General gaming

General gaming

PAX '12: Dishonored: Great Game, Punishing Demo

Posted: 01 Sep 2012 07:44 PM PDT

Everyone I know who's played any bit of Dishonored has failed, and miserably. I did, too, but my lack of success wasn't discouraging; instead, it had me motivated to sit down and fully test my limits within the game's world. Unfortunately, I had only an hour to explore just one of Dishonored's single missions, and I'd be lying if I said the amount of freedom wasn't a little overwhelming at times. It's not that the game doesn't give you any guidance; in fact, your objectives are always crystal clear. How you achieve them, however, is entirely on you. Compared to most modern games that involve running between obviously marked checkpoints, Dishonored can't be called anything but demanding.

My brief encounter with Dishonored at this year's PAX Prime brought forth memories of one of my favorite examples of impeccable game design -- and one I've probably wrote and talked about on 1UP enough times to have me legally barred from mentioning it again. But for the sake of establishing a comparison, the mix of trust and responsibility Dishonored dumped into my lap reminded me of the boss fight against The End in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Like that particular section of Naked Snake's debut, Dishonored gave me a generous helping of tools, dropped me into its world, dusted its hands, and grunted, "Well, get to work." And yes, my deaths were numerous and spectacular -- one of which included a nasty tumble off of a boat mere seconds after starting the demo, where numerous piranhas proceeded to nibble me to death.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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