Preview: DISHONORED, with an acclaimed development team featuring Deus Ex, Arx Fatalis and Half-Life 2 veterans, looks to have a chance of shaking up the stealth-action landscape. We take a look at one of the more exciting games of 2012…
Bethesda might be a prominent and successful developer, with the likes of The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 3 under their belts, but their previous forays into publishing have been less than successful. Rogue Warrior and Hunted: The Demon’s Forge were rightly condemned to the depths of history, their mediocre-at-best design never to be brought up again.
At times it seems like the Bethesda Curse affects all it touches. It was only after the company’s owners bought id Software that we started to worry about Rage - a game that turned out to be a decent first-person shooter, instead of the fantastic one we were hoping for.
Dishonored, however, seems to have the potential to finally break the curse. Developed by Arkane Studios, it’s a first-person stealth title, applying the team members’ individual experience to one game. Here, we have at the helm Deus Ex’s Harvey Smith, along with Raf Colantonio, one of the brains behind Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and Arx Fatalis.
Merging Deus Ex-style RPG elements and the combat of Dark Messiah with the visual motifs of Half-Life 2, the game is certainly promising on paper.
City 18
It’s set entirely within the city confines of Dunwall, a neo-Victorian and Renaissance bleak-fest, designed by Viktor Antonov, the art director who designed the glum City 17 in Valve’s classic shooter. You play as Corvo, a bodyguard of the Empress wrongly imprisoned for her murder, who gains supernatural abilities and a thirst for revenge against those who framed him.
At this point, the game’s big moral choice comes into play: you can either restore the Kingdom to its former glory, or reap the sweet rewards of revenge against your enemy, the Lord Regent. It’s really up to you.
The power of personal choice extends into the way you play, as well. While in many similar games you’re expected to specialise in certain powers and abilities, Corvo is a blank canvas. With a wide-range of talents and powers, it is up to you to decide which ones to use, and whether to stay a jack of all trades or become a master of certain ones. It’s also another game that boasts the ability to sneak through without causing a single fatality, should you desire.
Arkane Studios
A BRIEF RUN-DOWN
- Formed in 1999 in Lyon, France
- Experienced developers of first-person RPGs – developed Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might & Magic
- Team includes eminent Deus Ex and Thief: Deadly Shadows designer Harvey Smith and Arkane Studios veteran Raf Colantonio.
- Been very quiet on the development front in recent years – designed the art for 2K Marin’s BioShock 2.
Adding to the already impressive repertoire of trick up its sleeves, Dishonored doesn’t rely on scripted events in order for you to progress, instead providing a sandpit of play styles for you to explore within the game. Combining a whole variety of powers and mechanics together means there are many ways to complete your missions, and you will always be able to find new and unique methods to achieve your goals – be they assassinating corrupt officials, or collecting evidence of a barrister taking advantage of the plague for financial gain.
The supernatural powers are as wide-reaching as the freedom in the game’s mechanics. If you freeze time after an enemy has fired his gun, then possess him and place him in front of his own bullet, he’ll commit suicide while you high-tail it out of there. You can also combine several powers together: try unleashing a plague of rats and then freezing time and planting a proximity-trap on its back. If you then possess the rat, you’re able to turn the rat into a walking bomb to kill your enemies from afar.
Run away!
The missions, as well as allowing you impressive levels of freedom, also adapt to the changing situation of the game. If you’re spotted sneaking into the building your enemy is in, they may simply run away and cower, affecting the way the mission pans out but not your ability to complete it.
It’s worth exercising some caution, though. With such amazing potential for wide-ranging, dynamic play, it’s going to be hard to deliver a game worthy of its concepts, which are so full of personality that it’s difficult not to be excited. The game promises so much freedom and flexibility that it could be a major event for a genre that hasn’t seen a prominent title since Thief: Deadly Shadows.
By the time we find out whether this bests previous efforts, it will be eight years since Harvey Smith and co. took us on that unforgettable journey. But now he’s joined with new forces, and much like the Prince Regent in Dishonored, Eidos’ grip on the genre is being hunted down. -Ryan Sandrey
Dishonored, from Arkane Studios and Bethesda, will be released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2012.
I hadn’t heard of Dishonored before Gamescom in August, but once I once I found out about it, it was easily my game of the show. Can’t wait to see more of this in 2012.
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Danny Palmer (November 25th, 2011)
I know one should exercise caution when getting excited about future games, but god damn am I looking forward to this one. The pedigree is excellent and everything I’ve seen and heard points toward it being my kind of game. If they screw this one up, I’ll be a very sad panda.
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sqrrl101 (November 25th, 2011)