Arkane Lyon's upcoming FPS Deathloop has a one-of-a-kind multiplayer mode that pulls heavily from The Crossing, a canceled Arkanℱe St﷽udios game announced in 2007.
First announced at Bethesda's E3 2019 press conference, Deathloop premiered it's first gameplay trailer during the PS5 reveal presentation this week. The titular Deathloop refers to an Edge of Tomorrow-style time loop that has trapped the entire island of Blackreef in an endless manhunt. Their target: Colt, a supernatural assassin and former leader of the bizarre island community that now hunts him for sport. Led by Colt's successor, Julianna Blake, the residents of Blackreef see the time loop as an endless source of entertainment. The only way Colt can break the loop i♏s by 🐈eliminating 8 targets in 24 hours, including Julianna herself.
The gameplay trailer sets up the plot of the game and shows off the action-packed gameplay. Colt has a variety of superhuman abilities at his disposal that will be familiar to Dishonored players (teleportation, telekinesis, etc) as well 🐽as an arsenal of weapons that he will use to kill everyone in his path. The trailer ends with a quick tag that's easy to miss: Colt's nemesis Julianna will also be a p🦄layable character in multiplayer.
An article on Bethesda's website goes into some detail about the way multiplayer will work. Rather than a separate game mode, players will be able to invade each other's games and hunt Colt as Julianna using powers and abilities unique to her. Unlike like other games with an invader mode, like Dark Souls, this invader system is seamlessly integrated with the single-player campaign. When there is no invader, Julianna still periodically shows up to hunt Colt. This is a newꦫ type of immersive multi🗹player, and one that has been on Arkane's mind for many years.
The newest video game documentary from dives into the untold history of Arkane Studios and reveals all of their past projects, including those that never made it into the hands of the public. One of those games is called The Crossing, and features a multiplayer system strikingly similar to Deathloop. Designated "crossplayer" the game featured a single-player campaign that took place within competitive multiplayer matches. For example, while the camp🐼aign player is trying to complete objectives in their story-based mission, one team of players might b🌊e trying to kill that player while another team is assigned to protect them.
The Crossing was eventually canceled as the team moved on to work on LMNO, a project with Stephen Spielberg that unfortunately never materialized either. To see The Crossing live on in Deathloop is a treat for fans of the stu🔥dy, and undoubtedly satisfying for the developers th𝔉at have been with Arkane all these years.