38 replies to this topic

[Stars]

As promised, here is a rundown of Game Informer's cover story on Dishonored, a stealth-centric game from Bethesda and Arkane. I'm sure some of this was stated in the link from "Games you want made," but I'm not going to bother checking against that.

The game is being created by Harvey Smith (Deus Ex, Thief: Deadly Shadows) and Raf Colantonio (Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic). Players assume the role of Corvo, the Empress' former body guard who has been wrongly convicted of her murder. After he has been imprisoned for 5 years, a resistance group needs Corvo's help to take down the evil regime that has come into power after the Empress' death.

The game is mission-based rather than open world, but players have a good amount of freedom within these levels.

Corvo is a capable fighter, but as in most stealth games, combat should be your last resort. On a related note, Arkane is going out of their way to ensure that you could get through the whole game without killing a single guard.

Corvo has been touched by a mysterious and powerful entity known as The Outsider. As such, he has a number of powers that are analogous to magic. One of the powers that it mentioned several times in the article is the ability to summon a swarm of rats. Each rat has its own individual AI, and once they've been summoned, they'll do whatever they darned well pleased, including attack you if there isn't a better target for them. You also have the ability to possess living creatures, so if you need to make a quick escape, you could summon some rats, possess one, and flee through passages that are too narrow for humans to follow.
Other powers that were mentioned include the ability to slow down or stop time (you could let an enemy shoot at you, stop time, possess him, and move him into the path of his own bullets if it tickled your fancy or if you want to save ammo) and Blink, a short range teleport.

In addition to his powers, Corvo also has a variety of gadgets at his disposal, including traps, sticky grenades, special ammunition, and the like. You can swipe valuables from your targets' homes and use the money you get from them to upgrade your stuff or buy new toys.

Guard AI will not be limited to the usual "alert" or "passive" states. Guards who are talking to each other will have narrower cones of vision and are less likely to hear you than a lone guard who is paying more attention to his surroundings. Ambient noises will help cover up whatever sounds you make. Guards will never spawn in the next room when you trigger an alarm. At most, reinforcements may pour in through the back door of the mansion you're breaking into, but for the most part, everyone and everything that ought to be there will be present from the start of a level.
For example, on your way to a mission you might witness a street mugging. If you go to this person's aid and attack the thugs, their buddies will come out of the shadows to help them. If you're watchful, you could realistically spot these friends ahead of time and either take them out separately or lay traps for them before rushing in to help.

As it should be, there are numerous options for tackling a single situation. For instance, you could just stay behind cover and avoid the spotlight to get past that guard tower, or you could dash and double-jump to the top of some nearby buildings, then Blink directly onto the tower to take out the guard.
The article gives four examples of how one might get to a particular objective:
"One Way Through a Guarded Mansion:
Creep through door. Plant dagger in guard's neck undetected. Next room: shouts from behind. They found the body. Go back and dispatch second enemy with well-timed parry and counterattack. Bleeding now; too many foes. Windblast to get space. Drop third enemy with flurry of strikes. Surrounded again. Drink elixir to restore health. Adrenaline full from fighting; eviscerate [fourth] guard for instant kill. Turn on last enemy, no match in one-on-one fight. Path clear to objective.

"A Second, Stealthier Way Through the Mansion:
Creep through door. Sneak past guard warming hands by fire. Accidentally bump vase off table. Guards come to investigate. Stop time, sprint into next room, slide under table before time resumes. Confused guards now alerted, searching room by room. Carpet muffles footsteps; sprint down hallway to objective. Lower alert still in progress, but escape unseen.

"A Third Take on Mansion Infiltration:
Creep through door. Possess guard while hidden. Casually stroll into room using his body. Vision starts to flash; make it to dim nook before popping out of guard's body. Dagger to his neck as he vomits in reaction to possession. Other guards closing in on room; nowhere to hide body. Trap one door with gadgets, hide in shadows near second. Spring razors dice incoming guards from one side, dagger takes care of other with minimal fuss. Path clear to objective.

"A Fourth of Many Approaches to a Single Path:
Creep through door. Didn't listen first, bad timing; spotted immediately by first guard. Summon swarm of rats to distract him. His friends respond to shouts, help him shake off rats. Too late; already possessed one of rats, ducked through tunnels into hallway during commotion. End possession, sprint down hallway before found by searching guards, objective reached."

Harvey Smith has stated that instead of a roller coaster experience, he's aiming for it to be more of a search through an abandoned house; regardless of what you're expecting to happen, the experience out to memorable.

Dishonored is set to be released next spring.

[Stars]

Forgot to mention the dialogue and morality system.

There will be some branching dialogue, but it won't be anything like Mass Effect or Dragon Age. You will only be asked to make such choices when it would directly affect the story.

As for the morality system, it will be measured in terms of law and chaos (doing what's expected of you versus acting on your whims or acting for personal gain). Your rating won't be visible like some good/evil, light/dark, or paragon/renegade scale. It will be kept track of in the background and may affect the way npcs treat you.

[Nanaki]

This makes me really happy that I'm finally getting a 360. :)

[kspr]

i don't usually follow producers, but maybe i should. deadly shadows was the only thief game i've ever palyed and i LOVED it to the point of getting wrist pains from it.

[Vicious Parker]

It sounds pretty great.

I do worry that the powers are going to be similar to Fallout 3's VATS, a.k.a., god mode. Can't do stealth, well, you can just fake it with MAGICS!

I also wish that the people who write and shape morality systems would stop equating "self-interest" to "evil."

[Stars]

Well, you can be chaotic without being evil. Hence D&D's "chaotic good" alignment. (Robin Hood, for example, would be chaotic good, helping people by going against the law.) Similarly, that game also has a "lawful evil" alignment.

[Vicious Parker]

Without getting in to a debate about the silliness of the DnD morality scale, I was mainly referring to the video game tendency to make the evil option the one the benefits the character most in some way, usually money. In this fashion, constantly equating self-interest with evil.

[Donkeymog]

Harvey Smith is a mighty fine fellow!

[Stars]

I will stipulate that that is a common theme in video game morality, but my point was that this game doesn't appear to be doing what you're complaining about. There was no mention of "good" or "evil" in anything I read, at least in this context.

[Vicious Parker]

/>As for the morality system, it will be measured in terms of law and chaos (doing what's expected of you versus acting on your whims or acting for personal gain).

[Stars]

There was no mention of "good" or "evil" in anything I read, at least in this context.

you can be chaotic without being evil.

[Vicious Parker]

/>Dishonored is set to be released next spring.

I didn't know what else to quote after that...

[Stars]

/>Harvey Smith is a mighty fine fellow!

[SpazCat]

WE'RE GETTING A HOUSE!

[toysintheattic]

Spaz, you got lost. We're talking about important business like video games in here.

[SpazCat]

Sorry, was just too excited.

[kspr]

it was shown at gamescon in DE and got TONS of positive reactions.

[Donkeymog]

Shame it's being designed primarily for Xbox 360 so the controls will be naff and the levels will be too small.

[Donkeymog]

This comes out tomorrow. Apparently the controls aren't naff and the levels aren't too small. Fun times!

[Stars]

I've got it on my Steam wishlist, but I doubt I'll be buying it on release day. Too many other things filling up my time.