Arkane's Dishonored

Well, you don't have to play it in stealth mode, but I think that's the most fun way to approach it. By being sneaky, you can finish the game without killing anyone, which I think is very cool.

As a pure combat game, or a combat+stealth hybrid, I just can't think of anything else it's quite like. Maybe Deus Ex, a little bit? But I'm not seeing any real points of comparison with Underworld. Maybe someone else can chime in on that front, because I'm not seeing it.

I suppose Hexen and Heretic could be brought up as a comparison point.

Speaking as someone that has never played Thief or Deus Ex, it is a more open-ended Bioshock with more stealth options.

It's a kind of predatory stealth, Fed. Playing it, I think I felt more like Batman than when I played Arkham Asylum.

This game is the closest possible to Hitman gameplay. You get all sorts of weapons and abilities. You get an assassination target. You get an open world level that moves and breathes and tells its own stories. And it's up to you how to go about it. You can reprogram security systems. You can toss grenades. You can snipe people. You can sneak. You can arrange "accidents". You can do favours for others and let them take care of your targets. You can just run and gun. You can do brutal take downs on every living thing in the level.

About the only mechanic from Hitman that doesn't exist, is disguises. But there is a magic skill that lets you possess people. So technically you can disguise for a short period of time. There are additional magic skills you have which differentiate this game from Hitman. But the essence of the two games is the same.

For the real masochists among you, try a no blink run. I'm not even sure if that's possible.

Unfortunately, I not only haven't played Thief, I also haven't played Hitman or Deus Ex*. Or Bioshock**.

1Dgaf wrote:

It's a kind of predatory stealth, Fed. Playing it, I think I felt more like Batman than when I played Arkham Asylum.

Now that I played! Loved it.

* I still feel terrible about missing the first one.

** It's bought, and on the pile.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Unfortunately, I not only haven't played Thief, I also haven't played Hitman or Deus Ex*. Or Bioshock**.

1Dgaf wrote:

It's a kind of predatory stealth, Fed. Playing it, I think I felt more like Batman than when I played Arkham Asylum.

Now that I played! Loved it.

* I still feel terrible about missing the first one.

** It's bought, and on the pile.

I'm giving you the eye of shame right now. With both eyes.

Thirteenth wrote:

For the real masochists among you, try a no blink run. I'm not even sure if that's possible.

There's an achievement for getting through the game without purchasing any supernatural abilities (other than the initial blink you get at the start) so I have to imagine it's possible. Maybe not as a stealth/non-lethal run though.

You can probably get by without using blink, but I don't think you can do it in a low-chaos run.

Though apparently chaos is less sensitive than I thought. Just got through the Flooded District and...

Spoiler:

So I've now been betrayed, made into a scapegoat and tossed into a pit for the second or third time. This is getting old. OK, gloves are off, no more Mr. Nice Corvo. (Sorry Emily).

I take Daud's assassins apart. Even when I could do a non-lethal I take them out. Then I get to Daud himself and for some reason decide to let him live. (Even the Outsider gives me a "Dude, WTF?" on that.) But still, 15 bodies and no attempt to hide any of them.

The game says I'm still at overall Low Chaos. So apparently you have to go on a killing spree on just about every level to budge it.

Three DLCs incoming.

One pack of 10 challenges, costing $5 coming in Dec, and two story campaigns

Man, I freely acknowledge that I don't have the patience to be good at stealth. I'm finding that it is just way too easy to kill people in this game. I'm not sure I've left a live guard behind me yet.

Woot! Dunwall City Trials.

From Bethesda blog:

Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials, being released in December for $4.99 (or 400 Microsoft Points), will include 10 challenge maps that will test and track your combat, stealth and mobility skills. Ten distinct trials await challengers – including an arena battle against waves of enemy AI, a gravity-defying run of drop assassinations, and a race against the clock. Dunwall City Trials also features a whole new set of achievements and trophies as well as a global online leaderboard that will establish the greatest assassins for each challenge.

The second and third add-ons for Dishonored will be coming in 2013 and will each feature story-driven campaigns. Pricing on these two packs will be revealed closer to launch.

Daud, the leader of a group of supernatural assassins known as ‘The Whalers’, will be the focus of the second add-on pack, scheduled for release in early Spring 2013. Make your way through new Dunwall locales and discover Daud’s own set of weapons, powers and gadgets in this story-driven campaign. How you play and the choices you make will impact the final outcome…

Additional story details on the third add-on pack will be revealed closer to its launch next year.

Nevin73 wrote:

Man, I freely acknowledge that I don't have the patience to be good at stealth. I'm finding that it is just way too easy to kill people in this game. I'm not sure I've left a live guard behind me yet.

lol couple of maps i'd stealth in and achieve my goals, but for some reason would forget them and run into all the ones i left alive and end up killing them on the way out.

Scratched wrote:

Three DLCs incoming.

One pack of 10 challenges, costing $5 coming in Dec, and two story campaigns

Ahhh yeaaaahhhhhh. I'm really glad there's more story content on the way. I'll play as many missions as they wanna throw at me for as long as they want to keep making them.

It depends how they do them really, there's some segments (flooded district) that feel dragged out filler, and I'll be interested to see if they reuse old areas. Those would be my main concerns for 'new' content. Depending on price, I'd be happy with something the length of one of the main story missions, assuming it's 'all killer no filler'.

Choosing Daud for the first story is probably a pretty good safe choice, as it can just be a certain contract he's fulfilling, nice and self-contained, and the main story almost requires it that way.

Bottle wrote:
Scratched wrote:

Three DLCs incoming.

One pack of 10 challenges, costing $5 coming in Dec, and two story campaigns

Ahhh yeaaaahhhhhh. I'm really glad there's more story content on the way. I'll play as many missions as they wanna throw at me for as long as they want to keep making them.

