I know what happens next. I know because this is Deathloop, and what happens once here will happen a thousand times, each enemy dancing to a predestined script they have no idea exists. As I watch on, they do exactly as they did the last time I was here. One Eternalist turns left. The other heads right. The third settles down onto the steps in front of her. I raise my gun until her head fills the small red circle in my reticle, but my attention shifts briefly to the Eternalist just ahead of her.
Is he far enough away, do you think? I have a silencer, sure, but if I fire now, will he hear the rush of displaced air as the bullet rushes towards her skull? And if he hear it, he’ll call out to the others, won’t he? And the Eternalists around him – I know there’s at least three up there ahead of him – will come running. I hesitate, giving him an extra second to step further away and…
Let’s Play Deathloop – THE FIRST 4 HOURS OF DEATHLOOP PS5 GAMEPLAY! Watch on YouTube
Argh, I effed it. In that three-second-long spell of hesitancy, the female Eternalist has stepped out of my sight – literally. She’s moved, and the Eternalist who’d calmly wandered off to the left is calmly wandering back down again. Once again, it looks like the real antagonist here is my own insufferable inaction.