DEATHLOOP
It’s “Déjà Vu” in the Latest DEATHLOOP Trailer
DEATHLOOP
What must it be like to live your entire life in a perpetual state of déjà vu?
Not ideal, if you ask DEATHLOOP’s hero, Colt. Forced to live the same day over and over, Colt just can’t shake the feeling that he’s experienced all this before. That’s why he needs to break the time loop he’s trapped in and finally get off the godforsaken island of Blackreef. He’ll just have to deal with all of the island’s murderous citizens and the so-called Visionaries who are protecting the loop.
But just because Colt is caught in a time loop doesn’t mean he – and everyone else on Blackreef – won’t look amazing as they all try to murder each other. DEATHLOOP wouldn’t be an Arkane game without a ridiculous amount of style, and few things are more stylish than the opening credits to a Bond movie. So obviously DEATHLOOP deserves a dressed-to-kill new trailer with its own over-the-top, Bond-esque track, hosted on Blackreef's own island-wide radio station by the Visionary, Ramblin' Frank Spicer.
Finding Inspiration
“Creating a new playground for players is something extremely challenging and motivating,” says Art Director Sebastien Mitton. His team at Arkane drew inspiration from books, movies, music and real-world locations to create Blackreef. “One of the main inspirations quickly became the Faroe Islands, which have a very wild and mysterious atmosphere.” (Just Google it and you’ll understand.) The team also drew inspiration from The Thing (Carpenter, 1982). “We love the cold, isolated and intimate atmosphere of this masterpiece,” Mitton says. “But Blackreef is much more than that: what you'll find there is a mix of warm 60s vibes, technology, madness, possibilities and fun.”
DEATHLOOP also pays homage to some classic 1960s spy movies, including the James Bond films. As chance would have it, the upcoming Bond film No Time to Die also features the Faroe Islands, though in a much more literal sense than DEATHLOOP, which is set in a fictional world and only finds inspiration in the islands’ rugged mystique.
But building a game world is more than paying homage. It’s tapping into those little celebrations of pop culture and real-world locations to breathe life into something new and different. “There are a lot of 1930s/40s-era influences on Blackreef, with its bunkers, abandoned labs and rusty structures,” says Mitton. “We pulled from locations like Prypiatt in Ukraine, Hashima in Japan, and Pyramiden, which is an abandoned Soviet coal mining settlement on the Norwegian archipelago. Then we dipped into the Cold War and looked to the show Lost and its DHARMA Initiative. This source of mystery was a huge inspiration for our artists.”
These architectural inspirations laid the groundwork for an isolated island plagued by decades-old conspiracies and beset by various organizations and their strange experiments. Layered on top of these cold military structures are the markings of the island’s current inhabitants – the eight Visionaries and the Eternalists that follow them. Their aesthetic leans much more into the vibrant pop art of the 60s, with flashy clothing and loud graffiti adding a frivolous twist to the severe greys and rusted reds of their predecessors.
“We studied the ready-to-wear styles of the 1940s and 50s, which then took off in the 1960s with arrival of Miss Dior, Courrèges Couture Future, Saint Laurent Rive Gauche and Givenchy Nouvelle Boutique,” explains Mitton. “This period represents the spirit of freedom, change and access for all to collections that allowed anyone to stand out. What better way to live forever?”
For the people of Blackreef, the team was particularly inspired by the popular British model Twiggy, an “emblem of the 60s,” Mitton says. “She immediately caught our attention with her pep; her style; her big, made-up eyes. Everything about her convinced us that the 60s were the right choice to live carefree in a time loop.”
Sebastien Mitton’s DEATHLOOP Watchlist
Want even more of a peek behind the scenes of DEATHLOOP? Art Director Sebastien Mitton pulled together a list of movies and the themes that inspired much of the team’s vision for the island of Blackreef. Get ready for DEATHLOOP’s launch with this watchlist.
- Skyfall (2012 | dir. Sam Mendes) – Grandiose décor and the Scottish Highlands
- Point Blank (1967 | dir. John Boorman) – An empty and arid world theater of revenge
- The Wicker Man (1973 | dir. Robin Hardy) – A murder puzzle on a Scottish island
- Under the Volcano (1984 | dir. John Huston) – A tortured soul during the Day of the Dead in Mexico
- Escape from New York (1981 | dir. John Carpenter) – Anti-hero fighting to escape
- The Warriors (1979 | dir. Walter Hill) – Hunter and hunted
- The Thing (1982 | dir. John Carpenter) – Isolation, harsh climatic conditions, survival
- The Shape of Water (2017 | dir. Guillermo del Toro) – This aesthetic – especially in the research labs – helped guide the artists in terms of materials, shapes and lighting
