Dishonored: All I Needed To Hear

Finally got around to reading the latest issue of GameInformer. In their coverage of the upcoming game "Dishonored" (from one of the designers responsible for Half Life's City 17, cllllllllearly), this quote was included in a side-bar, and was all that I needed to hear to know that I will love this game:

“One of our philosophical points that Raf and I strongly believe is that modern game developers go way too far out of their way to protect the player from anything being broken or low drama. They try really hard to make sure everything is insulated and protected and you’re only looking in this direction while this scripted thing happens and you therefore get the maximum rollercoaster ride. Games can either be described as rollercoasters – which is all crafted and very highdrama – or that time when you were 16 and you and your friend broke into an abandoned house and you had the most intense moments waiting for the door to open, and then there were moments where, ‘Ah, I expected something grand to happen but nothing happened; it was just an empty room.’ But it was all your experience, right? So they can either be this crafted roller-coaster drama or they can be this ‘explore an abandoned house with your friends [experience].’ The latter is what we’re going for.”

--Harvey Smith, co-creative director

Author: Brock Wilbur