Dishonored

I've never really liked the concept of stealth games. Sneaking around, trying to avoid attention… probably with frequent reloading of quicksaves until you make it through the more challenging sections unnoticed. It just seemed like a chore.

But I really enjoyed Dishonored. In the past, I've equated stealth with a sense of fear. But in this game, you feel deadly and powerful from the shadows. I loved studying the brilliantly designed levels from stealth- watching patrolling guards and scanning for alternate routes to your objective. Deciding how to approach the obstacles before me.

This game is filled with choices, after all. There are large choices- deciding the fates of prominent Dunwall citizens- but you are constantly making small choices as you progress through the game. I started out intending to be a ruthless assassin, but after murdering the high overseer and Pendleton's brothers- and being rewarded with extremely satisfying slow-motion kill animations- I found myself gravitating toward the non-lethal options.

This is probably a reflection of how invested I was becoming in the city of Dunwall. And let me make it clear that this is the game's biggest strength in my view- the setting. A dirty, plague-ridden, early industrial city with a dose of occult magic thrown in- all of it beautifully imagined. And there's this undercurrent of sorrow brought on by heavy reliance on whale oil, along with a general uncertainty about the future. This is great world building… it may not have quite the depth of the first Bioshock or Mass Effect, but visually, it is unforgettable.

My only real complaint is that the characters themselves were less than memorable, and the game's twist was a bit weak. But this isn't an RPG, and I'm glad it didn't try to be one.

All in all, Dishonored offers great stealth-based gameplay, elevated by one of the most memorable settings I've experienced in recent years.