| “ | I made a decision that never was a question. I started my own revolution, by haunting the enemies and vigil over the death. | „ |
| ~ The official tagline |
Deathwatch, stylized as Dw, Role-playing First-Third person Stealth Action-Adventure developed and published by DECA and released for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Wii-U and XBOX One on the 20th of November, 2017. It uses W4rtech.
It was announced to be in development since 2015, after Warzone: Iron Wolf's release and was officially teased on the 1st of December 2016 with a 30 seconds lasting scene where the main protagonist is watching multiple sceneries in the city, with on the end him putting a mask on. The official trailer was released on E3 2017.
Deathwatch is seen as DECA's best project so far due the great engine and freedom in gameplay. Also the setting and idea behind haunting your enemies was generally positive and the game received the highest average score of all DECA games.
Development[]
The development of Deathwatch started after DECA The Hague finished Iron Wolf. The idea of moving away from modern settings to historical fiction and alter history was the idea that stuck in the minds of the developers and they began to expand on those ideas. During the first stage of brainstorming, the designers named every timeline they thought was interresting to have a game take place in. The idea of the industrial revolution was eventually the most preferred setting, although there were some problems with it, mainly due the lack of action events.
One day, a designer came with the idea to have an alter history industrial revolution, were the weapon evolution was further in that time than it was back then. The idea was approved and people started working mainly on maps and weapons, instead of a plot actually.
However, in the early months of 2016, DECA signed a contract with Hollywood producers and DECA Los Angeles was founded. The new writers of DECA Los Angeles were approached to write an interresting story alongside the writers of DECA The Hague. The proposition was accepted and the story began to progress.
Gameplay[]
Deathwatch is mainly an action-adventure game from a dual first and third person perspective with an emphasis on stealth action and the use of gadgets and the environment to eliminate opposing forces in an innovative way. The game world is a series of self-contained, mission-focused areas designed for multiple avenues of exploration in terms of in-game movement. Between missions, the player can free travel throughout the whole city and can meet allies, receive side missions and can convert recovered loot into new upgrades, skills, gadgets, clothes and weapons. The player can safe any moment outside combat or at checkpoints, which auto safes.
Deathwatch features a in-game distributions system with money and experience points for role-playing elements such as upgrades and skills. The player can earn loot by looting bodies or receiving payment of certain missions, while experience points can be achieved by in how much you scare your enemies before killing them, how stealthy you have completed the mission or how you've explored the map. The gained XP will show of directly on screen and not at the mission evaluation. Loot can be used to purchase everything from other people, including upgrades, while XP is used to upgrade skills and handling of the player.
The player has two appearances in-game, which is divided into the assassin or the normal man. This system is influenced by the mask the player always has access to. If the player doesn't have the mask covering his face, the player is recognized by friendlies, giving him access to buying and upgrading inventory, but also he will be recognized by the enemies, making his freedom to buy and upgrade inventory difficulter, due the fact fewer people want to have him around because he is wanted. That way, he has to hide if enemies get close to him. If the player does wear the mask, he won't be recognized by any side and can't buy or upgrade inventory, but also doesn't receive a wanted status.
When in combat, the player can stealthy kill enemies without any resistance. However, the amount of XP the player gets is low and that way the player is forced to scare his enemies. He can do that by setting up traps, stalking his enemies after disarming them, killing his enemy's allies and let them leave a message in any interresting way or wounding every attack but not lethaly. If the player is spotted, the moves change and the player needs to use other equipment, weapons or combination moves to defeat his enemies. For example, if the player has a knife equipped adn goes into a knife fight with an enemy, he can push multiple buttons to use combo moves, like dodging, quick strike, heavy strike and counter strike. Also, when teh player has developed more skill, he can keep more momentum in fights, due more smooth movements and more effective attacks.
The variation of first and third person make the gameplay interresting. If the player wants to be more stealthy and tactical, he can play third person, while people who want to be more direct and precise can play first person. Both perspectives have advantages and disadvantages, which gives a new addition in gameplay. The moments you need to switch between both perspectives is quite often and can be done easily to keep the momentum in gameplay. If you play third person, overwatch is an important detail to the perspective, while in first person the movement preciser is and that makes it ideal for pursuits and combat.
