By Adam Smith on August 6th, 2012 at 9:00 am.
It won’t be long before I’m the only member of RPS who hasn’t played Dishonored, which is surely due to some form of dire cosmic plot against me. I’m not going to spend the next few months tugging at Alec’s sleeve and asking, over and over again, “but how good was it?” or calling Jim in the wee small hours of the morning and asking, “will it satisfy my every desire?”. Instead of gathering every last remaining scrap of knowledge that falls from their brain-pans, I’ve decided to impose a media blackout on myself. I’ll be the one who goes in knowing the least and that’ll make the experience all the sweeter. But then I remembered that it’s my job to look at every picture and video of every game. Here are some new screens.
The weirdest hat/mask ever devised lurks below. In fact, I challenge anyone to find any hat, mask or combination thereof that is stranger.
Oh, and do click for bigger versions, including the image in the header.
06/08/2012 at 09:07 Brodo Swaggins says:
My Amnesia instincts tell me to burn that hat with fire, my TF2 instincts tell me to throw some planets around it and call it “art.” I’m so confused…
06/08/2012 at 09:15 Toberoth says:
It is a trifle odd. Unlike your username, which is a trifle awesome.
06/08/2012 at 20:42 shitflap says:
I heartily endorse this statement.
06/08/2012 at 17:29 The Random One says:
Speaking of which, imagine how great the TF2 bonus hats for this one will be if they’re made…
ENTIRE TEAM’S HATS IS BABIES!
06/08/2012 at 09:15 Tom De Roeck says:
Oh dear, that hat is quite disturbing. Did they release the artists to do whatever they want for this game? if so, this game is a must buy for me, if only for art direction.
06/08/2012 at 15:49 Dreforian says:
That’s not a hat, it’s Doctor Monkey-For-A-Head’s distant descendent!
06/08/2012 at 16:09 The Random One says:
Dishonored confirmed to take place in the Girl Genius universe
Edit: Now that I’ve actually looked at the pictures, it looks more like Fallen London, especially the relevant picture. My reference to glorious steampunk hats stands though
06/08/2012 at 09:16 Tridae says:
The aliasing is strong with this one. . . jagged edges everywhere! Surely PR images could be snapped at full resolution with some anti-aliasing?
Game looks great though.
06/08/2012 at 09:39 LionsPhil says:
>Game has beautiful and stunningly different art direction
>Complain about trivial technical niggles
For that matter, I’m looking at all the shallow diagonals in the one with the suspension bridge and I can’t see a single damn jaggy.Ok, there are some visible in the vision cones in #3 if you really look. JPEG’s done a number on them.06/08/2012 at 09:51 Groove says:
I can see the jagged edges, I just don’t care. I’d go with good art style and direction over technical perfection any day.
My litmus test is always ‘Does it look better than Half Life 2?’ If it looks better than Half Life 2 then it looks great and any complaints about it must be pretty insignificant.
06/08/2012 at 14:25 bill says:
Heh. Me too on the half-life 2 thing.
06/08/2012 at 13:47 c-Row says:
Ah yes, you again. I am still waiting for that quotes.
06/08/2012 at 16:09 woodsey says:
If I might challenge the “trivial” accusation, I must admit I find them incredibly distracting when playing. Nevertheless, it is looking bloody gorgeous.
06/08/2012 at 10:02 PoulWrist says:
It’s a console title, so they’re taken from there naturally. Not a BF3 this.
06/08/2012 at 15:39 Shooop says:
The stupidity contained in that post just made the collective IQ of this entire site drop 10 points.
06/08/2012 at 19:03 Droopy The Dog says:
Speak for yourself, I’m still as smart as the day I was born!
Also, with a collective readership of thousands, a collective drop of 10 isn’t all that big. :P
06/08/2012 at 20:16 Shooop says:
But a drop that dramatic from one post means that said post is so insanely idiotic, even fully retarded, that the poster of it should be kept in a padded room and spoon-fed because he’d probably jab out his eyes trying to use utensils.
06/08/2012 at 14:56 Dervish says:
I wouldn’t mind screenshots that show off the very best of what a competent PC will be able to do, but I definitely prefer these to the absurdly supersampled/retouched fakery that so often passes for “screenshots” these days
07/08/2012 at 02:09 Davie says:
That is what the game will look like on my computer. They’re honest screenshots, and I vastly prefer them to the photoshopped nonsense a lot of developers release.
06/08/2012 at 09:19 jezcentral says:
I’m getting the some buzz of anticipation as I got from Bioshock. I hope it pulls it off at least as well as that game did.
06/08/2012 at 09:25 Koshinator says:
There are some contenders for the crown of weirdest hat/mask here… even weirder is that they were actually worn at some point. (btw, the link is fairly nsfw due to the rest of the content on the site.. just a warning)
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2012/05/20/30-unforgettably-bizarre-japanese-helmets/
06/08/2012 at 16:59 ceriphim says:
Holy shit dude how ’bout some NSFW on that link? There’s straight-up porn all over.
Side note – its always interesting when you get a peek into another person’s sexual interests…
06/08/2012 at 09:27 Zuolin says:
Easily the strangest depiction of a baby in a game since Dead Space.
06/08/2012 at 09:33 hypercrisis says:
very abstract humour in your image captions, Mr Smith.
06/08/2012 at 09:34 Lekker Pain says:
Give it to me baby!
06/08/2012 at 09:37 LionsPhil says:
That screenshot of the vision mode that highlights enemies and their cones of sight reminds me of Evil Genius’ title screens, with its stylishly cartooned characters.
06/08/2012 at 09:52 Yosharian says:
Sooooo stoked for this game.
