One of the common criticisms with PlayStation 5 console exclusive Deathloop is its poor enemy AI. Arkane Studios has claimed it's meant to be that way to make the time looping mechanic easier to manage, but it's still something fans point towards when listing negatives. Update 1.2 will be welcomed by them then because it directly targets enemy AI, updating and improving reactions among other things.
Elsewhere, the 1.2 patch adds FOV and motion blur options to the pause menu along with controller button remapping and bigger UI elements. You've also got a load of Trophy fixes to look forward to as well as enhancements to online connectivity either when playing as Julianna or being invaded by her. We've listed the full patch notes below.
NPC BEHAVIOR
- NPCs now react to bullets passing close by, such as headshots that miss
- NPCs now react when another is assassinated close by
- NPCs now hear better and react faster to nearby footfalls
- NPCs under fire no longer move to take cover if the player is too close
- NPCs can now deduce the direction from which a grenade was thrown
- NPCs no longer stop trying to kill Colt if Julianna uses Nexus to link him to them
- Interrupted aerial assassinations will no longer cause NPCs to become mostly invulnerable
- Numerous other small fixes and improvements to NPC behavior, reactions, pathing, and placement
- Charlie Montague no longer gets stuck in the floor or ground if he’s kicked while using Shift
QUALITY OF LIFE/ACCESSIBILITY
- Added controller remapping and left/right stick inversion
- UI buttons and text in options menu are now larger, as are their selectable areas
- [PS5] Added Field-of-View and motion-blur options. We continue to listen to community feedback and explore more quality of life and accessibility options for a future update.
INVASION
- Colt dropping the game now counts as a win for a player-controlled Julianna
- AI-controlled Julianna is now more reactive to Colt’s actions
- The antenna that Colt must hack to escape now takes slightly longer to hack
- AFK players are tagged
- Colt players who linger in Colt’s tunnels for too long are automatically tagged and that causes the tunnel doors to open
- Higher chance that you will invade players on your Friends list while they are playing in ‘Online mode’
- Strelak Sapper Charges thrown by NPCs that Julianna has attacked will no longer create false Colt tags for Julianna
- Players now properly hear audio reactions from the opposing player during melee
- Strelak Sapper Charges will now stick to Julianna as they do to other NPCs
USER INTERFACE
- The UI is now clearer regarding Residuum loss on death
- The appearance of weapons and other items is improved within the Loadout UI
- The UI HUD will now properly display updates made to key bindings and controls
- The game will now pause fully during the Game Over splash screen
- Melee will now be labeled correctly when in the weapon cycle on a controller (Y)
- When aiming down sights, crosshairs will no longer disappear while the player is close enough to an NPC to perform an assassination
- The Heritage Gun’s reticle will now indicate the increased scatter from the Scattergun perk
- [PC] Players will no longer be asked to confirm changes to visual settings if nothing was changed
- [PC] Fixed an issue in which mouse wheel sensitivity was overreduced when zooming in or out to view a weapon in the Loadout UI
MISC. GAMEPLAY
- Duplicate Slab upgrades are now converted to a harvestable Residuum object
- In Karl’s Bay, Harriet and her cultists can no longer shoot at Colt through the closed security door to her office
- Also in Karl’s Bay, a certain window in Hangar 2 has been restored to its intended functionality
- Strelak Sapper Charges can no longer be thrown in a way that enables the player to clip through doors or other surfaces
- Kicking a Strelak Sapper Charge while “cooking” it no longer causes the Charge to explode and no longer causes subsequent Charges to disappear when thrown
- Turret placement can no longer be used as a way to enable the player to clip through doors or other surfaces
- Hackable antennas now give clearer audiovisual feedback of their hacked status
- Fixed an issue that could result in Colt having 2 guns in the same hand or one gun in the left hand instead of the right hand after a reprise
- Fixed an issue that could prevent a weapon from being further reloaded if player switched to a same ammunition type while reloading then switched back to original weapon
- Fixed an issue that could cause the Hackamajig not to be automatically equipped to an empty hand when first picked up
- Fixed an issue that could lead to a player using the Shift Slab to reach a ledge, triggering the vaulting action, and getting stuck in the ledge instead of vaulting it
- Fixed a case in which 2-Bit interactions were not working as intended
- Fixed an issue that caused some hackable doors to become unopenable if kicked while hacking
- More than one turret can no longer occupy the same space
- Fixed an issue that could trap players if Fia’s large bunker doors close on them
GRAPHICS/AUDIO
- Fixed an issue in which the player could unequip the machete during an assassination animation
- Corrected some issues with FSR integration and improved overall implementation.
