When you are playing complex and sophisticated action games with full-fledged scenario, you may notice that every your step is predetermined. The developers have decided how you should act instead of you. It may be interesting, but there are too much games that impose the special behavior on gamers, that we all have been waiting for the game with another approach. And finally on the 12-th of October, 2012 action-stealth Dishonored game was released, and here you have the full freedom of choice. The only choice you have to make is to play this game, because it is really worth your attention, time and money.
Dishonored brings us to the beautiful steampunk city Dunwall - an industrial center in the big country that looks like the alternative 19th century England. The plague is killing the people in Dunwall, and the street of the city are full of sorrow and darkness. The protagonist of the game named Corvo is the bodyguard of Empress, but he didn't cope with his main mission, and Empress was killed while her daughter was kidnapped by strange people. The regent decided to dispose of Corvo and so imprisoned him as the murderer of Empress. But Corvo has powerful friends, so soon he will be free and ready for revenge, and also he gets magic powers that will very helpful during his hard and long mission.
Frankly speaking, the plot is not the best part of the Dishonored, but what is really important, you can write the story by yourself. Almost on every step you need to choose what to do and how to act, and your game will be different after each decision. In general we can divide the available options on two groups: you can kill your enemy or you can try to avoid him, hiding and running in the shadows. The first way bring us to the action, and the second one is typical for stealth game. If you will choose the way of bloody avenger, your game will be harder and darker with every new level. It is rather logical - nobody takes away the dead bodies, so they stay in the streets, decompose and become the food for rats. More murders - more dead bodies, more dead bodies - more rats and so more sick people that were infected by rats.
If you are choosing the stealth game, it also will be hard, because sometimes it is very difficult to find how to act in this dangerous and strange world. For example, if you are killing everyone on your way and don't think about alternative routes, you can finish the game in 3-4 hours. If you want to enjoy the Dishonored game, get the maximal pleasure from the gaming process and try to find the most artful and sly way to avoid guards, you can spend over 20 hours with this versatile game.
The division in two types is too simple, in fact the game gives you much more various and interesting options. For example, one of the first tasks in Dishonored will require you to pass the electrified gates. You can use your magic abilities and teleport on the roof and then come down from the other side of dangerous gates. Also you can turn into rat and climb through narrow pipe. Moreover, you can pass this test without witchery. You just need to switch off the power or hack the system.
We have already mentioned about magic powers, but now we need to describe them more detailed. In the game you can improve 10 different skills or characteristics of your hero. For example, you can use your Blink, Dark Vision and Agility, and from level to level upgrade them. Blink allows you to teleport, Dark Vision helps to see your enemies even through the wall and Agility is necessary for high jumping and fast moving. To open new magic abilities, you need to find the special runes. This task may be rather difficult, so don't hurry, because you can miss something important.
Another one and very important advantage of Dishonored is the design of this game, that really plunges us into magnificent steampunk city and make us forget about reality for a while. Victor Antonov - art-director of Half-Life 2 and the developer of Dishonored - again proved his talent in creating fantastic atmosphere, full of grief and suffering. The music and sounds in the game also fit perfectly, so everything in Dishonored is palpable and almost real.
In conclusion
We waited so long and finally the developers put the choice in our hands. The whole world, full of danger and tragedies, is ready for our turn. We are sure that Dishonored will change your idea about the action and stealth games, so you surely need to try it by yourself.
The official trailer:
