Deathloop

Deathloop casts the player as the hitman Colt, trapped in a time loop on the island of Blackreef, where he must eliminate eight targets in a single day before time resets at midnight and everything repeats exactly from the start, unchanged. Arkane Lyon, the creators of the Dishonored series, put their experience with immersive simulations to good use here – the island is divided into four locations across four times of day, with the targets' behavior, the number of guards, and the available routes all changing depending on when and where the player decides to strike, requiring careful planning, observation, and repeated experimentation with different approaches.

The game combines a first-person shooter with supernatural abilities reminiscent of Dishonored – short-range teleportation, linking enemies together to share damage, or temporarily freezing an entire room of enemies at once. A special twist is the asynchronous multiplayer, in which another player can invade Colt's loop at any time as Julianna, an assassin hired to stop him, turning every playthrough into an unpredictable cat-and-mouse game full of tension and improvisation for both sides.

Deathloop arrived on Xbox Series X|S a year after its timed exclusivity on PlayStation 5, with support for high resolution and smooth framerates even in hectic fights against multiple opponents at once. Reviews praised the game for its inventive level design, dark humor, striking 1960s visual style, and the original way it combined loop mechanics with immersive-sim design and freedom of approach. Deathloop is now considered one of the most original action titles of its generation and proof that Arkane can bring its craft beyond the established world of Dishonored. The visual style draws on 1960s pop art and period interiors, giving Blackreef Island a distinctive retro atmosphere full of colorful contrasts.

Why play it: For fans of inventive level design, dark humor, and freedom of approach, it's proof that Arkane can carry its craft beyond the world of Dishonored – with smooth performance on Series X|S to boot.