Arkane’s Deathloop gets a release date: May 21, 2021 on PS5 and PC

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Anyone who has followed Arkane since the days of Arx Fatalis knows the French studio likes to give players many ways to solve the same problem. In November 2020, that school got a set date: Deathloop, the new project from the Lyon studio, would come out on May 21, 2021 for PlayStation 5 and PC. Arkane and Bethesda revealed the date in a trailer.

The game was revealed at E3 2019 and shown again at the PlayStation 5 event in June 2020, when it was confirmed as a timed exclusive on Sony’s console, with a Windows version on the same day. The initial idea was to launch at the end of 2020, but in August of that year Bethesda delayed the game to the second quarter of 2021, citing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on development. The November trailer finally locked in the day.

The premise is the kind you explain at the rental store counter and the customer already wants to take it home: the player controls Colt Vahn, an assassin stuck in a time loop on the island of Blackreef. To escape, he has to eliminate eight targets, the Visionaries, before midnight. If one of them is left alive, the day restarts. In the way is Julianna, who can be controlled by another player, invading the match to hunt Colt.

The studio’s road is long: Arkane was founded in 1999, debuted with Arx Fatalis in 2002, made Dark Messiah of Might and Magic in 2006 and became famous with Dishonored, from 2012, and Prey, from 2017. Deathloop is set in the same universe as Dishonored, but with its own story and characters.

What came next

The May date did not hold: in April 2021 Arkane delayed the game again, and Deathloop came out on September 14, 2021 for PS5 and PC. Along the way, Microsoft completed its purchase of ZeniMax, owner of Bethesda and Arkane, in March 2021. Critics received the game very well: it was nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards and chosen as the best of the year by outlets such as Edge and GameSpot. The Xbox Series X|S version arrived on September 20, 2022, along with the Goldenloop update.