Borrows from classic games of the genre, but falls short of being a classic itself, for not giving anything new.
rnrnHere we come to the worst part of the game (still a great game, mind you). The game is obviously "paying homage" to classic games like Thief, Half-Life 2 and the Arkham Batman games. The familiarity is so strong you sometimes think you're playing a different game altogether. All the rip-offing is made very well, and I'd say this is a game that borrows the best from the best, and combines them seamlessly. Seems that the only original thing is the different options you are given on how to act. But that's not really anything original, even though the makers of this game seem to think so. Even before the half point in the game, I was sick of every character commenting about my deeds, and how my actions could have been different and how I will affect the future of the game. There's nothing wrong with having different outcomes, it's all good, but being constantly reminded by the game that "your actions have consequences and they will alter the ending accordingly", that just gets annoying. I knew that when I picked up the game, it was all over the box, the reviews and the previews. I'd rather seen this done subtly, so you'd be far more interested in the results of your actions, instead of everyone just telling you that "you did that and that made me feel this way". It's nice to have this feature of the game, but it's done rather poorly. I think the game designers thought this was the only way to make the game stand out from the classics that inspired it.
rnrnOther than that, the game is fine. Combat is challenging (though I mostly avoided it on my first playthrough), sneaking is fun, the powers are alright, the bonecharms add a little customization, the story is cliche (but cliches are cliches cuz they work) and the characters are nice enough. I love the world and the setting the game takes place in, but I would have hoped they'd fleshen it out more. When I first learned of the world the game takes place in, I was fascinated by the steampunk mystic fantasy setting, but my awe somehow disappeared during gameplay, the setting kind of got lost, which is a shame.rnrnAll in all, the game was very good, but sadly not a classic, for it does nothing new.