LogInArkane developers shared that they don't want to go back to the linear approach anymore as they see it as a step backward.
Developers from Arkane Studios have recently spoken about their approach to making games and shared how it has changed since they created Deathloop.
In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, the studio's campaign director Dana Nightingale and co-creative director Dinga Bakaba revealed that they do not want to go back to the linear structure that Dishonored had.
Nightingale shared that she's always loved such games where the choices players have to make are so meaningful "that it's worth playing again to see everything else." According to her, one of the levels in the Dishonored spin-off Death of the Outsider, for example, needs to be completed at least four times to see everything, but most players only play through the game once and then move on to something else.
This made the studio wonder how to create such a game where players could see the variety of options and choices without repeatedly playing the game through.
"So, how do we make a game where we do that, but help the player feel like going back and trying the different outcomes? We want to make that part of the experience," Nightingale said. "Our fans love to replay our games, but it hasn’t really been built into the experience to do that – with Deathloop it is."
Dinga Bakaba also admitted that the consequence system in Dishonored did not work well as players considered it to be a system of morality, which supposedly determines which choice is correct and which is not. However, the studio eventually solved this problem only in Deathloop, where there is no "correct" approach to playing the game.
"Whatever way you choose to play through the day, you can take another one entirely the next day, and it's in the middle of the same campaign. That was always one of the objectives, it’s de-emphasising the idea that there’s a right way to play," Bakaba said.
"I fell in love with the way Deathloop is structured, where the players' goals are their own. The idea of saying, 'Okay, mission one, mission two, mission three...' that feels like a step backwards for me," Nightingale said.