Dishonored Hands-On Impression - Eurogamer 2012
So I had the good fortune to get a 20 minutes hands on with Dishonored and let me tell you, what a Game. Brings back a lot of the old Thief memories except now you can possess a rat and teleport around like a Jumper.
Starting at ground level the demo had me make my way up to a greenhouse ontop of a build, render my target unconscious and get out, anyways I saw fit. I decided to go the full stealth route and utilising Blink I did a series of short range teleports to get past the guards before slowing down time to get through a crowded room then more teleporting. Got my man, knocked him out and started the decent... this is where it all went south. Got spotted but slow time followed by 3 quick crossbow bolts get rid of my would be detainers. Too a running start to a ledge, jumped and well timed Blink got me out of the complex proper. Within reach of the exit I put my unconscious cargo down to grab some health, just incase, at which point he wall killed by a rat....
What impressed me most about Dishonoured was just how open it was and how rewarding creative use of your powers could be. The jury is still out on combat, I started getting the hang of the swords play towards the end of the demo, it felt weighty enough and hand depth beyond just slashing away like a lunatic.
The Special powers also take some getting use to, each one triggers differently I tried using windblast to get a guard off a ledge but it wouldn't fire, only after stabbing him in the neck with my sword did I see it needs charging. Slow time and Blink are both awesome and I can see myself using alot. Possession has its uses but I felt it ran out too fast. Hopefully there will be powerups to the Mana (I think its Mana) bar to make it last longer since managing your Mana looks like it could prove challenging on higher difficulties.
Graphically I have to say, in this build, the Unreal Engine was showing its age. The art style is awesome but the texturing and character models looked like BioShock, collectable Items even had the same golden glow. Not it is so bad that it would put me off getting the game.
All in all Dishonored was my game of show. Its was a welcome, fresh approach and I can not wait until October 12th for my Copy to arrive.
