Dishonored • Eurogamer.net

Arkane Studios says the Dishonored series is "resting right now"

Dunwall it can for the moment.

Arkane Studios has confirmed that its superb first-person assassination series Dishonored is "resting right now", with no further instalments seemingly currently planned.

FeatureThe return of Randy Smith and the state of the immersive sim

"I don't think the genre is dead…"

If you're looking for an expert on immersive sims, speak to Randy Smith.

FeatureThe metaphysics of Dishonored

The Outsider walks among us.

There may be spoilers for the Dishonored series of games ahead.

Arkane co-founder Raphael Colantonio: "Imagine not having a vacation for 18 years"

Planning a life after the "long non-stop run" of triple-A development.

Arkane co-founder Raphael Colantonio has expanded on his shock decision to leave the Dishonored and Prey developer, suggesting he's burnt out by years of triple-A development.

Arkane founder and Prey director Raphael Colantonio departs studio

"It is time for me to step out to spend some time with my son."

Arkane Studios founder Raphael Colantonio has departed the company he created back in 1999.

FeatureWe asked a landscape designer to analyse The Witcher 3, Mass Effect and Dishonored

Garden warfare.

Whether you're traversing an expansive open world, climbing crumbling ruins or sneaking between shadowy city corners, the landscapes and environments we see in games have never been better. Gone are the days of miracle-growing trees popping up at certain draw distances. Instead, we have places and environments deliberately and carefully designed, and landscapes so realistic we can relate to them, be astonished by them, even yearn for them. Naturally, ever-improving graphical capabilities have a lot to do with this, because as environments get more realistic, we increasingly experience them as 'real', but there can be, and often is, so much more to it than just the technical ability to crank up the aesthetics.

FeatureThe YouTuber who mastered the creative kill

The act of killing.

Let's Play videos can be appealing for a variety of reasons. Sometimes you watch them because you like the personality of the presenter. Other times you want to get tips or tricks and seek a video walkthrough. And often gameplay videos are engaging because someone is trying to pull off a particularly impressive challenge, like, say, playing Dark Souls 3 with a controller made from bananas, or speedrunning a title to near perfection.

FeatureArkane's living prisons

Raphael Colantonio on Prey, Dishonored and breaking the world.

Arkane Studios is known as the developer of "immersive simulations" - worlds you sink into, wallow in, made up of intricately interlocking systems tied to exotic abilities, which can be manipulated to resolve a scenario any number of ways. But perhaps it would be more accurate to describe the Lyon and Austin-based company's creations as "emersive" sims, frameworks you struggle to break free of, using tools that aren't quite under the designer's control.

FeatureJohn Wick, Gateway, and my love for a good video game hub

Hubba hubba.

Man, I love a hub in games. And so few get them right. A good hub can elevate a game that, otherwise, I don't really care much about.

VideoWatch: Chris plays Dishonored for the first time, murders everybody

Late to the Party gets violent.

Dishonored is a very good video game that Chris Bratt missed because he was too busy playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Go figure. The beauty of Late to the Party, however, is that we can go back and introduce people to games they missed the first time round - without getting told off for slacking.

FeatureDishonored is a game that improves with every play

A dish worth honouring.

Having decided to replay Dishonored recently, I was faced with a dilemma. Not a big Walking Dead "choose which of these people you want to live" dilemma. More of a Bioshock-level dilemma. In my excitement over going back to Arkane's magical murder-sim, I had neglected to consider that I am a parent now. As such, I am as likely to find time to return to a game I have already played as I am to find El Dorado in one of my daughter's nappies.

Watch new Dishonored 2 gameplay in latest Gamescom trailer

Off with their heads!

Bethesda has released an all new Dishonored 2 gameplay video demonstrating just some of the ways you can get the drop on your enemies.

As seen above, you can transform into a shadowy monster and rip your opponents limb from limb like Jackie in The Darkness. You can parry a sword strike to behead an attacking guard. You can slide around robots and warp about until you get the right angle to mount them from above before snapping their shiny metallic necks.

Dishonored 2 lets players play as returning protagonist Corvo Attano or his surrogate daughter Empress Emily Kaldwin, whose life Corvo saved in the opening moments of the first Dishonored after the two enjoyed a playful game of hide-and-seek before all the parent-slaying and murder-framing kicked off the plot.

FeatureFace-Off: Dishonored: The Definitive Edition

A straight PC port or something better?