Missions[]
Missions in Deathwatch can be received by going into the city and find lettres containing an objective or you can follow the story, which will be assigned into a direction to receive the mission. There is a wide variety of mission objectives, which can appear at any time and if the player has succeeded his objective, the player regularry needs to escape the site.
- Abduction - The player needs to find the assigned target and needs to knock him out, tie him and then drag him out of the area. These missions are recommended as stealth, but when taking the target with you, assault is recommended as movement and speed are lowered.
- Assassination - Assassination missions contain an objective to kill a person or a group. Assassination missions are mostly suggested to use stealth, as the AI will become more alert and defensive if alerted and the main target may have the chance to flee. Sometimes, the informant also wants an object from the target which can give the player more loot.
- Haunting - Drive away a person or a groups of people, by killing not important targets, but leave the main target live. These are the most rewarding missions of all and require a lot of stealth. Assault is not an option, as the player is noticed and the mission is compromised.
- Sabotage - The player has to sneak into a facility or intercept transport and need to sabotage the assigned objective. The mission will always have an escaping scene of the site. Also, the player may gain special equipment or loot from the sabotage of transport. Assault is recommended, as the sabotage will most of the times be noticed.
- Rescue - Rescue prisoners or other punished people out of prisons or prison transport. If the target gets killed, the mission immediately fails and the player has to escape the site without anymore rewardings. Stealth is recommended most of the times, the target isn't able to move that fast and needs time to move from position to position.
Synopsis[]
The story takes place in a fictional new build industrial city in greater London, Venthale. In this part of England has the new economy been build and people who want to start over think that they get a job and money in the city and travel to the city to find out it's nothing as it seemed it was. The city is influenced by an oppressive regime who are trying to be safe if a possible world war breaks out, by manufactering many weapons at the cost of the inhabiters. The city is modelled after many cities throughout Europe during the industrial revolution, but as well so called Ghetto's in the second world war.
In the story, the player takes control of an Elijah Grifo, who has lost everything he ever loved and also lost the will to life. The only thing that keeps him alive is the thirst for redemption and vengeance against the rulers. One day, he takes action and starts his own revolution against the regime. Due his thirst of revenge, he does not simply kill the loyalists to the regime, but haunts them to scare them and eventually killing them.
Story[]
The story begins with the low class man from the trailer returning home, with his little salary. His wife and his kids are waiting for him, but just when he shows the few coins, the street guards and the officer arrive. The bystanders say that they must've followed him, but his wife says he must not do anything that may turn out wrong. The officer walks targeted to the man, while the bystanders try to block the path to the man, with the guards clearing the way. The officer walks right in front of him, taunting him before grabbing the coins from the table. One man in the crowd says the he has to go away and stop bullying them all, but the guards use brute force to make him silent. The screen zooms out, to the roof where the assassin was in the trailer, but the roof is empty. When the officer taunts the man one more time, the man grabs a bottle and smashes it against the officer's head, knocking him out. The guards attack the man, pushing him on the ground and kicking him when he has already a lot of pain. One guard tries to stab the man with his spear, but another blocks the attack, saying that it's enough for now. The others help the officer scribbling up, who furious shouts to execute the man. The guards grab the guy and put and bag on his head, blocking the sight of him.
The man is brought to the outskirts of Venthale, tied up and pushed down on his knees. One of the two guards gets something out of the man's pocket. It's his mandatory identification. The guard folds it open, reading the man's name: Elijah Grifo. He grabs a pencil and writes something on it, putting it in his pocket afterwards. Then, he snatches the bag from the Grifo's head, who is breathing heavily and dirty. The guards walk a few steps away, to his colleague who's loading a rifle. When the guard aims for the feet of Grifo, the other guard grabs the gun and says that there's no need to let him suffer, revealing he was the same guy who kept a guard from stabbing Grifo. He unloads the mag and pulls only one bullet in the slot, slowly raising the gun and aiming for the head. Grifo feels his heart beating, but forgets all sounds of his surrounding. The guard closes one eye, focusing his other eye on the sight. Grifo's heartbeat raises and suddenly a hard blowing wind appears. The guard aimes one last second and the left side of Grifo's face is shown. A shot is heard and blood flies right next Grifo, with the bullet passing by first. Grifo is dropped on the ground, with a bloodpool appearing on the ground around his head. The guard puts the rifle on his back and says that the animals will eat him, turning around and walking away. Grifo lays motionless on the ground, with the day passing by and the time is speeded up, with every dust flying around, but Grifo not moving.