06/08/2012 at 09:55 wodin says:
Looking alot better than the first screenshots released of it I think, I’m abit more excited. However after last years anti climax when all the major game shit I’m not going to get too excited this year.
Notice the typo in my sentence above? I decided not to fix it..
06/08/2012 at 10:16 Inigo says:
It helps if you don’t accidentally leave debug mode on in your promotional screenshots.
06/08/2012 at 13:28 SuperDuperStormTrooper says:
I think that’s to show the guards system to see where you are.
06/08/2012 at 10:21 Goodtwist says:
Well well well, it that ain’t some fine City-17-like art design. Splendid!
06/08/2012 at 10:56 hamburger_cheesedoodle says:
My first thought was “That looks awfully low-polygon.” My second was, “And my word, it’s gorgeous.” Having a strong art direction will trump tech every single time. See also: Unreal Engine 4 demo.
06/08/2012 at 11:24 Luke says:
This does look rather lovely, artifacts aside. Little bit of a Zeno Clash vibe from the weirder shots.
Penny Arcade had a quite nice write-up about the level the hats are in.
Light spoilers.
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/a-dark-game-of-clue-the-making-of-dishonoreds-murder-myster-level
06/08/2012 at 17:12 The Random One says:
That sounds cool, but only if you can think you’re a master assassin who aced that mission only to later learn that you killed the wrong sister and your target realized she should’ve been the victim and high-tailed it out of Steampunksburg. If you kill the wrong sister but can figure out you screwed up by the lack of a DING MISSION COMPLETE message it will make no sense.
06/08/2012 at 11:40 Bhazor says:
Dead baby is best hat.
12/09/2012 at 23:48 scratchjohnson says:
hahaha
06/08/2012 at 12:28 Unaco says:
Very nice. So very, very looking forward to this.
While we’re on it though… I think the Hivemind are needed! Please, find out why Dishonored is not available for pre-order on Steam, in the UK, while it is available for pre-order for most of the rest of the world. All links lead to a ‘Not available in your region’ screen for UK Steam users… even the links to the trailer for pity’s sake, which was on the Steam store front page. Could it be pressure from the other retailers (GAME, Shopto, Amazon, Tesco) as was rumoured in the past? Or is it because the BBFC, ASA, HSE, SFO, OFSTED or ACAS have objected to the shameful spelling of Dishonoured?
Find the truth RPS! The truth!
Note: I’m curious as to why it isn’t on Steam in the UK, but I’m not going to be pre-ordering/purchasing on Steam. Seems like the physical, boxed version will actually have some stuff in it, beyond the game disc, a 10 page manual and an advert for something I don’t want. So I’ll be getting one of them… if I can find a video game store that stocks PC games within 50 miles of myself.
06/08/2012 at 12:52 GepardenK says:
The retail preorders seems to be filled with lots of extra ingame powers that where not meant to be in the game, just markeding stuff. IMO the best version is the pure one from steam. I don’t want to break my game with some immersion breaking starter stuff. I always regret preordering Fallout new vegas, not fun to start with a full inventory even if I can just throw it all away:(
06/08/2012 at 13:49 fyro11 says:
After Dark Messiah, I was really looking forward to Arkane’s next title. My, they’ve really blown up and made a name for themselves since then. I hope this remains equally as dark, if not more.
06/08/2012 at 14:36 GepardenK says:
Dark Messiah was epic! Gameplay was sooo good. The idea behind the story was great but it was saldy told quite badly. The ending was a letdown aswell. Still, one of those few games I replay regulary with a big smile on my face:D
Edit: Although the story could have been told better; this is still the only game where I actually was tempted to do the dark ending for emotional reasons. They really play with your head:)
06/08/2012 at 14:03 Greggh says:
And I thinking: “Looketh! ‘Tis a preview of a game based upon a film based upon a novel by Edgar Allan Poe, who in turn based it on something, of which I know nothing.”
Nay, I say, nay! ‘Tis but a game where you see your hand all times, a game that features some sort of laser-eyed, yellow miniature Gundam investigating a murder scene.
Avast!
06/08/2012 at 14:27 bill says:
Women who aren’t prostitutes!
/phew..
06/08/2012 at 15:35 Skabooga says:
That fish in the second screenshot. That’s all the proof I need to convince me this will be a good game.
06/08/2012 at 15:41 Shooop says:
If nothing else, the award for best art direction is already decided.
06/08/2012 at 16:12 Hodge says:
Beautiful.
06/08/2012 at 17:13 Cryo says:
BABYFACE!
06/08/2012 at 17:24 The Random One says:
WARDOLL?
06/08/2012 at 17:13 Iamdefiler says:
http://youtu.be/YtaLMKa_wrU
06/08/2012 at 17:54 Hoaxfish says:
A strong contender for the Olympic closing event
06/08/2012 at 19:38 ffordesoon says:
Nobody’s seeing the clear Brazil reference in the mask?
In other news, OH MY GOD A GAME THAT REFERENCES BRAZIL FINALLYYYYY
06/08/2012 at 20:54 TheIronSky says:
Considering that this game is being made in Unreal, it looks as though they’re getting the visuals just right. The textures look nice and detailed in the places where they matter, and not as much in the places where they don’t. Good resource management in general, considering the capabilities of Unreal 3. Could use some enhancement in the nVidia settings field, considering that I will be clocking my GPU to the max and running this with 32xAA and AF, irrespective of the power issues I will no doubt face. Bring it on, Arkane. My computer, as an extension of my body, is ready.
06/08/2012 at 21:52 Zombie Jesus says:
Staring eyes much?
07/08/2012 at 01:04 WJonathan says:
Anyone else getting an Eyes Wide Shut vibe?