With a sequel to Dishonored in the works, a remaster of the original game for current-gen consoles was all but inevitable - a release confirmed at E3 earlier this year. Dubbed the Definitive Edition, the latest version of Dishonored promises a substantial upgrade over the Xbox 360 and PS3 releases, featuring updated visuals and the inclusion of all the downloadable content. There are also improvements to frame-rate, but the boost only goes so far: we're still looking at 30fps, albeit with a higher level of stability in performance.

Coming up to its three-year anniversary, it's fair to say that the look of the UE3-powered title hasn't aged particularly well when viewed through a full HD lens, though the gameplay still captivates. Both consoles hand in a native 1080p image, bringing with it a substantial boost in clarity and sharpness over the 720p last-gen releases. That full HD presentation is backed by run of the mill anti-aliasing - and based on a comparison with the PC version, it looks like standard FXAA is in play on both PS4 and Xbox One.

Curiously, there does seem to be a small amount of variance in the overall coverage offered by the AA solution, producing a slightly sharper image on Xbox One with distant scenery lacking the mild softening effect that appears sporadically on PS4. However, shimmering around fine details is more commonplace across both near-field structures and those further away from the camera, while long edges lack the same level of smoothness compared to the other platforms. Here, the PC game offers the most refined presentation with the PS4 following behind. On PC we opted for FXAA for our captures, which provides a smoother image than the MLAA alternative, at the expense of a slight blur to texture clarity.

Dishonored Definitive Edition coming to PS4, Xbox One this autumn.

Bethesda has made Dishonored 2 official - and this time you can play as either Corvo or the Empress' daughter Emily Kaldwin.

Sounds like Dishonored 2 is being announced tomorrow

Bethesda leaks reveal via Twitch gaffe.

Bethesda has accidentally revealed that it has a new Dishonored project to announce tomorrow during the company's E3 press conference.

Dishonored 1 co-director Harvey Smith and president of Arkane Raph Colantonio were caught on Bethesda's Twitch channel discussing a Dishonored presentation to take place during the press conference itself (thanks, Kotaku).

The pair can be heard talking about the script for the announcement, before an anxious-sounding voice informs the pair that their voices are currently being broadcast to the world.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition spotted

And a Dishonored: Definitive Edition, too.

There's no end in sight to the current climate of remakes.

PS Plus in April adds Dishonored and Never Alone

Also Killzone Mercenary, Tower of Guns and more.

PSN's Instant Game Collection - i.e. games free for PlayStation Plus subscribers - has been announced for the month of April.

VideoVideo: What games taught me about parenting

Please don't call social services.

I'm engaged to be married (hooray!) which, if social convention is anything to go by, means my fiancée and I are probably due a conversation about having kids at some point. God I hope she never reads this.

VideoVideo: Games that made us feel like terrible people

This waah of mine.

Video games are powerful things, capable of making us feel a whole range of emotions. Happy is one such emotion, as is all-consuming self-loathing. That's a good one too.

Bethesda announces first ever E3 conference

Sure to cause some fallout.

Bethesda has announced plans for its first ever dedicated E3 conference, which is set to take place in Hollywood on Sunday, 14th June 2015.

A limited number of tickets will be made available to fans, or you'll be able to watch the whole thing from home via the magic of Twitch (and, naturally, Eurogamer will be reporting the whole thing live).

There's no word yet on what Bethesda will be showing, although we can take a couple of educated guesses.

August's free Xbox Games with Gold titles announced

Dishonored! Motocross Madness! Crimson Dragon! Strike Suit Zero!

Xbox Live Gold subscribers will receive Dishonored and Motocross Madness at no additional charge in August via the Games with Gold program, Microsoft has announced.

Motocross Madness will be available starting 1st August, while Dishonored will replace it on 16th August. If you haven't downloaded it already, Battleblock Theater is the current Xbox 360 Games with Gold offering that's available until the end of July.

Xbox One users will receive Crimson Dragon and Strike Suit Zero in August. These will replace July's offerings of Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition and Max: The Curse of Brotherhood.

A real Corvo-sation starter.

QuakeCon 2014 is under way in Texas and there's a Bethesda game sale running on Steam and (partly) Xbox Live to celebrate.

It's the last day of the Steam Sale

"And we've brought back the most popular deals."

Got any money left? It's the last day of the venerated Steam Sale, dubbed "Encore Day", for which the most popular deals have been brought back.

Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition announced

Full game and all the DLC for Ł30.

