Arkane and Bethesda's superlative Dishonored is out today, and if you don't plan on buying it you should barricade your windows against the torch-waving mob that will shortly convene right outside your house. Also, you should read our Dishonored review.
The game's absolutely littered with things to discover, but discovering everything takes skill and patience. Here are a few things to look out for as you tour the benighted Dunwall, plus a few essential starting tips.
EASY THIEVING
At Lady Boyles' party, you don't need to worry about being discrete when you're stealing their treasure. If anyone sees you, they'll laugh approvingly. No honour among aristocrats, apparently.
NICE CECILIA
The runes and bone charms hidden around the Hounds Pits Pub are in difficult locations. But if you want to get into the Abandoned Apartment, talking to Cecilia reveals that she uses it as a hiding place...
TIMESPLITTER
When you Freeze Time, you can still fire crossbow bolts. They'll just hang in mid-air, momentum stored, until time unbends. Release the spell, and they'll find their targets. It's a great - but lethal - way to take out crowds.
THE BONES YOU OWN
If you want to play through the game with as few kills as possible, two bone charms are essential - one lets you move faster in stealth, and another lets you subdue people more quickly. While most are assigned randomly, everyone seems to find these two.
GRIFF FREES BONES
Turn left at the entrance to the Bottle Street Gang's distillery, and look for a group of thugs keeping a man prisoner. That man is Griff, and if you free him, he'll sell you hooky wares. Just get the blueprints - his regular gear is overpriced.
HAVE A HEART
The "heart of a living thing" can be used to find extra information about people and places. Just pull the left trigger and it'll whisper sweet secrets to you. It's often more poetic than it is useful, but the range of responses is amazing.
MANUAL SAVES
If you're going for zero kills, or the even tougher "Ghost" ranking, save regularly. Save before every encounter. Checkpoints won't be enough, and the save function is quick, and preserves the entire world exactly as it was.
ROCKET JUMP
Jumping is feeble without Agility, which adds a second, doubly-high jump at the peak of your first. Combine this with an upgraded Blink ability, and you'll be able to reach new areas, and escape conflict more easily.
CAUSAL GAMING
When you get to the last level with the lighthouse, feel free to go nuts with the murder. The effects of your actions have already come about. After being cautious all the way through, we killed 31 people in this last area, and still got the good ending.
RE-RE-WIRE
Don't waste the rewire kits on alarm systems. But if you get the chance to rewire an Arc Light Pylon or a Light Wall, they're great ways to fry dozens of enemies who trust their amazing Steampunk tech a little too much.
3 comments so far...
DrizztP on 12 Oct '12 said:
And here I was hoping for and easter egg like the demons souls easter egg in Borderlands, or a secret like the rooms you can't easily find in Doom or things to do like being able to order a coffee from a cafe. That's what I would class as Easter egg, secrets and things to do.
Not a list of don't bother doing or figuring things out in game list.
Joe90_Remy700 on 13 Oct '12 said:
Well there is actually one easter egg i have 'found' - Pratchett Jellied Eels. and funnily enough, the police are called the Watch. coincidence? Terry Pratchett is the author of many Discworld novels, the peelers in his books are The Watch, and the cities he describes are very much like Dunwall. Hmm...
OXM ETboy on 13 Oct '12 said:
I spoke to one of the designers recently. Seems Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of the Red Death was an influence. I pointed to China Mieville's New Crobuzon books but he'd never heard of them.
Really enjoying this so far.