Started the title yesterday, completed the first chapter, progressed quite a bit on the second, paused it and I’m at loss for words! :hail:
It felt as if I was playing a mashup of Hitman, Thief, Bioshock, Assassin’s Creed and Deus Ex! Not the recent Human Revolutions but the first Deus Ex, just in case. The steampunk level designs based on the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century London ridden with plague and chaos, hardware friendly UE 3.0, varied combat and gameplay, the subtle soundtracks courtesy Daniel Licht (think Dexter!) - it all felt very refreshing. It has been a while ever since I’ve sat for two hours at a stretch and looks like the game has got me engrossed, which is a good thing I guess.
I am sure most of you might know about the story by now but it isn’t much of a spoiler anyway. Enter Corvo Attano, the bodyguard of the Empress of Dunwall (and the protagonist as well) who is charged for regicide - a crime he did not commit (which explains the title) and the ‘assassin’ must now seek revenge against the corrupt Govt. officials and the conspirators who framed him for it and find the Empress’s missing daughter and the only heir to the throne – Emily, who is now kidnapped. He seeks support from a bunch of trusted allies who is referred to as the Loyalists, located in the pub which is a central location in the title. The allies supply Corvo with valuable information, mission objectives, gadgetry and all the required equipment to carry out his tasks.
Corvo is a master at stealth (think Agent 47 as his descendant) and combat - he is able to sneak past a bunch of guards unnoticed or can take them out in a completely non-lethal manner or completely eliminating all the threats or a mix of all the three, the option of which is left to the player but with a condition that the manner of playthrough shall affect the conclusion of the game referred to in the game’s progress as the chaos system. This has been mentioned explicitly in one of the tutorial sections and during the playthrough as well. Kill too many people and this shall spawn more rats ( and rats attack Corvo in packs!) and weepers, kill too many guards and NPCs leaving their corpses open and the remaining guards and patrols will be extra alert making the rest of the mission harder for Corvo. The system is somewhat similar to the morality system
a la Mass Effect series. There are a few RPG elements thrown in as well such as loot, NPC interactions and side quests with rewards, character, ability and weapon enhancements etc. Corvo also has access to certain supernatural powers granted by the Outsider, a being who appears in a dream world aiding him in his tasks.
During my playthrough yesterday, I went the stealth way completely (I intend to do so for the rest of the game as well save for a few unavoidable kill sequences) and was able to finish the first chapter within an hour (which seems quite okay). But mind you this involves a lot of quick saves and quick loads because there are several ways in which an objective could be met or a particular section can be cleared. At one point, I quickly took down a bunch of guys guarding a sewer and then realized I could have simply sneaked past them without alerting them! And then I thought I could at least loot these guys for coin but not kill them and reloaded the checkpoint once again. Another instance was when a bunch of guards where knocking at a NPC’s door when I was inside the house – there are several options possible here. Neutralize the threat completely by facing them upfront and dumping their corpses in the backyard or use Corvo’s teleporting ability to quickly transport him outside the house, sneak past behind the guard and silently take them (not kill them!) down one by one or simply open the door and let the NPC spawn some rats to attack them which will however not complete the objective thus negating the rewards of the quest. If completed successfully, the NPC would reward Corvo and initiate another side quest!
So look at it this way, the game is more or less like Deus Ex set in a Bioshock’ish steampunk world with Agent 47 playing the lead character who is stealthy as Garrett but agile as Ezio at the same time. Looking forward for the weekend!