Bethesda has announced the Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition. It includes the full game as well as all of its add-on content: Dunwall City Trials, The Knife of Dunwall, The Brigmore Witches and Void Walker's Arsenal.

It's out in Europe on 11th October, and in North America on 8th October. Pricing is as follows: Europe for €39.99 / Ł29.99 / $69.95 AUD on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, €29.99 / Ł24.99 / $49.95 AUD on PC.

Dishonored, developed by Arkane Studios, launched in October 2012 and was a critical and commercial success. The French arm of the developer is thought to be making a sequel.

Studio responsible for Dishonored Brigmore Witches DLC.

Arkane Austin, the studio just finished with fantastique Dishonored DLC The Brigmore Witches, appears to indeed be the team rebooting Prey 2.

Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches review

A blink to the past.

Daud is not supposed to be a squeamish man: he is, after all, the assassin who drove a knife into the heart of Dunwall's Empress and made off with her quivering child during the opening scenes of 2012's Dishonored. Even so, the first time you encounter a Brigmore Witch - a siren riddled with varicose veins and black magic - you'd be forgiven for letting out a spindly yelp. These shrieking, teleporting hags are perhaps the most upsetting antagonists yet in Arkane's stealth action game (of which The Brigmore Witches is the second major expansion), not least because they are led by that most alarming of creative fiends: the mad painter.

Delilah and her coven live in the dilapidated Brigmore mansion, one-time seat of an ancient family that was bankrupted a generation ago. The mental decay behind her own handsome face is reflected in the crumbling masonry and rushing brown water of her headquarters, which are made all the more unsettling by the beautiful surroundings of this greenbelt residence. But before you venture into the vast Brigmore estate, you must chase through a handful of other missions in Daud's story arc, as introduced by the preceding episode, The Knife of Dunwall.

The first of these sees Daud enter Coldridge prison - shortly after Corvo, the protagonist of the original game, escaped one of its cells. Far from a straightforward reuse of the location, this time you're able to explore the prison's various wings, choose which of its inmates to free and even witness the execution (or salvation, if you choose to intervene) of the guards held responsible for Corvo's escape. It's an ingenious set-up, offering an alternative perspective on a familiar location during the aftermath of familiar events. But with Daud's unique set of abilities - which allow him to conjure forth assassins, or to pull enemies toward him and choke them out while suspended in air - it feels quite different.

Final DLC for Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches gets release date

Daud and proud.

Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches, the final add-on for Bethesda's excellent stealth adventure, arrives for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 13th August (and the day after that for PS3 in Europe).

It costs Ł7.99/€9.99 or 800 Microsoft Points.

The Brigmore Witches concludes the story of assassin Daud, one of the main game's antagonists and the protagonist of earlier DLC The Knife of Dunwall. You can import your save from that add-on, too.

See video of it and Dishonored played with the headset.

Half-Life 2 now has official support for Oculus Rift, or at least a beta for it anyway.

Dishonored: Void Walker's Arsenal DLC available 14th May

Four packs of pre-order bonuses in one handy bundle.

Dishonored publisher Bethesda has announced the Void Walker's Arsenal bundle, a collection of the game's various pre-order DLC.

Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall review

Dunwall done well.

I never really got to appreciate the game over screens of Dishonored in my first couple of playthroughs, where ghosting through the towering squalor of Dunwall was as effortless as it was, more frequently, clumsy. There's an uneasy intimacy I have with them now, though. I think over the few hours of The Knife of Dunwall, the first truly substantial DLC for Arkane's 2012 wonder, I spent more time staring at their austere, swirling art cursing my luck or stupidity than I did exploring the strange new locations the standalone campaign presents.

This expansion is, to put it less than politely, bastard hard. Where there'd be one guard patrolling a perimeter in Corvo's campaign, here there'll be four - and where there'd be one solitary walker, here there are mobs of armoured butchers wielding hulking buzzsaws that spit out painful sparks. Progress is a case of trial and many errors that can push the playtime well beyond five hours, but, as ever, once you stumble across your own solution, it's delicious. The Knife of Dunwall is effectively just more Dishonored, and that of course is a very good thing.

The Knife of Dunwall runs parallel to Dishonored's main tale, placing you in the soft leather boots of Daud, the master assassin who plotted Corvo's downfall and who killed Empress Kaldwin. Daud's story starts in that ornate gazebo where Corvo's fate was set in motion, before taking its own path across three missions that are set to be concluded with a second instalment later this year.

