalogue features the absolute masterclass in level design, worldbuilding, and near-limitless player potential. Yet despite their accolades their games don’t seem to break into any commercial success, as the sales performance of titles Prey are well documented. So, both Arkane teams in Lyon and Austin have come at a crossroads on how to maintain their immersive sim roots while exploring different means of communicating the language of immersive sim design. Dishonored 2 released in late 2016 by Arkane’s Lyon team, again to the same critical acclaim that the previous title had harbored. Save for some technical issues Arkane continued to innovate what could be done within the first-person space with fantastic, evolving levels that the player had complete power in manipulating to their preferences. Dishonored cemented itself as one of the strongest franchises in Bethesda’s publishing book, yet despite that it could not find success commercially. (Other Bethesda titles have held similar issues — even Id Software’s DOOM and Wolfenstein franchises struggled at the time of their releases.)
What is it about the immersive sim genre that makes it so abrasive to be commercialized? In an ever-evolving games industry where software and engine designers strive for cutting edge visual / mechanical immersion, it’s unfortunate (and I suppose a tad ironic) that the subgenre of first-person games called ‘IMMERSIVE’ sims aren’t really that sought after. Between Hitman, Deus Ex and Arkane’s own titles there isn’t much of a game’s variety for these kinds of experiences currently. Yet other genres as of recent have been taking those immersive elements and applying it to their own design. Titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Metal Gear Solid V harbor these mechanics to give the player total free reign to do as they please within the overworld. Yet it isn’t often that these games are put with the label of an immersive sim because the mechanical designs that enable the player to traverse, interact, and manipulate systems as they see fit aren’t necessary with the core story progression. They’re nice to have in a vacuum but it’s as if those experiences — the immersive, systems-bending gameplay that enables player creativity and the traditional, straightforward playthrough that the Zelda and Metal Gear franchises have mastered decades ago– is separated by a barrier for the sake of the player.
Deathloop is a title that aims to connect that barrier — offering the peak of Arkane’s design prowess while reinventing their story progression methods.
Deathloop is an Arkane game down to a finely chiseled point as it offers the tools necessary to curate your own, mechanic-bending experiences in four unique, expansive regions. A significant bulk of the player toolset such as powers and item usage are lifted directly from Dishonored 2’s pool — the ever-reliable Blink and Domino make their homely return in a newer setting — so for diehard Arkane fans, assimilating back into the usual grind of power burning, shooting, stealth-action comes almost second nature. Routes begin to open in methods that wouldn’t typically be accessible without the right trinket (think bonecharms in Dishonored 2) or the proper ability, making re-runs of the different regions a breath of fresh air. The difference in experiencing Deathloop versus other Arkane titles is that there is a single, set way in completing the game’s goal of loop breaking. It is up to the player to find that sequence, putting pieces together for that (potentially) final loop that will settle the game. So yes, you can kill the seven visionaries in whatever method you deem necessary, but the SEQUENCE in how you kill them is what matters.
This is one of the approaches Arkane took to tackle the issue of storytelling and narrative within the realm of Immersive Sims. Exploration is highly encouraged and often a must to solve certain puzzles or finishing targets in previous Arkane games, but those titles never seemed to steer non-hardcore players into delving deeper in the level layout — leaving several parts of the game’s narrative as empty blots as progression continues. This sequence that’s framed in the game as ‘leads’ steers players into the direction they need to head into to curate the true sequence. By learning about the behaviors of the several visionaries through the usual Arkane way — audio logs, documents, and even ambient chatter — the game begins to open into another tightly designed maze of information gathering, code application, and killing the right person at the right ‘time’ to get a further lead. It’s very reminiscent of titles like Silent Hill, where satisfying certain conditions during your playtime grants the players the true ending of the game instead of simply playing through the experience straight. While the leads system doesn’t affect the actual ending of Dishonored, it tells the player what they need to do to break through the repetition of the four, varying stages and in turn holds the entire experience of Dishonored together. The motives and ambition of the visionary cast, Colt’s history with the visionaries, the origins of Blackreef altogether could all be discovered through the lens of an immersive sim fan — Arkane now has made it a learnable player pattern for newcomers to the genre, encouraging level design interaction beyond getting to cool places with the Blink ability or setting up a silly kill sequence.
Through that pattern, through the leads system is where the barrier of story and gameplay finally begins to connect and the issue regarding one of the immersive sim’s biggest selling points — player engagement through unrestricted exploration and mechanical agency — is resolved. The language of how these first-person titles should be experienced is explained effectively without being an overbearing and heavily guided or scripted exploration piece. The leads system is less of a checklist of what needs to be done, and more of a vague push to lead the player to give focus to a particular part of that overworld. To give them that same feeling of discovery and accomplishment when it comes to finding hidden tunnels that lead to layered, underground bunkers or that hidden room that contains a trove of useful equipment. There’s a particular moment where it all sort of clicked that the leads system was engaging: Deathloop, a title with a day night cycle that changes the environment and level layout based on the time of day, has a mission involving a bobblehead. This bobble head’s use beyond a clever easter egg to highlight one of the visionaries had been cute but beyond that there wouldn’t be any use of it. It would be through the efforts of pushing through two different visionary leads that the device is used in a remarkable method. There are all sorts of small, insignificant things in Deathloop that have grave importance near the endgame and without the leads system it would mostly go lost to a lot of people.
The leads system and the invasion mechanic used in Deathloop is but one of the many ways Arkane is attempting to bridge the gap between narrative / storyline progression and retaining its deep mechanical design. Deathloop reflects the future that Arkane — both Lyon and Austin — had once visioned with their original project The Crossing; full immersion and player agency, even as single player or multiplayer experiences. The ability to tell a cohesive narrative through multiple revisits of the same environments, explored by both studios with Austin’s Prey: Mooncrash, will hopefully be iterated on once Redfall releases. Still, Deathloop remains one of the more innovative and creatively designed first person shooters that I’ve held the pleasure of playing.
