Freedom is a lie in video games. Maybe in real life, too, but especially in the virtual worlds we create. Even games with the most open of worlds have rails and limits and restrictions. And a lot of repetition.
It’s by design, of course. A game needs to have limits because otherwise it would be impossible to finish making. It’s not something many think about while they play, but reusing locations and designs often makes things easier for the people actually creating the game. More than that, though, we’ve grown used to the mechanics of games without ever really wondering whether they make any sense. We take for granted the idea that characters simply respawn after they die, that certain things go back in place after a while and ammo and heath packs sit scattered about.
The makers of Deathloop know all of that. But what makes the game so excellent is that Deathloop is…
