9 Dishonored / PS3
I think I’ve mentioned it, but I’m not an online gamer. I hate multi-player, because I suck at it. As you can all tell, I grew up playing either one-on-one, or against a computer… not against a thousand real people who have way more time to game than me, where I spend more time re-spawning than actually playing a game. So, I look for a game with a unique, innovative, creative and compelling story. And holy mother-of-god is this one got the creative aspect nailed – out of the park.
It’s a steam-punk style, 1st person adventure where you are an assassin sent to accomplish various missions, but you don’t have to actually kill anyone if you don't want to. Every choice you make and action you take has repercussions – either instantaneous, or later in the game. You can use stealth and/or combat. I of course, chose combat most of the time. Really should go back and try to do it stealth mode – but fuck it was hard in the situations where I did.
Set in a fictional, plage-ridden city of Dunwal (inspired by 18th century London/Edinburgh), you start as a royal bodyguard, framed for the assassination of your Empress, and spend the rest of the game seeking revenge. You gradually gain magical abilities, most notably “Blink” and “Dark Vision” (short distance teleportation and a sense to see enemies/danger through walls). I was engrossed with the complexity of how and when to use your powers, implications and consequences, balancing stealth vs combat, main vs side quests… all intricately and delicately woven together into a brilliantly captivating storyline. I will say this… the final boss battle was anti-climactic. I don’t know if I got very lucky, or happened to used an absolutely perfect combination of weaponry and magic, but it was over within a few seconds.
No matter, fantastic game, and I’m very much looking forward to the sequel later this year.