Bethesda’s next game is a first-person stealth/action adventure, and we’ve got the first look at it in our upcoming August issue. There are dozens of reasons why you should care about this weird-looking game you've never heard of. A few of the most important ones are after the jump.
Arkane Studios and founder Raf Colantonio have made memorable games in the past (Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic) that ultimately suffered from a lack of publisher support. Bethesda Softworks believes in their vision and is giving them all the time, money, and development help (regular meetings with guys like The Elder Scrolls' Todd Howard don't make your game worse) they need. Harvey Smith, one of the main minds behind the first two Deus Ex games and a legendary veteran of game development, shares the vision and is on board as Dishonored's co-creative director along with Colantonio. Viktor Antonov designed Half-Life 2's iconic City 17 and is lending his talents to Dishonored's world. This is a perfect storm for creating a game that shatters the mold that first-person action games have built for themselves in the mainstream.
We've seen the game running, and now we share Colantonio and Smith's vision too. Dishonored is the antithesis of a edge-of-your-seat roller-coaster ride. It's a game about assassination where you don't have to kill anyone. It's a game about infiltration where you can set up traps and slaughter the entire garrison of an aristocrat's mansion rather than sneak in. It's a game about brutal violence where you can slip in and out of a fortified barracks with nobody ever knowing you were there. It's a game about morality and player choice where the world you create is based on your actions, not navigating conversation trees.
The last paragraph is the only insight into what the game could be, and really it's just PR speak with a less than subtle dig at Bioware thrown in for good measure. Still, that sure is an interesting piece of concept art.
Well, Viktor Antonov has a pretty distinct style - and he worked on hl2, hence the similarity. I do find it slightly odd that he seems to be taking inspiration from exactly the same sources as hl2, but maybe that's what he was told to do. Even though both games share the same concept artist, the overall look is uncannily similar. Everything shown in the picture could easily exist in the Half-Life universe.
I'm glad you rasied the point, Gash. People don't seem to like it when I'm critical of anything =)
It's smart marketing.
Echoing* a beloved game, like Half-Life 2, is an easy in for a new ip - we're talking about it, and I don't usually take much interest in a game when the only materials available are concept art - if people like it, great, and if the reaction from the enthusiast crowd is negative then Arkane can simply say "it's just concept art, a mood piece, and won't be what you'll see in the game proper". At this point (let's assume the game is targeting a 2013 release) all that matters is that people are talking about it.
It's also a distraction from the fact that the previous games by your co-leads were (the terrible) Blacksite: Area 51, (the unreleased) The Crossing, and (the bug-ridden) Dark Messiah.
* I use "Echoing", but both vehicles are lifted straight out of Half-Life 2.
From what I can see by the art style, the setup looks Half life 2 most definitely, it looks nearly copy and pasted. The characters interestingly enough look like a merge between Bioshock and Fable II/III. But man! That is some sharp looking artwork none the less!
The sounding of the game sounds pretty interesting too, I like the idea of the powers, even if it does sound like Deus. But the whole stealth thing sounds really silly though, unless I can actually see the stealth element of the game play, I am NOT going to be fooled by anyone saying "The stealth component is really top notch, we are completely different from MGS by..." I also like the idea that the co-directors said that most people will just jump into the game all guns blazing. Funnily enough, I actually thought most people try out the stealth, found out it fails hard, then grab the guns and shoot everything personally.
Keepin' my eye on this one.
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