There Will Be More Dishonored

[Karloff]

There Will Be More Dishonored

"We clearly have a new franchise," says Bethesda of Dishonored.

A new IP is always a risky proposition, even for an established developer, but Bethesda believes it has created something special with its stealth action title, Dishonored. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9961-Dishonored-Review] "We're very pleased and appreciate all the fans that have supported Dishonored and Arkane," said Bethesda VP and marketing head Pete Hines, adding, "We clearly have a new franchise."

Sales of Bethesda's stealth action game have exceeded the developer's expectations by a wide margin - though Hines was careful not to mention actual numbers - and is still doing very good business on Steam. In fact, according to Hines, Dishonored was the number one Steam seller over the holiday weekend. Overseas sales have also been extremely encouraging, all of which leads Bethesda to the inescapable conclusion that it has something worth following up on.

Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120826-Dishonored-Dunwall-City-Trials-Arrives-in-December] is due in December, and there's more DLC to come after that. But for those of you who really want a sequel to the original, whether featuring Corvo or some other Outsider-blessed protagonist, consider this your reward: Bethesda thinks more Dishonored is a great idea.

Source: Destructoid [http://www.destructoid.com/bethesda-dishonored-sales-exceeding-expectations--239407.phtml]


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[Mister K]

Just... Don't continue Corvo's story. It is FINISHED.
And add at least basic set of emotions for the new protagonist.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

They'd have to be complete simpletons to not know they have a gold mine in Dishonored's 'verse. I have yet to even finish the game, but I know that when I do, I'll be itching for more. Godspeed, Bethesda. You magnificent bastards.

 

[J Tyran]

Another Dishono(u)red would be great but I would really, really like to play a full on RPG set in that world.

 

[Krantos]

Just... Don't continue Corvo's story. It is FINISHED.
And add at least basic set of emotions for the new protagonist.

While I will certainly agree with the first statement, I must respectfully disagree with the second.

Personally, I found Corvo's ambiguous personality to be a strong point to the game. It allowed the player to play however they wanted while not seeming incongruous. If you played Corvo completely pacifist, it would be out of place if he was portrayed as a tortured soul, burdened by the things he'd done. The same would be true if it were reversed; an upbeat Ezio-esque character would seem out of place if you went through slaughtering everything that moved.

Red Dead Redemption and Assassin's Creed 2-3, had that problem. In RDR, the way Marston acts in the cutscenes makes anything but the noble approach to situations seem out of character. In AC2, the reason I never really liked Ezio as a character is that his personality and interactions with others never reflected that he was, in fact, a mass murderer.

In Dishonored, however, I can imagine Corvo's reactions and personality to be anything I think fits how the game is played out. If you watch Yahtzee's review of Half-Life, he makes similar statements about Gordon Freeman, and makes the case that Gordon's lack of a set personality is one of the reasons he is so well liked.


Changes I would like to see in the next game would be a more dynamic story. As it currently stands, the Chaos Rating is the only thing that changes based on how you do things. Given the import some of your actions have, this was disappointing to me. A game I'd like Arcane to take a look at is Alpha Protocol. As a whole, AP was mediocre at best, but it had possibly the best take on dynamic storytelling of any game yet made. Conversations you had and decisions you made would actually come up much later and could drastically effect how the game played out. I'd love to see a system like that in a game that actually holds up in other areas, and the Dishonored franchise seems like the perfect fit.


On a side note, does anyone else feel a little excited that we're seeing the start of a new franchise here? I mean when was the last time a successful franchise, with original gameplay and setting was started, because I honestly can't think of one.

 

[Blind Sight]

Great. Avoid Dunwall and Corvo though. They've established an entire universe, would be great to see a game set in Tyvia or Morley.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

Not a big surprise here, but glad to hear it official all the same.

It's really superficial, but I was hoping for more of a tear-jerker ending ala Bioshock rather than the short & to the point ending we got for either chaos level. Why have the heart tell sob stories about every person you point it at and then have a stone-faced ending? I'm not sure if I'd want future installments to have more of the same unilateral emotions or a wider spread.

 

[Irridium]

What was that Ubisoft? New IP's don't sell this late in a console cycle? IN YOUR FUCKING FACE.

What's that EA? You need multiplayer to sell well? In YOUR fucking face!

Between this and XCOM being a financial success... I'm pretty happy right now.

 

[OManoghue]

The developers have already said they don't want to do a sequel. Maybe an Elder Scrolls style, new story, new place same world thing could make everybody money- Happy. I meant happy.

