Taking on the challenge of telling a story with a groundhog day theme can be an entertaining journey for both those who are creating and those watching as well. We’ve seen many writers take on this challenge lately with popular games like Returnal, Deathloop, and even 12 minutes. All of which emphasizes time travel as a way to unravel the mysteries of the story as we discover the past of the protagonist.

Perhaps two of the frontrunners for Game of The Year have created the most elaborate and entertaining time looping stories this year. Between Deathloop and Returnal, which game took this theme and created the best overall experience for gamers?

In both Deathloop and Returnal, you play as a protagonist who is stuck reliving their day. As the two characters (Colt and Selene) are introduced, they are just as confused about their current situation as we are, and the goal of both parties is to find out as much as they can and ultimately BREAK THE LOOP! 

Breaking Down The Setting

Returnal is set on an alien planet. As Selene moves forward on her journey, she is introduced to many abnormal creatures that all share a similar goal. To kill Selene. 

Returnal is a much darker game. The environment is much more threatening and players feel the presence of each and every enemy as they spawn. One wrong move and players can send Selene into the grasp of a set of women-eating vines that could prematurely end Selene’s life, which is just a small example of the dangers that are lurking throughout the level. 

Returnal presents players with a much more difficult challenge as things become random each time you die, so players can never feel too comfortable as they explore the planet. This is supposed to make the game more difficult and it achieves its goal by never letting players get too familiar with the environment. 

Deathloop on the other hand is much less serious. Players take on the role of Colt as they explore Blackreef, a city where the party never stops. As Colt wakes up on the beach, it’s obvious that the game presents a lot of humor and doesn’t take itself too seriously. 

The world is a lot more colorful and bright. The enemies are pretty unaware of what’s going, which makes sense because half of them are always drunk anyway. 

Their reaction time is slow so it isn’t difficult to sneak around Blackreef and achieve Colt’s objective. Long story short, there isn’t much of a challenge in Deathloop. The most difficult part is trying to find the combinations to all the various safes which is a totally different topic of discussion. 

Deathloop Vs Returnal: Abilities

Both protagonists have abilities that players can take advantage of. In Returnal, Selene is granted abilities through discovery, parasites, or fabricators that are planted throughout the map. The abilities that Selene is granted can range from health boosts to more damaging melee attacks. However, the stakes are much higher in Returnal. When you die in Returnal, you lose those parasites and abilities when you begin the next loop, and since the level is randomized when you come back, you may not get those abilities again for a long time.

Deathloop on the other hand attempts to raise the stakes by doing something similar. When Colt kills a visionary, he has the chance to take their special weapon or power slab and use it later on in the game. However, if Colt dies before he uses his residuum to permanently unlock the item, he will lose it until he encounters that enemy again. In Deathloop, everything is consistent. All the enemies spawn at the same place at the same time, so it won’t be difficult to retrace your steps for a weapon that you saw in a previous loop.

In both games, the abilities that these characters acquire opens the game up for the player in many ways. Areas that seemed unreachable are now much easier to explore. Enemies aren’t as difficult as you can turn the battle to your favor given the right combination of weapons and abilities. Without a doubt, Returnal requires more of a calculated approach when facing enemies as the wrong combo of parasites and weapons could spell your own demise. While in Deathloop, it can be fairly easy to take out many eternalists no matter what weapons you are wielding. It makes it a lot easier since you have 3 lives per map as well.

Overall Story

Both characters suffer from memory loss as they wake up at the beginning of the game. As you progress, you will begin to unearth more and more about each character’s past and things will slowly begin to fall into place. In each game, the developers chose to use similar tactics by having remnants of the past help the protagonists along the way. Simultaneously adding another layer of mystery and discovery during their journey.

In Returnal, Selene finds out more about her past from a house that players will frequent from time to time. Within this house, Selene makes the most substantial discoveries. This is where a lot of themes such as the octopus and astronaut are tied in as well. Selene’s story is shrouded in much more mystery than that of Colt’s. Even after beating the main story, there are still plenty of ideas that players can contemplate a deeper meaning.

In Deathloop, things play out much differently. The story is developed by recordings and notes that Colt finds throughout Blackreef, as he tries to figure out how to break the loop. We also discover a lot from the exchanges that Colt has with Julianna whenever they have short conversations on the walkie-talkie. The back and forth banter between Colt and Julianna adds more humor and I look forward to these moments whenever I enter a new level.

Overall, Colt’s story isn’t as in-depth as Selene’s, but it’s still a lot more fun to watch play out.

Deathloop Vs Returnal: The Verdict

Both games share the same theme but the developers took two different approaches to them.

There’s no denying that Returnal is a much more difficult game. Selene has a much more in-depth mystery with a richer and more fleshed-out story. Returnal rewards those who are calculated in their approach and each decision you make in Returnal could either end up being your demise or saving grace to more clues.

Deathloop on the other hand isn’t as serious of a game. Blackreef is a party island, so seeing half-naked enemies chugging down pints of booze isn’t the setting for a serious tone. Deathloop is simply a fun FPS that allows players to try out new powers and guns as they mix up their playstyle.

So, overall, Returnal looped it better than Deathloop. However, if given the choice to play Deathloop or Returnal, I’d pick Deathloop because it’s a lot more fun of a game.