First gameplay footage of Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall DLC

Daud and proud.

Bethesda has revealed the first gameplay footage of The Knife of Dunwall, Dishonored's upcoming story-based expansion.

The add-on is the first of two that will star antagonist assassin Daud, who you may remember from the main game as a very naughty guy.

The Knife of Dunwall is due for release on 16th April for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (likely the 17th April for PS3 in Europe) and will cost Ł7.99/800 Microsoft Points.

Big Jack is Dead is out now.

Harvey Smith - the decorated game designer who helped bring games such as System Shock, Deus Ex and, more recently, Dishonored to life - has written a novel based on his own life.

FeatureDishonored - The Knife of Dunwall: A comedy of errors

An hour or so with Dishonored's latest DLC.

Towards the end of my preview time with Dishonored's new story-based add-on, I'm stood deep within a slaughterhouse, speaking to a compact, rather determined sort of lady. "Mister Daud," she tells me, with a conspiratorial air, "we're both professionals."

Dishonored's new story-based DLC The Knife of Dunwall revealed

First of two add-ons starring antagonist assassin Daud.

Dishonored publisher Bethesda has announced two new story-based add-ons for the game starring antagonist assassin Daud.

Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall screenshots

Dishonored's lead level designer labels PS4's 8GB RAM "a joy"

"The main problem was memory."

When Sony stepped out in New York with the surprise revelation that PlayStation 4 had a whopping 8GB of very fast GDDR5, there were few people more pleased than Dishonored's lead level designer Christophe Carrier.

Watch the BAFTA Game Awards live on Eurogamer

UPDATE: Dishonored takes top honours, but Journey scoops up five awards.

UPDATE: The 2013 BAFTA winners are in and they're a doozy. Dishonored took top honours, winning best game overall, which is odd as it didn't win in any other awards. Conversely, Journey received a whopping five awards in various other categories.

Dishonored's new story-based DLC The Other Side of the Coin spotted

Heads up.

Dishonored is due a new story-based expansion titled The Other Side of the Coin, a leaked list of PlayStation Trophies has revealed.

FeatureSaturday Soapbox: Loving the science, but don't forget the art

The rise of data-driven development has all sorts of benefits, but it shouldn't run the show.

We've all got lost in games. I don't mean that we've become so engrossed that external factors cease to matter - toast burns, cats starve, love falters, etc - although if you're reading this site then that's probably true as well. I mean we've gotten lost in games. It used to be a common complaint, in fact, that games spun you around or suddenly stopped saying new things and it would take ages to figure out what you were expected to do.

FeatureGames of 2012: Dishonored

Solid sneak.

It's been a hell of a year for sneaky bastards. From Mark of the Ninja, which purists might even argue was the high point, to Far Cry 3, where I spent many a fabulous hour creeping up on STD-obsessed mercenaries - sometimes just to watch them being mauled by a passing tiger - everyone was at it. So much so, in fact, that we needn't mourn Assassin's Creed 3's relocation to the action-adventure genre, or the disappointment of Hitman: Absolution, which had its moments but ultimately satisfied neither fans of the series nor those who crouch worshipfully behind low walls. There was more than enough going on elsewhere to make up for them both.

Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials review

National stealth service.

Dishonored is many things, but a casual distraction is not one of them. It's a thoughtful, weighty game in which every action must be weighed, measured and carried out with as much care and precision as you can muster. Such an experience was always going to be tricky to fit into a bite-sized downloadable shell, and Dunwall City Trials - a collection of 10 standalone challenges - is, inevitably, a mixed bag.

The tasks ranged before you vary wildly, teasing elements of the core game out into specific, isolated chunks. While that core game allowed you to play the gleeful murderer, it never tried to mask its disappointment whenever you headed down that road by accident or design. It is, at its heart, a stealth game. It's just one that grudgingly accommodates the occasional bloodbath, tutting at your lack of grace along the way.

Strange, then, that of the 10 trials on offer, only two fit into what most players would consider the “Dishonored experience”. These are the two stealth trials. The rest are divided into three combat trials, two puzzle trials and three movement trials.

Dishonored patch launched today for PC, PS3, Xbox 360 - what's changed?

"Fix for a rare crash when killing a NPC with a possessed rat and spring razor."

Dishonored publisher Bethesda has issued the game's first title update for all platforms.

The patch primarily addresses bugs present in the game at launch. There's also added support for a couple of new features.

