Hello gamers, how's everyone doing? Hope you're all doing great. So I'm still going through DEATHLOOP and this time around I finally unlocked something I had been looking forward to trying since pretty early in the game — "Maintain the Loop," which is the mode that lets you play as Juliana. For those who don't know, this is essentially the flip side of everything you do as Colt. Instead of trying to break the loop, your entire objective becomes protecting it. You invade other players' sessions, you hunt down Colt, you make his life as miserable as possible, and yes, that includes killing him outright if you get the chance. So naturally, the moment I unlocked it, I wanted to jump in and see what it felt like to be on the other side of this whole nightmare. Spoiler: it didn't go as planned.
There's Nobody Playing. Literally Nobody.
Here's the thing — and this is genuinely one of the biggest disappointments I've had with DEATHLOOP so far — I could not find a single match. Not one. I sat there for a good while trying to get into a session, queuing into random timelines which is basically what the game calls its online matchmaking, and nothing. Zero. The lobbies are completely dead. And what makes this even more frustrating is that DEATHLOOP was given away for free on Epic Games not long ago, which you would think would inject at least some life back into the player base. But even that wasn't enough to get people into this mode. It's honestly a shame because the concept is genuinely brilliant — having a real human player control Juliana instead of the AI creates a completely different and far more unpredictable experience for whoever is playing as Colt. The tension of not knowing if the Juliana hunting you is a bot or an actual person with real instincts is one of the best design ideas in the whole game. But if nobody is queuing up, that tension simply doesn't exist.
And look, I get it. The game came out in 2021 and online player counts naturally drop off over time for most titles. That's just the reality of multiplayer modes in single player-focused games. But it's still a letdown, especially when you finally reach the point in the game where you can access it and you're genuinely hyped to try something different, only to be met with empty lobbies every single time.
But the Opening Is Actually Pretty Epic
Now, despite all that frustration, I have to give credit where it's due because the way the Juliana mode opens up is genuinely cool and worth talking about. The whole thing starts in a way that immediately grabs your attention — Juliana begins speaking the exact same words you heard when you first started playing as Colt at the very beginning of the game. Word for word, that same opening energy, but now you're seeing it from her perspective. It's one of those moments where the game is clearly winking at you and saying hey, remember this? Now look at it from the other side. And it works. It genuinely hits different when you realize what's happening.
From a story standpoint it's a fascinating detail, because it positions Juliana's experience as essentially the mirror image of Colt's. Everything he goes through, she has her own version of. And just like Colt had that strange encounter with another version of himself at a certain point in the game — that unsettling moment where you come face to face with what seems like your own duplicate — Juliana has the same thing here. After the cinematic plays out, a portal opens up and takes you to a room where you come face to face with another Juliana. A different version of her, same as you, existing in this loop. And there are hints that there might be even more of them out there. It's exactly the kind of bizarre, layered mystery that DEATHLOOP loves to drop on you and then walk away without giving you a full answer, leaving you to sit with the question. Which version of Juliana are you? How many are there? What does that mean for the story? Great questions, all of them, and for now, none of them fully answered.
The Customization Is Basically the Same as Colt's
Once you get past that opening sequence and the encounter with the other Juliana, you land in the customization screen, and here everything is pretty much exactly what you already know from playing as Colt. Same layout, same structure. You can load up Juliana with weapons, gadgets, outfits, and any milestones you've already found through your time on Blackreef. It's clean and familiar, which makes sense since you're already comfortable with how it all works from the hours you've put in as Colt. Juliana has her own set of abilities and her own particular playstyle that differs from Colt in some interesting ways — she can disguise herself as any Eternalist on the island, for example, which is one of the things that makes her such a nightmare to deal with when she invades your game. Loading her out and seeing those options laid out in front of you builds up the excitement for what the mode could be. It looks great. It feels like it's going to be a blast.
And then you try to find a match and the excitement evaporates instantly.
Left Wanting More, But Still Hopeful
So that's where things stand. I got a great cinematic, an interesting story tease, a solid customization screen, and then a whole lot of nothing when it came time to actually play. Every time I tried to drop into a random timeline, the game simply could not find anyone to put me with. And at some point you just have to accept it and move on. Maybe I'll try again later and get lucky, maybe not. But the fact that this mode exists at all — and that the opening alone is enough to make you genuinely curious about Juliana's side of the story — tells you that there was real thought and craft put into it. It's just unfortunate that the player base isn't there to support it the way it deserves.
If any of you have managed to play this mode or get into a match as Juliana, I would genuinely love to hear about it. Drop it in the comments, let me know what it was like. Because right now I'm going in blind and coming up empty every time. Anyway gamers, that's it for this one. See you in the next post!