Written by: PlayDevil.com Staff

 

 

 

I kind of feel sorry for Dishonoured. Still at the pre-alpha stage of development it looks incredibly promising, but its demo suffered from poor timing. Not that the gameplay being shown seemed to have an problems it was simply double headlining with Prey 2, my game of show, so where in most situations I would have been astounded side by side it came up lacking.

 

My comparison with Prey 2 is not based solely on it being shown in the same time frame, the Arkane Studios developed Dishonoured has a lot in common structurally with the futuristic bounty hunter game. Featuring a great amount of freedom within its reactive, living environment, the number of options available to the player is set to be vast. With weapons, stealth and magic it will be possible to move through the entire game never killing anyone, or killing everyone, depending on the players mood.

 

Where Dishonoured really deviates from its sci-fi peer is in its setting. Taking place in the city of Dunwall this is far cry from Prey 2’s alien noir, as the stone cobbled streets and Tudor buildings bare testament. Taking its inspiration from London circa 1600-1800 it is a grimy city, and this is never more clearly demonstrated than in the opening scene of the demo. Beginning in a dingy sewer that is open to a river it is clear that this is a world where disease and death will run rampant. Rats scatter before the player, and the audience is informed that they are for more than just show, infected by the plague they will attack anyone who strays too long in the shadows, helpful at times but equally a constraint when stealth is used.

 

Emerging from the sewer other layers of Dishonoured’s universe is revealed, the economy and technology. The first real clue that this is to be more than a period piece is seen as a huge iron ship drifts past, steam-punk in design, with a cargo of whale. This is a divergent past, where technology progressed at a far different pace, and the reliance on coal was never developed as the world ran off whale oil though the same disparity between rich and poor remained.

 

Heading up development at Arkane Games is Harvey Smith, one of the minds behind such games as Thief and Deus Ex. It a heritage that shows as the gameplay begins to unfurl and the protagonist, a magical assassin, begins to make his way through the world. With a range of upgradable RPG-like skills the assassin will be able to use technology, magic, stealth and traditional weapons to help find any of the many routes through the world.

 

During the demo many of the assassin powers were put to the test as he searched for his target, a member of the ruling class in the totalitarian big brother society. Taking out the first guard with a stealth kill and overriding the whale oil circuit that maintained a electrified security field he made his way in to the city proper. Moving through the shadows and in to a building the hunt continued as he made his way to the upper floors and then across the roof tops using his gadgets and magic to full effect.

 

On his route blueprints and runes were discovered, offering still further options to the choices available. Blueprints allowed the assassin to reconfigure machinery, turning the force field that had blocked his path in to an ally to prevent enemies through. Runes powered up his skills and magic, allowing him to leap invisibly from spot to spot or pause time during fights to out manoeuvre his opponents.

 

Finding the home of his target the assassin began monitoring guards’ movements. Set on fixed routes their patterns were sometimes interrupted by items of interest or conversations in the world, allowing plans to be made but with some fallibility due to small variations in timing. At the base of a flight of stairs one such pause occurred as the guard he had been stalking came to a halt to intimidate/show off to a chamber maid. Waiting in the shadows until the exchange was finished he moved on.

 

Cracking open a door slightly the quarry was found, surrounded by guards and other loyal individuals. Biding his time until most had departed the assassin bust into the room, and using magic blew the target from the high balcony before himself disappearing out of the window.

Having abandoned the silent approach guards and other enemies ran from everywhere, including clunky steam powered surveillance systems and long legged robots. Using both magic and the dual wielded weapons (a sword and a knife) the assassin parried blows and struck back. Drawing on all of the tricks at his disposal the tracked his path back to the sewers under constant attack to finally escape the level.

 

Still early on in production Dishonoured shows huge promise, it was just a game hard to get excited about seen back to back with Prey 2. With a good gap between the releases of the two titles however I am sure I have room in my heart for both freeform action adventures. I will certainly keep an eye on Dishonoured moving forward and I am excited to see just how it will develop as it nears release, which is currently pencilled in for some time in 2012.