Preview of "Dishonored" by eurogamer.net [translation]
Preview of "Dishonored"
Tom Bramwell
05.08.2011
"Choice and its consequences" is already an incredible cliché for an adventure game, but "the ability to shape your combat style with a set of interacting toys" takes it to a whole new level. Since "BioShock" allowed us to stun splicers with lightning and finish them off with a wrench, almost all developers have rushed down this path.
However, usually, with great power comes great limitations, and to prevent worlds like Dunwall from falling into mechanical ruin along with their narrative, designers become something of jailers, protecting you with a golden cage of locations from excessive imagination.
So it’s quite interesting to see how Harvey Smith and Raf Colantonio from "Arkane Studios" play with the available arsenal in "Dishonored," their first-person action game focused on stealth, featuring an assassin protagonist endowed with magical powers. Harvey and Raf insist that the approach in "Dishonored" is completely different.
Every time they introduce a new ability or item during development, within a few hours, someone from the development team thinks of a way to use the new feature that could potentially break the game world — for instance, combining a high jump ability with partial teleportation to cover large distances, disregarding the limits of the world. Instead of simply cutting such possibilities out, "Arkane" designs levels tailored to them.
Dunwall is not an open world but a series of missions, yet each can be completed in multiple ways.
The action in "Dishonored" unfolds in a retro-futuristic industrial world where human civilization is limited to four islands amidst a vast, turbulent ocean. More specifically, in the whaling city of Dunwall, against a despotic regime that the protagonist, a mute blank slate named Corvo, has a grudge against.
Corvo has been falsely accused of murdering his employer, the Empress, and the entire game is dedicated to his quest for revenge against those who set him up. In the demo shown at "QuakeCon," Corvo chases a wily businessman who is seizing homes and possessions from the locals, but how exactly he will catch him depends on the player.
The left hand is responsible for various powers, while the right tightly grips a short saber — you can cut through enemies in hand-to-hand combat, or play with time: for instance, stop an enemy, set up a row of bullets in front of him, and let time flow or knock him out of a window with compressed air.
You can also possess the bodies of people and animals, like rats, and move around in them to crawl through a pipe into the servant's quarters and turn back into Corvo. This ability could also potentially break the game, but "Arkane" seems unfazed.
You can hide bodies, but you will still sow Chaos — the slain had friends and family.
Smith and Colantonio respond to most questions by presenting combinations conceived by players. How about this — attach a bomb to a rat, possess its body, run into a crowd of enemies, possess someone else, and escape before the bomb explodes?
Another favorite example of theirs: slow down time immediately after an enemy fires, possess his body, stand in the path of his own bullet, then exit the body and let time resume, so he shoots himself.
In Dunwall, engaging in such activities is entertaining. The art director of "Arkane" — Viktor Antonov, who created City 17 from "Half-Life 2," and his influence on the game is noticeable from the first frame of the demo, with reflections of the dull, overcast sky in the lifeless ocean stretching to the horizon.
A whaling ship arrives — over its deck, a crane on an H-shaped support holds a mass of whale fat. There is no electricity in Dunwall — although it is not Earth, the architecture and fashion are clearly Victorian — but local Teslas have recently learned to use unstable whale oil to create effects like a wall of light that turns everything passing through it into a bloody haze.
Dunwall also suffers from a plague spread by rat swarms on the streets. They feast on corpses in broad daylight, noisily munching through the crimson fog of decaying flesh. The local government uses the plague as a pretext for confiscating or destroying anything. This kingdom has rotted to the core...
In addition to completing the main objective, you can explore the surrounding world for evidence of the businessman’s wrongdoing or other useful items, such as schematics that allow you to hack the walls of light so they let you through but not your pursuers.
All your significant actions can affect future events — especially negative actions like killing innocent bystanders or guards, upon which the game’s Chaos system is built.
The more Chaos you sow, the more the options for choice change. A character who disapproves of violence may refuse to help you or even betray you if, for instance, you ignore their advice. Or entire areas of the game world may turn hostile towards you.
You can always choose a peaceful path. "Dishonored," as might be expected from a game made by the same team that worked on "Deus Ex" and "Arx Fatalis," is an assassin game where killing isn’t a requirement. Silence, shadows, stealth, and distance protect you from detection while you sneak through alleyways and rooftops, and after thoroughly exploring all options, you might even find a way to eliminate your target without killing them.
"Arkane" has put a lot of effort into 3D audio, muffling sounds through walls and everything, so you can better plan your stealth approach.
Developers estimate that only one percent of players will take this path, but they seem to be thinking about that percentage too, allowing saving anywhere even for console players so that you can always reload if you get caught.
"Arkane" also clearly encourages experimentation, allowing for minor failures in certain places. In the demo, Corvo sneaks into the businessman’s house and makes it to his office, lurking in shadows, peeping through keyholes, and waiting for guards to stop in front of paintings or warm their hands by the fireplace so he can slip by unnoticed. Finally, upon encountering his target, he kills him with magic. But, if you scare off the businessman, you can continue the game — he will hide somewhere or run away. The way you complete the mission may change, but nothing will stop you from finishing it.
In games like "Dishonored," the issue of "clean playthrough" often arises — detection is considered the worst outcome. It’s still unclear what the game will entail, but it seems interesting enough in any case. For example, the final fight against the Brutes — tough, armored opponents on stilts who shoot rockets at the hero.
According to "Arkane," the game will feature multiple endings depending on your actions, although there will not be an option to start the game anew with the same upgraded character, only a fresh start.
"Dishonored" currently looks a bit rough around the edges. Some scenes, like the arrival of the whaling ship followed by eavesdropping on a conversation between a couple of guards discarding plague victims' corpses into the sea, are well-crafted and look great. Others, like climbing around the businessman’s house with repetitive guard dialogues and a few awkward NPC routes, do not quite meet the overall standard yet.
We still haven't seen much — for example, the progression system that gives you abilities based on collected runes — and we don’t fully understand, say, Corvo's connection to the supernatural world and his role in Dunwall and on the Pandissian continent.
But if we’re talking about first impressions, they are excellent. The game is promising. After so many games that suggested using imagination within certain limits, it’s refreshing to see a game that seems to have once witnessed the moment with "Would you be so kind?" in Dishonored and thought: "Well, better let them do what they want."
It’s also amusing that the level we saw is called "Property Destruction," as I had the thought "must buy" stuck in my head.
"Dishonored" will be released in 2012 on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
Translation by the author.
Thanks for providing the material — mafiozo.
Thanks for proofreading — Eversleeping. This cute thing is dedicated to her:
Thanks for the support — Sinmara.