PC owners can now play the game across multiple screens, while game settings are now saved properly when playing through Steam offline.

Higher than expected Dishonored sales mean Bethesda has a new franchise

Was the number one selling game on Steam over Black Friday weekend.

Dishonored is, clearly, a new franchise, publisher Bethesda has said.

Sales of the Arkane-developed first-person action game are above expectations, Bethesda marketing chief Pete Hines told Destructoid, and so publisher Bethesda has added it to its stable of franchises, which includes Fallout, Elder Scrolls and Doom.

“I can tell you that Dishonored is far exceeding our sales expectations,” Hines said without disclosing sales figures, “which is especially cool considering it's a new IP facing a host of well-established franchises this quarter.

New screenshots released.

The Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials downloadable content launches on 11th December for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Bethesda has announced.

Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials screenshots

Bethesda compiles video of people better at Dishonored

Than you?

How proficient a killer are you when playing Dishonored? Do you showboat?

Exhibition auctions off spectacular game art for SpecialEffect charity

Dishonored, Arkham City, Fable, more.

A new art exhibition is today auctioning off game pictures for charity SpecialEffect.

LGF art exhibition images

FeaturePeeling back the layers of Dishonored with Harvey Smith and Raph Colantonio

From Sokolov's first painting to the third floor of the Hound Pits and beyond.

Bethesda Softworks doesn't do post-mortems. That's always been the line, which is why it's pretty rare for anyone to get to speak to one of the publisher's studios about a recently released game. We've never been able to look back at Skyrim with Todd Howard or talk to Tim Willits in hindsight about Rage, when at times during those games' development they and we were probably all sick of the sight of each other. We've never even spoken to that sweary lunatic who was involved in Rogue Warrior. Demo Dick! That was his name. Actually, there are probably other reasons we've never spoken to Demo Dick.

PEGI 18-rated games soon readmitted to Windows 8 Store

Microsoft had a bit of a mix-up.

Some relatively good news about Windows 8 at last: Microsoft won't prohibit PEGI 18-rated games like Skyrim, Dishonored and Mass Effect from sale on the Windows 8 Store.

First Dishonored DLC has a wave based arena battle

Second and third add-ons out 2013.

Bethesda has announced Dishonored DLC.

Dishonored's Corvo used to sure look a lot like Thief's Garrett

Used to have more of a British ninja thing going on.

Before he had a kooky clockwork tin-man mask, Dishonored's shadowy hero Corvo looked a lot more like Thief's Garrett.

Dishonored Corvo concept art

FeatureLost Humanity 17: Dishonour

Rab discovers whether art can be imitated in life.

Last week, I started playing Dishonored. I fell in love with it. All that talk of the game being short was, as ever, internet exagger-annoyo-mania. I spent about five hours doing the first proper mission. Just hiding under tables and sneaking around houses, watching people. I loved how you could take a lot of different paths to your objectives. I loved how you could just crawl about on a roof, unseen, and then appear behind an enemy in the blink of an eye.

UK chart: Dishonored denied top spot by FIFA 13

Pokémon, XCOM in top ten, but Fable: The Journey disappoints in 37th.

Dishonored has entered the chart in second place, as FIFA 13 defended its spot atop the UK charts from a barrage of new releases.

This week on Outside Xbox

Death before Dishonored.

Happy Saturday, folks! Time for your Outside Xbox video digest.

Windows 8 Store won't allow PEGI 18-rated games

That's just the shop, not the entire OS.

The Windows 8 Store will not allow games rated PEGI 18. Dishonored, Skyrim, Mass Effect 3 - none would have been allowed.

Dishonored on EU PlayStation Store this week for Ł49.99

But no sign of Borderlands 2's Mechromancer DLC. Or CS:GO.

UPDATE: Top-down Retro City Rampage is in certification for PS3 and PlayStation Vita and will be out this month, PlayStation blog staff member Jawad Ashraf has stated. The Walking Dead: Episode 4, released this week in the US, is "not too far behind" he added.

FeatureLost Humanity 16: Size Doesn't Matter

How long is a piece of Dishonored?

Size doesn't matter. It's true. It's genuinely true. The saying doesn't exist just to make you feel better about your bald little half-incher.

Dishonored Diary: Playing through in four different ways

Psycho Oli, clumsy voyeur Martin, archaeologist Chris and Tom the ghost all sign off with final thoughts.

