As I attempt to 'shift' up the craggy rocks that surround Charlie's Condition Detachment compound in Updaam, remembering an open window I can use to circumvent security, only to misjudge a jump and plummet to my death. Sprinting through The Complex with the revolving Heritage shotgun in hand and a swarm of Eternalists surrounding me, dancing between bullets until one finally catches me in the torso. I don't remember the innumerable lives I lived on Blackreef during my time with Deathloop, but I do remember the deaths. If you can't break the cycle by the time Aleksis Dorsey’s party draws to an end, as Ramblin' Frank's fireworks light up a night sky overlooking one of Arkane's most impressive and labyrinthian combat spaces to date, it's going to loop back around to morning anyway – there's no use crying over Colt's spilt blood. Throughout its opening hours, you'll rarely succeed but never do you feel like a failure. Deathloop gives you the space to develop theories and encourages you to test them in real-time – the consequences be damned.

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