DEATHLOOP
DEATHLOOP’s Killer Cat-and-Mouse PvP Detailed
DEATHLOOP
Relationships are hard work, especially when they’re relationships between bitter rivals determined to hunt each other to the death.
DEATHLOOP’s unique PvP mode pits its protagonist and antagonist against each other in a battle of wits, weapons and supernatural abilities. Will you sneak your way through a map as you try to track down your opponent, or will you litter your path with bullet casings as you loudly blast your way to victory? Our panel at this year’s QuakeCon takes a deep look into DEATHLOOP’s PvP and the relationship between its main characters.
DEATHLOOP launches exclusively for consoles on PlayStation 5 on September 14 and will launch on PC the same day. Check out the full QuakeCon panel below and read on for even more PvP details.
The Basics
When you play as Colt, you are playing through DEATHLOOP’s main campaign. You can choose to allow other players to invade your campaign, adding another layer of challenge and unpredictability. If you disable this option, you will still be hunted by Julianna, but it will be an AI-controlled version of her. Using the tools at your disposal, you can face off against Julianna directly or hide from her and stealthily make your way toward your destination. Alternatively, you could extract yourself from the mission altogether, maintaining any gear you may have collected, but without reaching your goal.
That being said, there are some very good reasons to go after Julianna. Because she’s stronger and smarter than anyone else you’ll face in the game, it would only make sense that when you manage to take her down, the rewards are even greater. You’ll earn a windfall of Residuum (the resource used to permanently unlock gear and abilities for future cycles) and you could walk away with a new high-quality weapon, a power or power upgrade, or a trinket to enhance your gear or yourself. If that’s not enough incentive to go hunting for your hunter, killing Julianna also refills your Reprise, which allows you to die twice per map before having to restart. If you’re missing a couple of charges and are about to go face off against a Visionary, getting those charges back could be the difference between success and failure.
As Julianna, your one mission is to stop Colt from accomplishing his objectives. When you play as Julianna, you’ll be given the option to invade a stranger’s campaign or hop into a friend’s game and mess with them a little. You’ll hunt Colt down through a district and your mission is over when you’ve put an end to his run. That doesn’t mean you only need to kill him once. Thanks to his Reprise ability, you may need to kill him up to three times before his mission ends. Julianna only gets one life, so she’ll need to be a little more careful.
And just like there are incentives for facing off against Julianna, there are incentives awaiting those who choose to play as Julianna as well. In addition to being able to experience the rare chance to play as the “villain” in a story, you also unlock unique rewards like character skins for both Julianna and Colt.
“When you play as Julianna, each time you enter a map to hunt for Colt, you can earn a number of feats,” explains Game Director Dinga Bakaba. “Things like surviving for X minutes or getting headshots or using power combinations. Doing stylish or strategic actions basically. The more you do, the more you rack up what we call Hunter points. With those Hunter points you unlock Julianna’s progression, which is how you get new weapons, powers, upgrades, and trinkets for her. Every time you unlock these things you have a chance to unlock skins for either Julianna or Colt and all these skins either reflect an aspect of the characters’ personalities or an aspect of the island of Blackreef.”
Hunter vs. Hunted
Whether you play as Colt or Julianna, you’ll start both modes the same way. Before you enter a district, you’ll choose your weapon and ability loadout. There is some crossover between what the rivals have access to, but they both have their own unique skills and abilities.
Julianna’s signature power is Masquerade, which allows her to trade appearances with another Eternalist or Visionary (or even Colt, if you’re looking to mess with his mind a little). Hide in plain sight with this ability and use Colt’s confusion to your advantage. He might think he’s aiming down his sights at you, but in reality he’ll be taking out your decoy and letting you know where he’s hiding.
Julianna also has the island’s inhabitants on her side. Once the Eternalists spot Colt, the invading Julianna will get a ping informing her of his last-known location. And vice versa, Julianna can alert any Eternalists in the area if she sees Colt, giving her an interesting indirect method of attack.
But Colt has tricks up his sleeve, too. Thanks to his Hackamajig, a device Colt created and named himself, Colt can hack the various security systems like turrets and sensors around the island, forcing them to work for him instead of against him. If Colt hacks a turret, it will regard him as friendly and see everyone else as the enemy.
Big Game
Bakaba likens Julianna’s pursuit of Colt to hunting big game. “You’re hunting someone that is dangerous and driven. The ultimate test of the game is playing against someone that is as strong as you and trying to outsmart them or overpower them, depending on what your playstyle is.”
Hunting Colt won’t be easy. He’s strong, smart and he’ll be expecting you. On top of that, as mentioned earlier, he can die more than once before he’s truly dead. As Julianna, you’ll have to stay on your toes and rely on your knowledge of Blackreef to help guide you and inform your decisions. Keep an eye on your surroundings to help determine whether or not Colt has been through an area or not. Eternalists missing from an area you know they should be patrolling? There’s a good chance he’s passed through.
“In the beginning you don’t know a lot about her, but it’s pretty clear that she knows her Blackreef,” says Bakaba. “This is one of the reasons we don’t unlock the invasion early. We wait for you to have played through a bit of Colt’s campaign first. But it’s really something that rewards your knowledge of the map. Knowing where the weapons are, where the hotspots are, where the nice sightlines are if you’re in a sniping mood… it really pays off. Exploring the island and playing as Colt, and then leveraging this knowledge when playing as Julianna is quite satisfying.”
For example, if a familiar pickup is missing on the map, there’s a very good chance Colt has already passed through. From there, you might be able to deduce the path he’s taken through the district. Keep all these things in mind when you go hunting, and remember, the job isn’t over until Colt has died his last death.
Of course, Julianna doesn’t have to always just fight Colt. There’s actually nothing stopping a Julianna player from helping out a Colt player by dropping weapons or even taking out enemies for him, which Bakaba says is entirely intentional. “We like to make games where you play your way, and it felt just fair that Julianna gets to play her way. For story reasons that I will not go into, it is not improbable for Julianna to choose to help Colt temporarily. She likes to mess with him and confuse him and surprise him, and she’s just having fun with this whole thing so why not give your prey a little bit of room. You’ve seen a cat play with a mouse. They’ll let it escape only to crush it later.”
