It's commonly agreed that the stealth videogame is in a bad way. Assassin's Creed was supposed to be the Sultan of Sneak, but decided to be the Overlord of Open World gaming instead. Splinter Cell's last outing proved deadly but not always silent, and Thief hasn't been glimpsed in action for years.
The drift is regrettable, but explicable. Stealth might be the brainier gameplay choice, but all too often, classic stealth devolves to patience and pattern recognition - toggling crouch mode and waiting for guards to look away. Do it wrong, and even the most reductive, idiot-proof shooters seem fascinating by comparison.
Dishonored's stealth systems look fantastic because they flow together so naturally, given a bit of skill on your part. And this is possible because stealth abilities don't stop at monitoring view cones and staying away from ground level - the roster encompasses nefarious spells and gizmos, allowing you to bypass the laws of nature and thus the clunky, stop-start rhythms of older stealth titles.
By far the most flexible and impressive is Possession, which allows you to (example numero uno) leap into the body of a fish or a rat to infiltrate a building. Or you could (example numero duo) snap yourself out of a death plummet by possessing a bystander just before you hit the ground.
It's possible to get through the whole game without killing a soul, using your Blink teleport to squirrel through tiny gaps in the scenery and slip seamlessly from rooftop to rooftop. You don't even have to kill your targets, though how exactly you'll complete missions otherwise remains to be seen. Camera movement echoes certain of DICE's efforts, with just enough heft and sway to convince.
While the levels don't appear to be as open-ended as those of Hitman: Blood Money, there's a random element: targets don't stay put, but shuffle through different destinations. Manipulating the environment is the key to showier kills. At one point during our demo session, the handler broiled a man alive by venting steam into a brothel bedroom.
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6 comments so far...
Clanger67 on 26 Apr '12 said:
Hooray some proper stealth gaming.Evidenced with the fact you can get past everybody and just take your target out.Sounding better and better to me this is.Sounds like there will be the oppurtunity to play it again,just for all the different ways you could tackle goals.
Mendes on 27 Apr '12 said:
This is rapidly becoming top of 'me wants noooooow' list, from knowing nothing other than the title a while back to finding out lately it's going to have stealthy goodness. Max Payne 3 is still my number one but this is rapidly catching up.
The CGI trailer aside the graphic style is absolutely sumptuous. Got to love the return of 'steampunk' too, (for you oldies, wasn't Chaos Engine great?!). And now being told stealth plays a large part! Assassin's Creed and especially Splinter Cell Conviction just didn't feel like stealth games, Splinter Cell didn't even feel like a Splinter Cell game! I enjoyed both but something was missing, hopefully this will deliver.... if it's half as good as Splinter Cell : Chaos Theory was then it'll be worth the ticket price, I'm hoping it'll be that and more.
Any idea of a release date? It's next week isn't it! Yes next week. Yes yes yes! Next WEEK for sure. Tell me it's so...... or I'll burn your website down. NEXT WEEK, I demand it!
Clanger67 on 27 Apr '12 said:
Not sure but it is seeming like September/October time.That is years away,lol.
CunningSmile on 27 Apr '12 said:
This is sounding like my favorite form of stealth game: One were I get the choice!
Don't get me wrong, I like stealth and will happily try for it but I'm also pretty bad at it and like to still have a fighting chance when I inevitably screw it up. I really enjoyed Splinter Cell Conviction and thought the more predatory stealth suited the story better but there wasn't ever an option to do anything other than attack in the same way the previous games never had an option other than sneak.
I might be the only person looking forward to the new Hitman for the same reason.
ipsofacto on 30 Apr '12 said:
Hopefully there's lots of possibilities like the venting steam bit but i doubt it....
and please no achievement for playing the game and killing nobody! I hate those
carthage888 on 10 Jun '12 said:
Oh. My. God!!!!!!!! This game looks AMAZING! It looks like a mix of Thief and Bioshock (2 of the bestest games ever I might add!
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