- Fixed in issue in which the player could unequip a jammed gun during the unjamming animation
- Fixed bugs, including some that could cause crashes, related to the DLSS and ray tracing graphics options
- Fixed numerous minor visual glitches, including some related to indirect lighting
- Fixed or improved numerous audio details and timings, including some improved voiceover lines
- Improved audio mixing across the board
- Fixed an issue that could cause graphical glitching when a door is opened at the same time a sensor closes it
- Turret indicator lights now no longer function if the turret’s battery is destroyed
- The hostile/friendly indicator lights on Field Nullifiers are now consistent with those on turrets
- Fixed an issue that caused deactivated turrets to sound as though they’re deployed when thrown or dropped
- Fixed an issue that rarely caused closed doors to appear as though they’re open
ACHIEVEMENTS/TROPHIES AND FEATS
- Fixed an issue that enabled Julianna to be rewarded with duplicate trinkets
- Fixed an issue that prevented the “Ensemble Tragedy” achievement from being rewarded properly
- Fixed an issue that prevented Julianna from earning the Double Vision feat if killing Colt via assassination while Masquerading as a Visionary
- Fixed an issue that enabled Julianna players to earn the Sorceress feat even if weapons were used
- Fixed an issue that counted Colt’s own deaths to Julianna’s gunfire toward the “Don’t Mind Me” achievement
STABILITY
- Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash while using the Strelak Verso
- Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash if Colt dies just as a cinematic begins
- Fixed an issue that could rarely cause the game to become unresponsive on exiting the Journal
- [PC] Fixed an issue that could cause the game to become unresponsive while remapping controls from keyboard to controller or vice versa
CONNECTION-RELATED
- Fixed an issue that could cause the first weapon to be dropped when the Julianna player picks up multiple weapons at once
- Fixed an issue that could cause the mission results screen and progression to be skipped for the Julianna player if that player goes straight to Invasion matchmaking after successfully breaking the loop as Colt and watching the game credits
- Fixed an issue that could cause the “network connection to the server failed” message to remain on-screen after being resolved
- Fixed an issue that could cause Julianna to spawn above the ground, having to briefly fall before being able to move
- Fixed an issue that caused the visual effects of Karnesis, when used on an NPC, not to appear from Julianna’s point of view
[source bethesda.net]
Comments 21
"NPCs now react to bullets passing close by, such as headshots that miss"
WOW 😂😂😂😂
Just in time for the Black Friday deal!
All these games getting cool updates just as I'm about to buy them - very nice
@Atreus97 I was just going to quote this exact line and say how can a game possibly be a game of the year contender with that not being the case?!
That said I'm definitely picking this up now it's dropped to a good price and looks like the wait has yet again been rewarded by buying a cheaper and more polished game.
Improved enemy AI is definitely something I am looking forward to as we move into this next generation of console gaming. Hopefully there will be some solid leaps forward.
This is why I wait to buy games so I get the best possible experience at a better price too. I smh at people who buy what is in all actuality an unfinished game day one. These days It takes MONTHS for games to be finished after they are released. And just because you still enjoy playing day one games doesn’t make it a smart idea to support paying full price for an inferior unfinished product before anyone gets started 💯
@Voltan It’s As we know these days big discount usually signals a project that much closer to completion if people adhered to this; developers would get the message. Did this seem to coincide with the ability to preorder digitally? Why would anyone even do that it’s not like digital copies will sell out. And it’s certainly not arriving earlier than expected..
@kingbreww None of these improvements are actually going to impact my enjoyment and made me wish i waited, i played it when it was originally out and enjoyed myself and are now playing other games, better AI wouldn't have changed my thoughts at all.
@WallyWest It is pretty immersive breaking when AI is overly dumb. It is still one of the biggest things that needs to be improved in next gen games. We haven't had substantial breakthroughs in AI player reactions and movement in many generations.
Man, I love detailed patch notes like this. Why has Sony dropped this feature on PS5??!!
@captainsandman I mean it’s fairly obvious stuff isn’t it mate. This page is absolutely full of people who justify less than optimal decisions with nonsense arguments that make zero sense. That guy is just one of em but it’s early lol. Wait for more to appear haha. A definite case of doth protest too much, methinks 😉
@kingbreww agree 100% but there are exceptions like GOW last of us, Horizon, etc...
@avividan yeh I agree with you somewhat. Games like those are mostly complete and only require minor tweaks post launch. There’s always exceptions to any “rule” 👌
If it’s 50% off, I have £30 loaded in, ready for tomorrow
I'm interested to know if by making the AI better, have they made some of the trophies harder/impossible to get?
Finally the ACTUAL AI upgrade, that last one didn't do jack *****. And also if they wanted to make the timelooping mechanic easier to manage they could've you know... put in a difficulty slider instead of having to do these unnecessary updates to improve the AI.
@Nepp67 difference between difficulty and something becoming a chore.
I need to go back and finish it at some point, but this doesn't sound like it fixes the issue I have with the AI. If you can still just stand outside a room and kill everyone as they politely queue up to get shot then it's still not the game I'm looking for.
I dunno, I wanted to like it, but spent the whole time playing it thinking I should have been enjoying myself more than I was.
@Old-Red that's what I noticed when I was trying to kill the masked guy. If you stand outside the building they will never try to go outside to shoot you. The closest that they will ever come close to shoiting you outside is them going on the balcony. It's also annoying when they constantly say "IS IT COLT" "IT BETTER NOT BE COLT" Like who the hell else do you think it is after having a gunfight with him?
@kingbreww Well the AI never bothered me and my issues with the game have nothing to do with the AI, it being better won't change how i feel about the game. Its not making excuses its simply not caring enough to wish i waited, i got my time from it and then moved on and if i waited i doubt i would have even got it as something else would have caught my attention over it.
And this is why I usually wait on buying new games! Nice to see Deathloop is still being actively patched.
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