I'd love to play more Dishonored, but the challenges don't really interest me and I don't know that I'm going to own the game anymore come next Spring.

Scratched wrote:

It depends how they do them really, there's some segments (flooded district) that feel dragged out filler, and I'll be interested to see if they reuse old areas. Those would be my main concerns for 'new' content. Depending on price, I'd be happy with something the length of one of the main story missions, assuming it's 'all killer no filler'.

Choosing Daud for the first story is probably a pretty good safe choice, as it can just be a certain contract he's fulfilling, nice and self-contained, and the main story almost requires it that way.

Ah, see, the flood district was my favorite mission. I'd love to go back there if that's what a Daud mission entails.

Man, this game gets dark if you go the High Chaos route. I think I may have turned Emily into a little psychopath. I'm the worst role-model ever.

I think challenges seem easy and a bit lazy to me at least for DLC.

The party mission is a lot like Hitman, since it involves walking around in plain sight plus a mixture of restricted and unrestricted areas. The stealth is also pretty similar, though Dishonored obviously has a much stronger vertical component. Both rely a lot on line of sight and peeking through keyholes.

The comparison with Hitman is very good. Hadn't thought of it before, but it's almost a perfect match -- steampunk Hitman, minus most disguises, with an extremely intricate and detailed world in which to kill people (or not, as you choose.) The stealth in both titles is quite similar, if I'm remembering Hitman correctly.

muttonchop wrote:

The party mission is a lot like Hitman, since it involves walking around in plain sight plus a mixture of restricted and unrestricted areas. The stealth is also pretty similar, though Dishonored obviously has a much stronger vertical component. Both rely a lot on line of sight and peeking through keyholes.

Yeah, I agree. Once minor wish I have is that the game had more levels like that. Or rather not "like" that per se, but ones that really changed up the mission structure and goals in a novel way.

JohnKillo wrote:

I think challenges seem easy and a bit lazy to me at least for DLC.

I would guess there wasn't a commitment for any DLC unless certain sales figures where met. Thus the DLC release schedule

TheGameguru wrote:
JohnKillo wrote:

I think challenges seem easy and a bit lazy to me at least for DLC.

I would guess there wasn't a commitment for any DLC unless certain sales figures where met. Thus the DLC release schedule

I don't mind DLC. The extra story DLC is fine... just here is a arena with guys go nuts has never clicked with me. But if that's true and broke their sales goal is awesome.

P.S. Darksiders 2 is the exception.

muttonchop wrote:

Man, this game gets dark if you go the High Chaos route. I think I may have turned Emily into a little psychopath. I'm the worst role-model ever.

This is why I can't play dark ever. I'm just too damn nice in games. I accidentally made a dark choice in kotor and felt awful.

Exception for some renegade options in mass effect that are just plain cool or funny. Renegades always got the best lines...

I have to say that Dark route seemed a stronger emotionally..dunno, more right, as if they had worked that out first. I have played throuh three times by now, first a kinda casual Low Chaos (sneaksie but with no qualms for killing if situation required it), second pure Ghost and Clean Hands and the third High Chaos. It seemed more real and also more piercing emotionally. It's really really dark. The world and relations deteriorated around me and the game's motto really clicked in more meaningful way.
Most of all I was shocked by the

Spoiler:

Samuel kicking me out of the boat and shooting the flare in the final mission. It underlined the only connection Corvo has left - Emily and him and damn the rest of the scheming, plotting world.

Interestingly, the only guy I had spared was the Daud, the actual killer of the Empress. In this world of intrigue and back-stabbing he seemed the only honest character.

There's another nice touch that I noticed only on High Chaos. This time I made a point of killing the targets with my blade and always approached them without stealth, from front. There are unique animations for each of the targets of how they die by your hand, really upclose and personal.

Spoiler:

Lord Regent must have crapped his pants in his saferoom, Corvo stalking the library and dispatching his bodyguards one by one, leaving the bodies in the open till there is no one left to call upon. The option to remove the mask was also a nice touch, straight out of classic revenge flicks:)

I've done one playthrough as high chaos, and it didn't seem too dark to me, but then I don't have anything to contrast it against so it just comes across as a reasonably generic decayed/oppressive setting. I'm hoping when I do get back to it for a fresh second playthrough that it isn't just 'more nasty things in high chaos' as the variables, but I'll find that out.

Something else I found out with some brief messing around is that there's a bit of variation you can do with the ending, depending if you accomplish your final objective. Nice that they didn't just put up a 'mission failed' message.

Late game questions about the level after the flooded city.

Spoiler:

I got the Hounds' Pit hub and when it showed my stats it said I killed a hostile.

#1 - Does this cover the entirety of the flooded city? In other words would I need to replay the entire flooded city if I wanted a non-lethal playthrough? I won't do that. The achievement isn't worth it to me. To the best of my knowledge I played non-lethal.

#2 I think my trouble may have been on the level with "Granny". What's the non-lethal way to take her down? In my case I stopped time, took the keys, freed the prisoner and left. Maybe that was where I goofed. Did anyone else get here and what was your experience?

DSGamer wrote:

Late game questions about the level after the flooded city.

#1 - yes, it covers the whole of the flooded city area.

There's an article here on PC Gamer that spells out a lot of where you can go wrong with keeping guards alive, etc. Probably could be considered a spoiler if you don't want the curtain pulled back on the mechanics.

#2 - sounds like you did that the right way, although...

Spoiler:

I never freed slackjaw, so maybe granny kills him and it counts against you? Might be worth trying just grabbing the key and leaving him to his fate to see if that makes the difference, since it's so close to the end anyway.