Dishonored, game in development that couldn’t be more different from Halo

I saw the August cover of Game Informer, and it looked so freaking weird.  I thought it was concept art from Half-Life 3 or something.  Turns out, it’s for a completely new, original game to be titled “Dishonored”.  The more I read about the game, the more ridiculously excited I got to play it…It’s slated to be released sometime in the second quarter of 2012, so I do have a bit of wait ahead of me (which will be filled with Skyrim and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, no doubt).

I should tell you all about the minds behind Dishonored. I know I, at least, am quite pleased with the team put together to brainstorm and create this new game.  The co-creators of Dishonored are Harvey Smith (System Shock, Deus Ex, Thief: Deadly Shadows) and Raf Colantonio (Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic).  Viktor Antonov, who designed Half-Life 2′s City 17, is also lending his talent to this project.  The production, concept design, level design, etc is being done by Arkane Studios.  Bethesda is publishing this game.  The screen captures in the Game Informer looked like this game might be on Bethesda’s new graphics engine…

In Dishonored, you play as a bodyguard to the Empress who is falsely accused for her murder.  You then join a rebellious faction in order to get revenge and displace the corrupt government that has sprung up after the Empress’ death.  Players have a lot of flexibility in how they choose to play the game; I’m really astounded by the systems they’ve got in place.  Your actions (not dialogue trees) are what determine future events by affecting the “chaos” of the world–thus, the gameplay, world dynamics, ending, characters, etc are all affected.  You can play like a butcher and make the world super-chaotic, or you can play with a sort of surgical precision and not cause any major chaos.  There is no reward or punishment for whatever gaming style you choose, so you’re welcome to play your character exactly as you yourself would handle the situation.

The ideal playing style for this game is clever stealth.  Your character has some magical abilities–he can summon hordes of rats or possess animals, for example–and this game will really reward players who use their powers in unique ways (or, in some cases, not at all).  There are no simple healing spells or damage spells, the magic in this game is meant to be more creative, especially when combined.  Game Informer wrote that it was able to sit in on one level of gameplay, and they got to watch over 30 different ways of completing the same task.  Considering that only one task has that many options, and each option has its own unique set of consequences…this game should be super-complicated and customizeable.

Anyways, I’m super excited to learn more about Dishonored.  So far, all I’ve seen is concept art and interviews.  I can’t wait until some gameplay footage is publicized.

There’s a ton on information about the game here: http://www.gameinformer.com/p/dishonored.aspx

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