Monthly Archives: October 2012

Dishonored Pro-tips

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Dishonored has been an amazing project to work on. Raphael and I have a huge appreciation for all my teammates, the people at Bethesda, and all the players who have poured their passion into our work. Here are some quick points that we believe will enhance the experience of playing the game.

* You can change difficulty whenever you want. If the game is too hard (or too easy), switch difficulty levels. Difficulty setting changes enemy damage, enemy visual perceptiveness, and player-character potion effectiveness.

* You can turn off almost every part of the HUD UI, including goal markers. If you’re a minimalist, experiment with that.

* Look up! Go vertical when you can, along ledges, rooftops, pipes, etc. You can often sneak past an encounter that way or find an alternate entry or path.

* Don’t forget to lean! If your body is behind something like a wall, you can lean out to peak ahead. We abstract that so that your body stays hidden.

* Our stealth model is mostly based on enemy view cones and occlusion. Darkness matters at a significant distance, making you more hidden. Up close, the enemies facing and field of vision matters most. (Stay behind them or behind something that blocks their view.)

* If you’re playing on the Xbox 360, install the game to the hard drive!

* For PC, you can map your powers, weapons and gadgets to a series of # hotkeys.

* On console, don’t forget that you can map D-pad hotkeys for 4 weapons, powers or gadgets.

* Try playing the game with stealth. Sneaking, playing nonlethally, or even ghosting the missions adds even more tension and drama to situations.

* Eavesdrop on unaware enemies to absorb more background information related to the world and the events unfolding around you. Sometimes eavesdropping updates your objectives. (Similarly, listen to street speaker announcements and read posted signs.)

* If you use combat, don’t forget to block and counter-attack while an enemy is off-balance.

* Often characters have followup lines if you hang out and listen to them (or click on them further). You’ll absorb more about the world this way.

* Notes and books also add a lot of background info on the world and events.

* Set your brightness so the blacks are really black. The game looks dramatically better.

* Don’t forget to assign your bone charms. Review them periodically.

* If you like the experience, consider replaying with different powers and a different approach. During a second play-through you will know more about the world and discover new areas.

The team at Arkane is really thrilled about Dishonored and we hope that players enjoy it. Raph and I – along with everyone else who worked on the game – appreciate all the recent attention and we’re looking forward to hearing stories and seeing YouTube videos created by everyone ranging from methodical explorers and stealth players to crazy speed-runners using their supernatural powers to blaze through second or third play-throughs. Take care and have fun.