Deathloop Game Update Makes a Myriad of Improvements

Developer Arkane Games has today announced patch notes for Deathloop’s next game update, and it makes a host of changes that should enhance the gameplay experience. Most notably, for my money, improvements to the game’s NPC AI, which was one the weakest aspects of the game. They should offer more of a challenge moving forward.

Elsewhere, UI clarity and appearance, audio mix quality, and controller remapping as well as field-of-view and motion-blur controls for PS5 are all featured in the update. Here’s a full overview:

NPC Behaviour

• NPCs now react to bullets passing close by, such as headshots that miss
• NPCs now react when another is assassinated close by
• NPCs now hear better and react faster to nearby footfalls
• NPCs under fire no longer move to take cover if the player is too close
• NPCs can now deduce the direction from which a grenade was thrown
• NPCs no longer stop trying to kill Colt if Julianna uses Nexus to link him to them
• Interrupted aerial assassinations will no longer cause NPCs to become mostly invulnerable
• Numerous other small fixes and improvements to NPC behavior, reactions, pathing, and placement
• Charlie Montague no longer gets stuck in the floor or ground if he’s kicked while using Shift

Quality of Life

• Added controller remapping and left/right stick inversion
• UI buttons and text in options menu are now larger, as are their selectable areas
• [PS5] Added Field-of-View and motion-blur options. We continue to listen to community feedback and explore more quality of life and accessibility options for a future update.

Invasion

• Colt dropping the game now counts as a win for a player-controlled Julianna
• AI-controlled Julianna is now more reactive to Colt’s actions
• The antenna that Colt must hack to escape now takes slightly longer to hack
• AFK players are tagged
• Colt players who linger in Colt’s tunnels for too long are automatically tagged and that causes the tunnel doors to open
• Higher chance that you will invade players on your Friends list while they are playing in ‘Online mode’
• Strelak Sapper Charges thrown by NPCs that Julianna has attacked will no longer create false Colt tags for Julianna
• Players now properly hear audio reactions from the opposing player during melee
• Strelak Sapper Charges will now stick to Julianna as they do to other NPCs

User Interface

• The UI is now clearer regarding Residuum loss on death
• The appearance of weapons and other items is improved within the Loadout UI
• The UI HUD will now properly display updates made to key bindings and controls
• The game will now pause fully during the Game Over splash screen
• Melee will now be labeled correctly when in the weapon cycle on a controller (Y)
• When aiming down sights, crosshairs will no longer disappear while the player is close enough to an NPC to perform an assassination
• The Heritage Gun’s reticle will now indicate the increased scatter from the Scattergun perk
• [PC] Players will no longer be asked to confirm changes to visual settings if nothing was changed
• [PC] Fixed an issue in which mouse wheel sensitivity was overreduced when zooming in or out to view a weapon in the Loadout UI

Misc. Gameplay

• Duplicate Slab upgrades are now converted to a harvestable Residuum object
• In Karl’s Bay, Harriet and her cultists can no longer shoot at Colt through the closed security door to her office
• Also in Karl’s Bay, a certain window in Hangar 2 has been restored to its intended functionality
• Strelak Sapper Charges can no longer be thrown in a way that enables the player to clip through doors or other surfaces
• Kicking a Strelak Sapper Charge while “cooking” it no longer causes the Charge to explode and no longer causes subsequent Charges to disappear when thrown
• Turret placement can no longer be used as a way to enable the player to clip through doors or other surfaces
• Hackable antennas now give clearer audiovisual feedback of their hacked status
• Fixed an issue that could result in Colt having 2 guns in the same hand or one gun in the left hand instead of the right hand after a reprise
• Fixed an issue that could prevent a weapon from being further reloaded if player switched to a same ammunition type while reloading then switched back to original weapon
• Fixed an issue that could cause the Hackamajig not to be automatically equipped to an empty hand when first picked up
• Fixed an issue that could lead to a player using the Shift Slab to reach a ledge, triggering the vaulting action, and getting stuck in the ledge instead of vaulting it
• Fixed a case in which 2-Bit interactions were not working as intended
• Fixed an issue that caused some hackable doors to become unopenable if kicked while hacking
• More than one turret can no longer occupy the same space
• Fixed an issue that could trap players if Fia’s large bunker doors close on them

Graphics/Audio

• Fixed an issue in which the player could unequip the machete during an assassination animation
• Corrected some issues with FSR integration and improved overall implementation.
• Fixed in issue in which the player could unequip a jammed gun during the unjamming animation
• Fixed bugs, including some that could cause crashes, related to the DLSS and ray tracing graphics options
• Fixed numerous minor visual glitches, including some related to indirect lighting
• Fixed or improved numerous audio details and timings, including some improved voiceover lines
• Improved audio mixing across the board
• Fixed an issue that could cause graphical glitching when a door is opened at the same time a sensor closes it
• Turret indicator lights now no longer function if the turret’s battery is destroyed
• The hostile/friendly indicator lights on Field Nullifiers are now consistent with those on turrets
• Fixed an issue that caused deactivated turrets to sound as though they’re deployed when thrown or dropped
• Fixed an issue that rarely caused closed doors to appear as though they’re open

Achievements/Trophies

• Fixed an issue that enabled Julianna to be rewarded with duplicate trinkets
• Fixed an issue that prevented the “Ensemble Tragedy” achievement from being rewarded properly
• Fixed an issue that prevented Julianna from earning the Double Vision feat if killing Colt via assassination while Masquerading as a Visionary
• Fixed an issue that enabled Julianna players to earn the Sorceress feat even if weapons were used
• Fixed an issue that counted Colt’s own deaths to Julianna’s gunfire toward the “Don’t Mind Me” achievement

Stability

• Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash while using the Strelak Verso
• Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash if Colt dies just as a cinematic begins
• Fixed an issue that could rarely cause the game to become unresponsive on exiting the Journal
• [PC] Fixed an issue that could cause the game to become unresponsive while remapping controls from keyboard to controller or vice versa

Connection-related

• Fixed an issue that could cause the first weapon to be dropped when the Julianna player picks up multiple weapons at once
• Fixed an issue that could cause the mission results screen and progression to be skipped for the Julianna player if that player goes straight to Invasion matchmaking after successfully breaking the loop as Colt and watching the game credits
• Fixed an issue that could cause the “network connection to the server failed” message to remain on-screen after being resolved
• Fixed an issue that could cause Julianna to spawn above the ground, having to briefly fall before being able to move
• Fixed an issue that caused the visual effects of Karnesis, when used on an NPC, not to appear from Julianna’s point of view

Twinfinite reviewed Deathloop at launch on PS5 and thoroughly enjoyed it, scoring the game 4.5/5 and concluding:

“Deathloop is signature Arkane in terms of exemplary immersive-sim design, reminiscent of BioShock and Dishonored, and it also puts a giant smile on your face each and every time you play.“