Suddenly, Grifo starts coughing and his view slowly clears up. He raises his head, feeling a headache. He raises his right hand the right side of his head, feeling a warm blood stream dripping down. It is revealed that the bullet clipped a scratch on his head and the shock mad ehim go unconscious. Grifo tries to stand up, bretahing heavily and still coughing. He staggers when he walks and falls over, landing on his hands. He sees the dropped magazine and grabs it. He stands up adn tries to walk further, arriving at the gates of a stronghold. He grabs a rips off a cloth from his clothes and binds his headwound, stopping the bleading. He puts on his hood and starts to climb over the fence. He lands on his feet and slowly walks to a guard, getting one bullet from the magazine. He then grabs the guards back and pushes the bullet in the guard's throat, slowly killing him. After the guard drops dead, Grifo grabs the knife and opens the door to the stronghold.
He begins to wander around in the stronghold, weakened by the bloodlose. He finds a two-man patrol and takes out one. The other one tries to attack Grifo, who counters the attack and injures him by stabbing him quickly in his shoulder. The guard starts running with Grifo in pursuit, who runs via a bypass to cut the runway and he jumps on the guard, stabbing him in his neck. He continues his walk through the stronghold, punishing all guards for their sins against the lower class civilians. He also uses tools he finds to create boobytraps, to either hurt or kill the guards. After finishing his slaughter for revenge, Grifo arrives in an office, with all documents of the Venthale people, including the names and IDs of the executed. Grifo searches for his own file and finds it. He's about to rewrite the file and make him come back to life, as he thinks about the fact that the authorities think he's dead. He puts back the file and watches the factory skyline of Venthale and then the wall, where an art piece is hanging. He uses his knife to get the art piece from the wall, which looks like a skull. He binds the skull to the cloth he used for binding his head and puts on the mask, opening the window and walking on the rooftop.
Grifo walks on the rooftop, searching a way out of the factory's terrain and into the city. He travels via the roof to get advantage over the guards on the ground. Occasionally, Grifo jumps down and takes out his enemies, before they spot him. After reaching the gate undetected, Grifo interferes into the big crowd of the putting of and hiding away his mask. He walks back to his own house, discovering that his wife and kids left the city to go to the countryside. However, many people start noticing that Grifo returned alived and are surprised that he is spared. Grifo uses this opportunity to keep the real story untold. However, during his conversations with the other people, a group of soldiers enter the street and taking most of the mens hostage. There's chaos, as only Grifo knows for who they're looking. He runs into the back of his house, putting on his mask without anyone seeing it and then climbs on the rooftops. He walks to the edge of the roof, like in the trailer and watches down to the heavy-handed soldiers taking prisoners. He recognizes the officer who took his money. He sees two soldiers riht beneath him pushing a man out of the building and Grifo jumps down, stabbing both soldiers with two blades. He pulls out the knifes, while most of the civilians and the soldiers look at him in awe. There is noise in the street of people questioning who the man is and the officer shouts to kill him. Grifo attacks the incoming soldiers, using his blades but also taking advantage of the weapons the soldiers use. He kills all the soldiers and the civilians start shouting at the officer, who is the only loyalist in the whole street. The officer starts running and Grifo starts pursuing him on a low speed run. He tries to make the officer suffer from fear, until he closes up on him and kills him.
With his reveal to the public, Grifo's alter echo becomes wanted. Grifo decides to visit an old friend, a low class inventor named Lugo. Grifo asks Lugo if he wants to help him, by giving him weapons. Lugo asks for what he needs weapons, but Grifo doesn't ask that questions. When Grifo asks again about the weapons, Lugo asks if Grifo is the masked man. Grifo tries to avoid an answer and Lugo shows a portable catapult. He ties it around the wrist of Grifo, teaching him how to use it in combat. When Grifo thanks him for the catapult, Lugo reaches for his hoodie and grabs the mask of Grifo. Saying that he didn't have to hide it and that he can rely on him when he needs him, Lugo gives back the mask. Grifo agrees on that and leaves the building.