As Dan Whitehead noted in our Dishonored review, the city of Dunwall is a place where the main story takes a back seat to the adventures you define for yourself. For some this will be a world full of sorcery and bloodletting; for others it's a living museum of ideas, where every scrap of discarded paper and overheard conversation is a new exhibit; and for many others it's a game about crouching behind bushes and staring through keyholes.

Digital FoundryDishonored Xbox 360 vs. PC Face-Off Video

A maxed-out PC version of Dishonored head-to-head with the Xbox 360 game in this 720p video.

Digital FoundryDishonored PC vs. PlayStation 3 Face-Off Video

Top-spec PC image quality settings up against the PS3 game in this 720p comparison video.

Digital FoundryDishonored Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3 Face-Off Video

From a visual perspective, image quality differences are few and far between in this Unreal Engine-powered epic.

Variable frame-rates at 768p and 1080p as our Ł300 gaming PC takes on Dishonored.

Digital FoundryDishonored Cut-Scene and Traversal Performance Video

PlayStation 3 has more obvious levels of screen-tear compared to its Xbox 360 counterpart, but overall performance is fairly close.

Digital FoundryDishonored Gameplay Performance Video

Xbox 360 commands a small performance advantage over the PlayStation 3 game in this analysis.

Digital FoundryFace-Off: Dishonored

Rat race.

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Xbox 360

PlayStation 3

Dishonored review

Best served cold: The original and all DLC reviews, to mark the GOTY Edition's release.

Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition is released in Europe today, and it includes all of the game's download expansions. To mark the occasion, we're republishing our review of the game - originally published on 8th October 2012 - below. Also, down the left-hand column, you'll find links to all our reviews of Dishonored DLC, and a few of our other favourite articles about the game.

When was the last time a game asked you to wait? Not just wait for a loading screen or pause for a few seconds to line up the perfect sniper shot. Real waiting. Patience. The ability to sit, immersed in a game world for minutes at a time, watching, plotting and planning.

There's a lot of waiting in Dishonored. You'll peer through keyholes as the seconds tick past, wary of pressing on until you're absolutely sure there's nobody on the other side. You'll squat behind walls and ruins, using supernatural abilities to follow the sickly yellow outlines of your foes, making mental notes until you've spotted the gap in their movements that might let you slip through undetected. You'll cower, low on health, as the thundering footsteps of mechanical stilt-walking Tall Boys stomp past, praying they don't spot you. In Arkane's dark and delicious tribute to hardcore stealth gaming, patience is most definitely a virtue.

EGXEG Expo 2012 Attendees' Top 10

Running through your highlights of this year's show.

The blue placards have been pulled down, the special carpet's been ripped up and we're left to reflect on another fantastic Expo. How was your show? It certainly wasn't short of highlights, whether that was Hideo Kojima outlining his vision for the future of Metal Gear and reflecting on 25 years of its past or Peter Molyneux proving once again what a charismatic showman he is.

Why Dishonored ditched its Thief shadow stealth mechanic

Arkane believe it.

Dishonored started life with a 'hide in the shadows' stealth mechanic like Thief had. But Arkane ditched it - for a couple of reasons.

Short and arty Dishonored videos set story, star Kick-Ass girl

Bethesda's Dunwall to secure her.

Too-self-important-by-half production company Psyop has put together three very stylish story-setting videos for Dishonored.

EGXArkane Studios presents Dishonored developer sessions at Eurogamer Expo

Two opportunities for an extended look at the game.

With now just a little under a fortnight to go until this year's Eurogamer Expo opens its doors, I'm delighted to announce that Arkane Studios will be presenting an extended look at Dishonored as part of this year's developer sessions schedule.

Viral Dishonored Google Chrome game looks good, but isn't

Update: It's been removed.

Update: The viral website has been removed, as has the YouTube video advertising it. Bethesda couldn't tell us why, but I can only imagine there are two possible explanations: one, it's been terminated permanently because it's not very good; or two, it wasn't quite finished.

FeatureDishonored Preview: Honor Thy Player

Arkane's stealth action game lives up to its early promise.

There's a certain dignity to Dishonored, though it's not to be found in the high-society masquerade party that houses the most recent playable demo of Arkane's stealth-minded action game. The dignity is in the details and in the design, in its noble intentions and in its respect of the player and their choices. Dishonored's a game that promises its players the world, and at times it looks damn close to being able to gift it to them.

