Dishonored Preview – Dynamic Rats!

Dishonored is an upcoming open world FPS where you can tackle missions in anyway you want. It’s designed by both Harvey Smith (Deus Ex, Thief: Deadly Shadow) and Raf Colantonio (Arx Fatalis) and the influences from those titles are obvious here in the world of Dishonored. At Gamescom I was lucky enough to be able to see a hands-off demo showcasing what it has to offer

You play as a supernatural assassin, in a retro/futuristic industrial style setting, who has recently got of prison after being framed for killing the Empress he was a bodyguard for and is now seeking vengeance. The mission shown was one where you have to assassinate a corrupt lawyer who is profiting from the recent plague hitting the area. One big perk to the game is that you can play in a style that bests suits you. Whenever it’s moving through buildings, being stealthy or trying your hands on an full on attack Dishonored has you covered. Another big hook is the combination of power to create new and interesting moves. Apparently during testing, combinations were made and used in ways that the developers haven’t even expected. At one point in the demo they combined the super jump with teleport to be able to teleport further for example. Oh, lets not forget the feature that is dynamic rats. While at first the name sounds ridiculous and seems almost pointless, the demo actually made good use of them and how they can be at your advantage or disadvantage. They will eat nearby dead bodies and will attack if you get near the body. They don’t like sunlight so they can be used to find dark places to hide and may even attack guards. You also have the ability to take control of rats which can be used to scout out the area, but if any nearby person discovers they rat they will try and stomp it.

The main tactic used by the player was by being stealthy through buildings. While you’re not able to go into all buildings, most will be a viable option adding to a good list of potential routes to take on a mission. By going through the houses you are able to avoid barriers that kills you once you go through, and maybe even find the power supply and it reverses the effect and only allows you to pass and will kill everyone else. A bulk of the mission was making full use of the houses and even sewers, this means moving vertically is a just as good technique as moving forward. Once inside the targets house we got a chance to see how patrol routes change randomly. At one point a guard decided to look at a nearby painting. Whenever or not this changes are just small diversions or will be expanded upon, but it gives players more reasons to be cautious and not always able to predict what the enemy will do. Once the target was taken out aggressively, alarms were sounded and he had to make an escape. As we left the area, the map was noticeably more guarded, even housing guards on giant stilts.

At this early stage Dishonored is looking like an interesting title with it’s main hook being how different a players experience will be depending on how you play. Which in theory means each person will have a different experience. While at this moment we can’t get a full gripe of how the game will turn out. But for now, fans of open world FPS should keep an eye out.