Since the army has locked down the city and it's citizens, Grifo targets the most important people within the army, trying to scare away the army before hurting the citizens. However, one day the army decides to continue the roundup and arrests 10 young man, who are suspected to be the masked man. However, since Grifo isn't arrested, he goes to the execution place that day, investigating the site and think of tactics to use. Later that day, he comes back as his alter echo and walks through the crowd, who suddenly start booing at him. The guards are about to execute the first one as Grifo uses his catapult to kill the one who should pull the lever to drop the surface beneath the guy with the rope around his neck. Grifo then attacks the other guards on the same plateau and continues to rescue all the victims of the false suspection. After rescuing/failing to rescue them, Grifo sets all plateau's on fire, leaving a message to the government.
The next day, Grifo visits Lugo and tells him about how much the citizens hate him. Lugo says he has an idea to gain respect of them and calls a bird to him. He tells him that if teh citizens want Grifo to do something for them, they need to leave a message at a secret point and then the bird would take the message to Lugo. Grifo accepts the idea and Lugo tells him that he has to train the bird even more before he can achieve. Grifo continues his hunt for the army and completes tasks until Lugo is done with training the bird. Lugo says that the people will need to know what to do, so Grifo needs to tell the citizens about it. Grifo walks through the city, leaving notes behind in clusters of houses of low class people. After every cluster is provided of the note, the bird is set free and Grifo now can do tasks for the citizens.
After regaining trust of the civilians, Grifo finds out that the queen of England has travelled to Venthale to watch the uproar in the city. Grifo wants to show the queen the real horrors which take place in the suburbs. He stalks the royal convoy and threats to attack them, sending them into the suburbs. He then makes the royal convoy stop and get stuck, making it unable for tehm to ride further. He then starts an uproar towards the guards, who don't notice the royal convoy in their presence. They attack the civilians while Grifo escapes and returns to the convoy, attracing the guards of the convoy to come with him. The guards decide to follow him, but the queen has to follow because she can't be left alone. Grifo returns to the street where the havoc was and sees the guards brutally torturing the civilians. The queen and royal guards see it and stop the other guards from doing it. The guards are fired from service and dishonored.
The next day, Grifo travels to the royal palace and infiltrates it, without hurting anyone. He listens to a conversation between the queen and the general, who excuses for his soldiers. Grifo hears the conversation and notices multiple lies, but also hears that the general blames him for everything. The queen believes the general story, revealing that he pulls the strings in Venthale. Grifo readies his hidden crossbow to kill the general and finish it directly, but a gunshot hits the wall next to him and Grifo is spotted by the guards. Grifo then has to attack the guards and escape. He flees into the city, but with soldiers in hot pursuit. He has to spit the soldiers before killing them, which he can do by setting up boobytraps in their vehicles, the street, alleyways or elsewhere. After killing all soldiers who follwoed him into the city, Grifo travels to the country side where the birdcage of his message bird is.
Customization[]
In Deathwatch, the player can upgrade Grifo to their wish. The player can equip weapons, learning skills or wearing new armors. The player can upgrade himself everywhere in the city, although some persons might be specialized in certain goods or craft. The player can use a map to mark important locations for himself and to see other important locations.
Skill trees[]
In Deathwatch, the player can upgrade his character by upgrading certain paths in the skill tree. There are three skill trees, which are movement, combat and stealth. Movement upgrades Grifo's free running abilites, combat upgrades Grifo's fighting abilities and stealth upgrades Grfio's abilities to haunt enemies the easier and the better.
Movement[]
This skill tree is focused on the player that explores the area as much as possible, or wants to get from position to position faster and smoother.
Combat[]
This skill tree is focused on the player who attacks his enemies and wants to brutally kill them as fast as possible. The player learns to carry more faster and use them effective.
Stealth[]
This skill tree is focused on the player who wants to haunt his enemies. The player learns to stalk enemies better, walk silently, approach the enemy from the shadows and learns new tricks to scare them.