Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks announces "Dishonored" for 2012

Since Bethesda began dabbling in the publishing side of the gaming industry, they have catapulted to one of the most exciting publishing giants to watch as a consumer. While the company itself has been around for decades, the company's position as a leading publisher didn't really take shape until fairly recently. Since 2009, Bethesda has added games like WET, Hunted: The Demon's Forge, and Brink to their publishing portfolio. With a strong emphasis now on publishing, Bethesda's parent company began buying up promising studios left and right, a decision that is finally beginning to bare fruit.

While critics tore into externally developed games like WET and Hunted for being less than stellar, big budget titles from the recently acquired Id software and Shinji Mikami's new studio, Tango Gameworks, show a lot of promise. Next up for the publisher is a big budget "first person action" game from Arkane Studios, a studio that the publisher acquired in 2010. While details are slim right now, you can expect the details to break with the newest issue of Game Informer magazine which will hit news stands soon.

While the details have yet to break through the flood gates, the game has been described as a "first-person action" title for the XBox 360 and PS3. My first reaction to the announcement is to wonder what the "first-person-action" description implies about the nature of this game. Will it be a straight forward FPS? Will it finally evolve the genre in an interesting way?  The first art related to the game stirs some thoughts in my head by evoking memories of both Half Life 2 and Singularity, two games that I hold near and dear to my heart. Of course, this is all speculation until we get some details but according to the description given over at GameInformer.com, 'Dishonored' is an ambitious title that I will certainly keep my eye on.

"We've seen the game running, and now we share Colantonio and Smith's vision too. Dishonored is the antithesis of a edge-of-your-seat roller-coaster ride. It's a game about assassination where you don't have to kill anyone. It's a game about infiltration where you can set up traps and slaughter the entire garrison of an aristocrat's mansion rather than sneak in. It's a game about brutal violence where you can slip in and out of a fortified barracks with nobody ever knowing you were there. It's a game about morality and player choice where the world you create is based on your actions, not navigating conversation trees." - Game Infomer

Sounds cool right? With names like Viktor Antonov, the designer behind Half Life 2's City 17 and Harvey Smith, the creative director of the original Deus Ex, 'Dishonored' certainly has a lot going for it. We will make details available as they are released and will post a trailer as Bethesda makes one available. In the meantime, Game Informer subscribers should keep their eyes planted on their mailboxes, I know I will.

Credit:
[Dishonored]
[Game Informer]