Arkane Studios has officially confirmed Death Cycle It takes place in the future of the universe first built in the Dishonored games.
This endorsement comes via Deathloop director and Arkane Lyon studio director Dinga Bakaba. Official Xbox Podcast Arkane Austin with studio director Harvey Smith.
Xbox’s Jeff Rubenstein asked Bakaba about rumors and clues that Deathloop is connected to this larger universe. While Rubenstein said he didn’t have to verify anything, Bakaba went above and beyond and not only confirmed that it was true, but also discussed the thought process behind doing it.
“Not everyone saw the same thing,” Bakaba said of Deathloop. “Not everyone heard the same song that you might have heard hidden somewhere. Not everyone saw every room, etc. etc. So it was nice to see the community take a look at the little clues we sprinkled all over the place, yes indeed, we imagined Deathloop would be in the future. [Dishonored 2’s standalone expansion] Death of the Stranger.”
Bakaba said that because he wanted Deathloop to have a story and identity that stood on its own, the team didn’t want to see this connection too obvious and upfront, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t use the game to explore what it was. It would be after the events of Death of the Stranger.
“While we were doing Deathloop, we said, hey, [this story] it could be one of the things that could happen next [Death of the Outsider.] So, we have a specific timeline to tie this in, and there are actually a lot of clues in the game,” said Bakaba, “Some of them are abused, one of them is really spoiler-y, so voila, but there are. Lots of little things and some of them have always been right under people’s noses, but people are just trying to figure it out.”
One of these references can be seen on the shotgun known as the Heritage Rifle. There is a logo on the side of this weapon, which is not clearly visible. latest Goldenloop update Added “empty breaks where the character plays with his weapon”. The logo can now be described as Dishonored’s Dunwall Tower.
As Bakaba says, these threads are like “this little scavenger hunt inside the scavenger hunt” that is the Deathloop, and are waiting to be discovered if players look carefully enough.
“We tried to see everything as evolution, but every time they talked about the past, we were either vague enough or we naturally hid the names,” Bakaba said. “For example, they’re talking about the Motherland, not Tyvia, but definitely… once you find out, you can figure it all out. And yes, it makes sense. So, it was good for us to imagine one of the futures. For the dishonest world and for it to make sense.”
We gave Deathloop a rare 10/10, even if we didn’t know about all these references to a larger universe. ours deathloop review, “His unique, high-concept ideas around time loops and non-linear research work are gracefully implemented, and their system feels effortless to navigate, learn, and ultimately master. It’s a new high-watermark for Arkane and developers alike,” we said. games to aspire to, a game like no Deathloop.”
Got a tip for us? Would you like to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to news tips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and he Twitch.