Only played about 3 hours, but so far it's great. Really great. And the influences of the different people behind the game are all pretty obvious. It really is Thief as seen through the lens of Dark Messiah with a splattering of Halflife 2's paint for good measure.

Only thing I'm disappointed in so far is the UI, which was obviously designed with consoles in mind, and can be a little needlessly complicated. Also, the AI is as humorously unaware as in Deus Ex and Thief, even on hard mode.

Yeah the AI is really bad. And I'm still not really digging that whole "standing 7m away but remaining invisible thanks to weird LOS cone" stealth. But it's okay overall I guess. The atmosphere is excellent and the writing is competent (so far)

Here's the thing. I played a part with five guards where I carefully snuck behind each one, choked them, hid the bodies, distracted the others, set traps, stole goodies and reloaded about eighty times as I was going for a no alarms run. That very same part took me thirty seconds to clear when I just ran in and killed everyone.

If you run through, don't bother with stealth and kill everyone with a few chops of the sword, you're going to finish it quickly. There's no way around it. If you take your time, hide, try to beat it without killing anyone, etc. then it'll definitely take your at least 15 hours.

The problem is that making a stealth system both realistic AND fun is hard. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the "stupid AI" approach (as seen in Deus Ex, Thief, and Dishonored) gives a more engaging stealth experience than the overly sensitive AI seen in Far Cry, or in the stealth missions of Soldier of Fortune 2. Because it's less likely to devolve into trial and error, and gives you a little more margin for error and freedom of action (In other words, stepping out into someone's line of sight by accident isn't an instant game over). It breaks the suspension of disbelief a little, but it also ends up being more fun than having to reload a previous save every time you make one little mistake.

Still, it's a fine line to walk. And Dishonored may err a little too much on the "stupid" side of things.

True, true. Which is why I wish they'd given the game's areas a little more brightness contrast, and spent more time fine-tuning the stealth aspect. It could have been so much more. As it is with the LOS stealth mechanics, the system feels a bit like a step backwards - functional, but very conservative.

It's sad how modern games are judged based on their length. If Super Metroid for example were made today it would probably have something like a 30% rating on Metacritic (Metacritic itself being another stupid aspect of modern gaming). Personally, I favour of quality over quantity.

I'm hoping to spend 20h+ on my first playthrough and if the Pacifist gameplay style works like anything in DX:HR then I will probably play through it 3-4 times at least. Time-permittingly.

I dunno. Possibly. I usually feel that having simple core mechanics is best in a game with this many interacting options. But that's just me.

Personally the thing that kind of annoy me is that : you have 5 guards in a small room.. you dispatch 4 of them... the remaining one won't care at all, he won't be alarmed, it won't wonder where the guys he was talking to just 10 seconds before disappeared, etc...

It already bothered me in Deus Ex HR and it bother me again in Dishonored. I would have preferred something where guards starts to freak out and become more alerted if they notice some of their comrades have suddenly vanished.

oh, if only I had the money

My thoughts exactly!

As much as I like Deus Ex Human Revolution that’s one of the gripes I have with the game. I wish it had something of the AI of Desperados (2001), where the guards actually noticed the absence of one of their buddies and where they got alarmed and called for help.

Also, the AI panicking in Batman Arkham Asylum was a really nice feature as it really added to the atmosphere of the game and gave me, as a player, the feeling that my actions had actually an effect on the game.

Now, all these comments stating that the AI in Dishonored isn’t any better just confirm my fears I had after watching all the different videos of the game; that the AI isn’t really a challenge in this game either. The stupid regenerative health system just adds to it.

That’s too bad because I think adding a challenging AI would not only add significantly to the atmosphere of such a game, it would also make it so much more rewarding for the player to eliminate his enemies and staying unseen all the time; or just staying unseen all the time. It would also have the player actually look for different routes and approaches to fulfill his goal. It’s all nice and neat that they are there (for example in such games like Deus Ex). But it never feels like that the player really has to find an alternative route. It’s just an option. I’d love to see a stealth game that actually makes it necessary for the player to think outside the box to fulfill his goals; where it’s not only an option but necessary in order to beat the game.

Well, but that’s now really off-topic. I don’t feel I miss out much now, though.

- Health has a very small bit of regen, I believe, but not enough to be of any real use. You still need to collect health vials and sometimes scavange some food if you're out. And it doesn't take more than a few sword swipes to kill you, so staying hidden and/or using creativity in fights is important to survival. And although the AI is a little unaware, the devs did a good job of placing them in such a way that they can still be a challenge to get past.

- Dishonored actually does a pretty good job with its alternate routes. I've many times found myself wracking my brain to figure out an easier way around something, or a way to avoid everything devolving into a blood bath (because the game does enforce consequences for playing like a serial killer). And so far there have been a lot of times where I felt that I needed to think outside the box to figure out the best way to an objective. In fact, the most obvious way has seldom ended up being the best way.

- Please please please... do NOT dismiss the game just because the AI looks stupid. It's really really good, and well worth the time and money for anyone who likes Thief or Deus Ex. Yes, I do wish enemies would exhibit a little more awareness (like panicing when their friends disappear), but I don't feel that it significantly mars the overall package, which is fantastic.

Thanks for your comments guys. There's some good information in there. Didn't know that only the easy difficult settings have regenerative health. That's good news! Also didn't know that the enemies can be so deadly. Never looked like that from the videos.

As I've said before, I won't buy the game right now. But I'm sure I'll pick it up eventually; later, when a complete edition with all the DLCs will become available and/or at a better price. And yeah, I'm pretty sure that I'll like the game. I already like the setting and artwork. But I don't feel like I need to have the game right now. But thanks nonetheless. :-)

By the way, Greenman Gaming has a 25% discount on the game till Friday with the following key: GMG25-EVFWS-4Z4ZN.

They don't...at least they are pretty stupid in the hardest difficulty but I haven't played on Normal to know if they are any dumber.

One of the thing this game definitely has over Deux Ex HR though is that it doesn't have the dumber that words take downs, it does have sort of "take-downs" but unlike the HR ones you are not indestructible, invisible and not making any noise while doing them, you don't switch to third person and you can abort them in the middle (for the non lethal ones at least).