But the first thing to hit you about Dishonored is its majesty, even if it is a willfully scuffed, frayed splendor that Arkane has created. Dunwall's an intoxicating construct, and the fingerprints of one of its grand architects, visual design director Viktor Antonov, are smeared across the city. Monolithic black steel gates crash awkwardly against 19th Century townhouses and sheer concrete walls. This is City 17 under Queen Victoria's rule.

In Dunwall, filth washes up against the walls of stately homes, and it's amidst this flotsam that the lead character of Corvo conducts his business. Framed for the murder of an Empress, Corvo's offered a chance to exact revenge on those who set him up, and does so from the squalor of Dunwall's dank shadows.

Get the UK's first public hands-on with Bethesda's latest.

Thick and fast. That's how we like our Eurogamer Expo announcements now that everyone's signing them off and we can tell you what to expect. This morning we announced that Halo 4 is playable and Frank O'Connor from 343 Industries is doing a developer session. This afternoon we can add that Dishonored and Doom 3 BFG Edition will both be playable too!

VideoDishonored gameplay gets stealthy

How to stay stealthy in Dishonored

Fresh gameplay footage emerges from the shadows.

In reward for being crowned Eurogamer's Game of Gamescom 2012, we've been sent a brand new trailer for marvellous-looking steampunk adventure Dishonored.

Gamescom 2012: Dishonored is Eurogamer's Game of the Show

Plus other honorable mentions.

Gamescom is over! Well, it was actually over a while ago now - Tom P, Wes and I have just emerged from a sausage-induced slumber and realised that in the haze of pork, thimbles of beer and video games we never got round to naming EG's Game of the Show.

Dishonored PC system requirements revealed

Arkane systems might just about cope.

Bethesda has released the PC system requirements for one of this autumn's most exciting new games, Dishonored.

Dishonored trailer shows off various clever ways to kills

Includes the Zack Morris "time out!"

Bethesda's upcoming stealth/action title Dishonored looks to challenge BioShock and Hitman in terms of peculiar ways to murder foes, and this new trailer - below - displays some of the most obtuse yet.

My favourite involves using an extremely potent slow-motion power to pull off Zack Morris' "time-out" ability from Saved by the Bell, in which he could alter the fabric of reality by freezing the fourth dimension. Here Dishonored protagonist Corvo stops time after a guard fires his gun, possesses said guard, walks him over to the path of his own bullet, then leaps out of his body. Okay, "time in!"

There's also rat possession, which in any other game might sound pretty wild, but almost feels tame in comparison to everything else on display here.

Dishonored screenshots

Dishonoured cast includes video game debutant Susan Sarandon

Weiss to see her cottoning on.

Rocky Horror Picture Show pin-up Susan Sarandon will make her video game debut in Dishonored as the glamorously named Granny Rags, an intriguing old mad lady.

Dishonored pre-order bonuses revealed

GAME! Tesco! ShopTo! Amazon!

Bethesda has announced the Dishonored UK pre-order bonuses.

Dishonored pre-order bonus images

New Dishonored trailer shows off Daring Escapes

The Long Jump, Sleep Tight, or Chain Possession?

Today's the day for video game trailers that show off player choice. This time it's Bethesda, with a new trailer for first-person action game Dishonored.

The new trailer shows off three potential styles of play, each used to initiate a daring escape from the Boyle Mansion.

Corvo uses three supernatural abilities: first Blink, then Bend Time, lastly Possession. You can choose which one you'd like to see in action by selection from The Long Jump, Sleep Tight, or Chain Possession.

"It causes a lot of surprise that anyone would leave."

A picture of Viktor Antonov posted by the French Bethesda blog in March this year."/>

Fake Dishonored movie trailer praised by game's creator

Done right, Uwe Boll them over.

We could get excited about a Dishonored movie if its trailer was as rousing as this fake.

Even Dishonored creative director Harvey Smith liked it. "This Dishonored movie trailer makes me [love] the internet," he tweeted.

This fake Dishonored movie trailer was made by the ominously-named YouTube user Bloodrunsclear.

The creator of Half-Life 2's City 17 and Dishonored tells us why.

That the closest touchstone for Dishonored should be BioShock, a game from 2007, speaks volumes to the stagnating creativity of video games. As celebrated art maestro Viktor Antonov put it to Eurogamer: "It's been a poor, poor five years for fiction in the video game industry." And he should know - he created Half-Life 2's iconic City 17, not to mention he's now making Dishonored.

