PAX 2012: Hands-On Dishonored

A short time ago I was treated to go behind the curtain and play Dishonored for an hour. Bethesda has released a plethora of gameplay teasers that highlight the game’s flexibility in gameplay. This is truly a steampunk sandbox that players can choose their own path. Corvo is a former personal guard of the Queen that has suffered tragic loss and betrayal. His queen is dead and he has been blamed for it. His life has turned into an epic struggle to clear his name and force retribution on those who have betrayed him.

My time in the media room was spent attempting to work my way through a mission to assassinate Lady Boyle. This would seem a fairly straight forward job.  But Bethesda has provided enough twists and turns to keep even the most hardened of players on their toes. So I just need to go into the mansion and kill her, right? Wrong. The mansion is a fortress guarded by a boatload of guards and crazy steampunk inspired robots on stilts. Stealth and cunning were my friends to weave my way through this area. One play through I was feeling a bit feisty and tried to fight my way into the mansion. That was a bad move on my part. There are an almost endless supply of guards around that all wanted my head on a stick. I was told by the guide in  the booth that this was done intentionally by the game designers. Sure you can go in guns blazing but it is not the easy solution.

This lead me to try a more stealthy approach.  I tried several techniques but the winner was possessing a fish and entering the mansion through an underwater pipe. Possession is an amazing power and one I would have relied on almost exclusively. But the game developers make that option less appealing by only allowing possession to last a short time.  There is nothing more terrifying than popping out of your target into the midst of a gang of guards.

Once in the mansion I made my way into the ball. I am disguised for the ball as are all of the guests. So I just need to find the Lady of the house and wipe her out, right? Nope. Right away the I learn there are three Lady Boyles. Ok that is not a major twist but the mission is made more difficult by every guest wearing a mask. I talk to guest to get ideas on how I should proceed. Several options appear as new optional missions in my log book. I can decide which missions I want to pursue and that will guide my actions. One of the optional missions is to sneak upstairs to each of the Ladies’ bedrooms to find clues as to which one is the true target. I wandered about as silently as possible peering through keyholes and peeking at private letters and diaries to find the true Lady Boyle.

The upstairs is off limits to guests so guards will not be happy to find me there.  My stealth tricks of Blink (short distance teleport) and possession were used with a bit of success but those darn guards are everywhere. Once they are alerted to my presence the game gets extremely difficult. They do not give up on finding the source of the noise they hear and once you kill a few of them they get even more murderous. I found myself running around aimlessly just to avoid the menacing hordes. I was so on edge that I accidentally killed one of the Lady Boyles. I am guessing she was not the correct one or my journal might have been updated. Do I take the time to hide her body or flee to save my neck? I ended up doing both. For those role playing game aficionados who assume you can just run off the aggro or exit the mansion and return to reset the aggro I have bad news. There is no aggro reset in this game. This was done intentionally by designers to help make the Rambo-esque rampage a less tempting option. My actions all have consequences that I need to be ready to face, dang it.

Another tool used by many RPG players is to open the abilities screen to pause the game at an intense moment. The problem here is that the action does not pause when I open the abilities UI. So, hypothetically speaking, if I am surrounded by ten guards that all have their shotguns aimed at my head, I should not open the UI and take my time to select the proper option. This will likely lead to my untimely death and dismemberment. It is good to have several techniques in mind before opening the UI and selecting options quickly. Luckily the UI is very easy to navigate and the options are set up as a simple wheel with images to indicate each supernatural ability and melee ability the player has available.

Overall my time spent playing this small part of the game was enough to make me realize that this dark world is filled with extreme danger and infinite choice. The game guides me a bit by offering optional missions and information learned by peeking through keyholes or speaking to non-player characters. It is not a run and gun shooter. I must plan my attacks and use stealth and melee to their greatest benefit. This world is huge but the choices are infinite. This game will definitely challenge me as a player and I look forward to that challenge.