Dishonored is Pointless

Despite the potentially misleading title, this opinion piece on Arkan Studios’ Dishonored from the International Business Times is actually full of praise for the first-person stealth/action game, and argues that the developer’s decision to hide stats and feedback makes for a stronger experience:

For someone like me, who can’t relax in a room if there’s even a speck of fluff in the carpet, it’s very liberating. I like order, and neatness; whenever Deus Ex warns me that a body’s been found or an alarm’s gone off, it feels like a speck on my carpet. I have to reload and try again so I can get the stain out.

Dishonored doesn’t make me feel like that. It dumps the scorekeeping and status updates for a more organic experience, letting you decide for yourself whether you want to reload or not. Typical stealth games never do that; genre staples like Hitman and Splinter Cell all but force a retry should you get spotted, turning every enemy in the level against you at once and scaring you off with flashing alert screens and loud music.

Dishonored is a lot more forgiving – rewarding, even – when you get seen by the guards, turning what is usually a game over scenario into a fun, self-contained action flourish as you dispatch the guy that caught you, and possibly three of his friends.

Once they’re down, and their bodies are hidden, things go back to normal; if you’re quick and quiet enough about it, it won’t even affect the Chaos level, Dishonored’s version of Fallout’s Karma.

It makes for a much more interesting game, where actions still have consequences, but not the same consequences every time. Being seen is a greyer affair, which opens the game up rather than shutting it down. Dishonored ebbs and flows, gracefully treading between action and sneaking without ever lopsiding into either. Stat fiends can still load up every time they get made, and action buffs can charge in if they like.