This page contains information about the endings and story of Deathloop, which can be explained through information you gather as you progress through the game. For information on how to experience all three endings of Deathloop, read our walkthrough of the final mission, “Ending It”.
- Colt kills Juliana but not himself.
- In, Colt kills Juliana and himself. Both loops end.
- Colt saves Juliana. Both stay together in the loop.
What’s Happening in Deathloop?
Deathloop’s story can be difficult to follow, partly because of the spinning loop nature that they must live through, but also because many of the big mysteries are never fully explained. However, conversations overheard by Colt and many notes found on Blackreef provide certain clues. Essentially everyone on the island experiences the same day over and over again, and everyone except Colt, Juliana, an Eternalist named Pick, and a two-bit AI forgets all of the day’s events when it resets in the morning.
During his search, Colt learns important facts about his past, his relationship with the other Visionaries, his scientific experiments, and finally the fact that Juliana is his daughter. Colt learns that he was a military pilot in the 1930s, and his flying skills land him a job as a rocket pilot for a scientific experiment in Blackreef, where scientists discover an anomaly and are studying it to harness its powers.
He also learns that Colt’s great love, Lyla Blake, died at age 51 from Karsovoranek syndrome before he could even board the plane. She left Colt with a daughter, Juliana Blake. Heartbroken, Colt completes the rocket experiment, but it triggers a time loop that forces Colt to relive the same day over and over again for 17 years. Colt manages to break through the loop, but is psychologically affected and has had to undergo psychiatric treatment.
Meanwhile, seven people we know as the Visionaries have begun the Aeon Program, attempting to harness the power of the anomaly to essentially grant themselves eternal life. This begins the events of the game. The visionaries are all in a state of relative happiness, wanting to continue experimenting, learning, recording music, or just partying, and they invite others to the island to become participants and benefactors (or in many cases, subjects of torture) for one repeating “ideal” day. This fellow extra is known as the Eternalists.
We also see that Igor brings Colt back from the psychiatric hospital, and Colt takes on the role of head of security for the Ion program. However, unlike other visionaries, Colt’s mind is haunted by the very idea of repetition and the eternal loop. A world without purple can never be a paradise. So Colt begins to try to break out of the cycle. Knowing that this group is closely connected to the mechanism of the loop phenomenon, he tries to kill all the visionaries, including his own daughter Juliana, in order to disrupt the loop phenomenon. As time goes by, perhaps due to his dissociative mental state and the trauma of repeated searches, he forgets more and more about his past. Juliana, remembering every painful death and every attempt on her life, begins to fight back, trying to get Colt to regain and keep his memories. As he progresses, more and more fragments of memories appear before Colt, which he imagines as glowing warnings or words of wisdom floating in the air.
To break the loop, Colt must kill all of the Visionaries in one day, which is initially impossible. As he begins to break through the loop, certain events begin to change and he gains more and more powers (and better weapons). This allows Colt to eventually gather many enemies in certain locations, such as pumping stations or parties. With the player’s help, he manages to kill all the Visionaries in one day, open the RAK missile silos using four secret passwords, and pilot the ship to crash-land on Juliana’s final hideout.
Colt’s Choice
The main plot of Deathloop ends with Colt having to make a decision. Will Cole be able to break the cycle by killing Juliana and then himself, thereby destroying everything Ion has done? Or will he continue the cycle and spend every day with her on this island? Juliana offers Colt her old dueling pistol (a museum piece) and reminds him that some old things are worth preserving, even if they are not perfect. She then counts to three while they both point the pistol at each other’s heads. Colt must decide whether to shoot his daughter or not.
If you choose to kill Juliana and then yourself, you will wake up on a beach – but the sky is different and strange, and Juliana will point a gun at you, but will angrily walk away and probably never speak to you again. Juliana, like the other visionaries, perceived the time loop as a never-ending paradise. A new day. Most people were unaware of the consequences of their actions or even remembered what they had done. But Juliana was different, she could remember and learn, and she fought to keep the Circle intact, as she sought to remind her father of the past and the present.
A Doomed World?
As a result of all the Visionaries (including Juliana and Colt) dying during the loop, they are presumably freed from the loop. We don’t know for sure as we didn’t see what happened to the others, but it’s possible that they are all left out in the cold and have to get on with their lives. However, there are hints in front of Colt that this may not be a “good” ending. On the other hand, his relationship with Juliana breaks down; she literally disappears before his eyes (possibly with the help of an ether plate). Will they ever reconcile? And what will happen in the real world?
This is what it looks like when Colt wakes up in Blackreef every morning:
This is what it looks like now, after the loop was broken:
The sky is an eerie orange and the ice has completely melted. Was the world outside the loop on the brink of ruin, or steadily heading towards irreversible environmental catastrophe? Was the loop the only thing that could spare the inhabitants of Blackreef from having to face a harsh reality, or even certain death? Or did breaking the loop cause a catastrophe that affected the world around them? We don’t know the answer, but the swirls in the sky definitely raise all kinds of questions.
For many players, this ending is a good one: Colt and Juliana must accept reality and shape their future without being able to try again. Or maybe all is well with the world. For others, it’s a bad ending: their search for love and reunion with their daughter has led to an uncertain outcome.
A Happy Loop?
If you choose not to take the picture, Colt will instead wake up on the beach and see the same sunrise as always, only for Juliana to be waiting for him not far away. This is the Matrix’s equivalent of the blue pill. Whether this is good or bad (or both) is up to the player’s interpretation. Colt is reunited with his daughter, and Juliana calls Colt “dad” again. The two are in it together, living their lives in a day loop. They joke about putting Alexis through a meat grinder and promise each other drinks at the party.
Now the rest of Blackreef are living their lives over and over again: some held captive under constant torture, some sent to gas chambers and murdered for the pleasure of others. The eternal pick even retains her memories, ending her life over and over again every day. This ending is as much an escape from responsibility as it is an escape from consequences. Juliana’s paradise is restored by her reunion with her father, but that bliss comes at a price.
Unbroken Loop
There’s a secret ending, of course. If Colt kills Juliana instead of himself and just sits in the chair and waits for the day to end, the whole loop resets. The cat-and-mouse game will continue forever, and likely for decades to come.
Regardless of how Colt ends up, or dies, the whole story probably hasn’t been written yet. Will a Deathloop sequel feature one of the two possible storylines? Or will it take a completely different path? Or will there be no sequel and you’ll have to play the whole game over and over again?
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