Your Dishonored death toll affects ending and "other little story bits"

Two long gameplay videos contrast muffled and muscled approach.

The endings of Dishonored are derived by how violently - how murderously - you rip through the campaign, Arkane Studios has revealed.

VideoDishonored gameplay video - the stealthy way

Doing it in the dark.

VideoDishonored gameplay video - the violent way

What's a bit of blood?

Up to 28 hours for "explorers who eavesdrop".

Dishonored is 12 to 14 hours long - for "very direct players", Arkane Studios has revealed.

Dishonored pre-order incentives announced

Downloadable upgrades for new Bethesda stealth IP.

Pre-order incentives for upcoming Bethesda steampunk stealth title Dishonored have been revealed.

US gamers can take their pick from a number of downloadable in-game upgrades and the odd bit of ephemera.

Here's the full list of what individual retailers are offering:

Steampunk shooter shown off in new detail.

Dishonored release date announced

BioShocked?

Dishonored launches in the UK on 12th October, in Australia on 11th October, and in the US on 9th October, Bethesda has announced.

That's for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Dishonored's October release date announcement comes a day after Irrational Games announced the delay of BioShock Infinite from Friday, 19th October to February 2013. Dishonored is a first-person steampunk stealth action adventure game developed by Arkane Studios, which was bought by Bethesda parent ZeniMax in 2010. Harvey Smith, one of the developers of the first two Deus Ex games, is co-creative director. Viktor Antonov, who designed Half-Life 2's City 17, is also on board.

Dishonored box art

Eurogamer.net Podcast #110: Dishonored! Medal of Honor! Crysis 3! SimCity! Project Zomboid!

True dat.

Hello! It's Wesley, your friendly neighbourhood news editor here. Don't worry, I haven't sensationalised the story with this headline, or taken anything out of context. This really is the Eurogamer Podcast 110 and it really is about Dishonored, Medal of Honor, Crysis 3, SimCity and Project Zomboid!

Dishonored screenshots

FeatureDishonored Preview: The Ways of System Shock and Thief Return

Through the Looking Glass.

The Cat House is a high class brothel, a dramatic white building sat far above the city of Dunwall's harbour. Your mark is a regular customer, and he's currently cavorting with a masked lady of the night in its lavish penthouse - you, meanwhile, are crouching unseen on a window sill, peering through ornamental glass.

What next? Well, I guess you could stab him or shoot him. If you don't mind making a mess you could also pause time and hang five separate crossbow bolts in front of his face. That way once normal temporal service resumes he'll be very dead indeed.

Alternatively, you could get creative. Why not leap into control of his body and steer him towards the white marble balcony that overlooks harbour? Then simply jump backwards out of his body and, while he retches up his guts in panic and confusion, spend a little more magical Essence on a Windblast. As he ragdolls into the wild blue yonder it'll feel like the perfect crime, if it weren't for the dainty witness screaming behind you.

VideoStunning Dishonored cinematic trailer

Take a tour of Arkane and Bethesda's new steampunk world.

Stealthy steampunk game from Dark Messiah dev.

FeatureActual New Games of 2012

Wonder and joy, please.

Back in December the Eurogamer editorial team had a massive public fight about whether 2011 was a good year for games. Well, we had the closest thing we're capable of having to a massive public fight - we wrote polite editorials disagreeing with one another. One thing we all agreed upon, however, was that we would very much like to see more Actual New Games in 2012.

New Dishonoured screenshots

Steampunk Bethesda shooter takes aim.

EG's Game of Gamescom 2011: The Nominees

A shortlist of 10. Winner announced Monday.

Eurogamer is proud to announce the 10 nominees for its Game of the Show, gamescom 2011!

Dishonored screenshots fire in

Steampunk stealth shooter pictured.

Dishonored

Arkane's first-person assassin game.

FeatureDishonored

Betraying convention.

"Choice and consequence" may be the action-adventure cliché du jour, but being able to define your own combat style through a suite of overlapping toys is definitely up there too. Pretty much ever since BioShock invited us to paralyse splicers with electricity and then whack 'em with a wrench, everyone's been at it.

Dishonored Game Informer cover reveal

Bethesda announces Dishonored

First-person stealth/action adventure.

UPDATE: Bethesda has announced that Dishonored will release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012.

ORIGINAL STORY: Bethesda has announced Dishonored, a new first-person stealth action adventure game.

The developer is Arkane Studios, which was bought by Bethesda parent company ZeniMax in August last year.