 

[C117]

Well, I'm aboard with this plan. Although Dishonored wasn't perfect, it was a very good stealth/action-game, set in one of heck of a universe. The only parts where I found it lacking was that the characters weren't really that interesting (at least not as interesting as they COULD have been), and the gameplay was, at times, rather heavily scewered against the stealth approach in spite of it being a stealth game.

Also, the whole Chaos thingy... haven't we seen enough moral choice systems like this already? They just lead to the player taking the route that leads to the good ending, not the route that they feel makes more sense. This can be avoided by having neither ending being "good" or "bad", but rather some kind of middleground. Difficult to pull of properly, but no impossible.

Overall though, I can't wait to see more of Dishonored. Bethesda really hit a gold vein with this one.

Oh, and let's not continue Corvo's story. It felt rather wrapped up and finished to me.

 

[TilMorrow]

Hmm... I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to say No. Bad Bethesda! Don't make another Dishonored. Instead make a better Dishonored. A game that improves upon the original. And please for the love of everything don't name it Dishonored: [Sequel Title].

 

[AldUK]

I played Dishonoured at it's launch. (Yes, I use a 'u' in there, no I don't care if it's not the official game spelling!) I enjoyed the game, though like many others, I went with non-lethality, thus taking a lot of the nifty powers and gadgets out of the experience.

I don't think I'd play it again, but I would probably check out a sequel. I really hope they set it in Dunwall again, we didn't see nearly enough of the city. But have levels outside of Dunwall too!

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Well this is good news. I loved my time with Dishonored and look forward to seeing what more they can do with the series. Certainly glad a stealth orientated game is dong so well.

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

I hope to god that the next game has a new protagonist because Corvo's story is finished. I also hope they don't pull an Assassins Creed 2 trilogy with it. That would suck.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Good. glad to see a new IP be met with success , granted i still don't have any interest in to series but good to see something do well, we need more fresh IP after all

 

[Mister K]

Just... Don't continue Corvo's story. It is FINISHED.
And add at least basic set of emotions for the new protagonist.

While I will certainly agree with the first statement, I must respectfully disagree with the second.

Personally, I found Corvo's ambiguous personality to be a strong point to the game. It allowed the player to play however they wanted while not seeming incongruous. If you played Corvo completely pacifist, it would be out of place if he was portrayed as a tortured soul, burdened by the things he'd done. The same would be true if it were reversed; an upbeat Ezio-esque character would seem out of place if you went through slaughtering everything that moved.

Red Dead Redemption and Assassin's Creed 2-3, had that problem. In RDR, the way Marston acts in the cutscenes makes anything but the noble approach to situations seem out of character. In AC2, the reason I never really liked Ezio as a character is that his personality and interactions with others never reflected that he was, in fact, a mass murderer.

In Dishonored, however, I can imagine Corvo's reactions and personality to be anything I think fits how the game is played out. If you watch Yahtzee's review of Half-Life, he makes similar statements about Gordon Freeman, and makes the case that Gordon's lack of a set personality is one of the reasons he is so well liked.


Changes I would like to see in the next game would be a more dynamic story. As it currently stands, the Chaos Rating is the only thing that changes based on how you do things. Given the import some of your actions have, this was disappointing to me. A game I'd like Arcane to take a look at is Alpha Protocol. As a whole, AP was mediocre at best, but it had possibly the best take on dynamic storytelling of any game yet made. Conversations you had and decisions you made would actually come up much later and could drastically effect how the game played out. I'd love to see a system like that in a game that actually holds up in other areas, and the Dishonored franchise seems like the perfect fit.


On a side note, does anyone else feel a little excited that we're seeing the start of a new franchise here? I mean when was the last time a successful franchise, with original gameplay and setting was started, because I honestly can't think of one.

First, to answer your question: Yes, I am kind of exited. Maybe this franchise will be good even after 3rd instalment.

Second, to reply to your comment: You DO have a point, but for me, it is quite hard to relate to a character, who is a mute in a world of talking people AND never shows his face so that we could see his emotions. And it is not a book, so author can't tell us characters thoughts. Plus, as someone (Probably our favorite Mr. Croshaw) stated, he feels as some kind of emotionless, obidient killing machine.

In Deus Ex: HR, Adam can act as a murderer or a pacifist, yet he has a voice actor. His dialogues are written so, that he is portraid neither as killing machine nor a saint, yet he is likable, emotional, easy to empathize with. So, it can be done, but it requires a tiny bit of effort in this field.
Plus, nobody said, that cold-blooded murderer simply MUST be angry, nihilistic son of a female canine, and pacifist- always smiling, cariing angel. Most of the times, bad boys don't act like ones in public, and good boys can be sad.