Arkane Studios did it again. A nearly flawless game.
This game follows The Dark Messiah in its footsteps. The melee fighting is nailed once again (unlike in Skyrim). Your melee blows feel real, you can almost feel the weight of your blows and the damage to the enemies is realistic. You don't have to hit someone over the head with a mace ten times for them to die (ahem...Skyrim...ahem...). Overall, we get tight controls, responsive and properly ported mouse, the ability to peek left or right, the ability to climb obstacles. The movement of the character has been nailed perfectly. You move fast when moving forward and you move slow when moving sideways. I should say that it wouldn't hurt for this game to have the kicking ability just like in the Dark Messiah. There are certain instances where you can push the unaware enemies from ledges.
As far as the graphics go. Well, it's nice see a slightly cartoony-Rage-like rendition of the Unreal Engine 3.0, but seriously, why isn't this engine on life support yet? The textures are static, the trees do not move, the faces look like lifeless chunks of plastic. The water looks horrible but swimming under water looks and feels pretty realistic. The DX9 lighting is okaish. The artistic style however almost makes up for the old engine. I wish there were more graphic options to beef up the visuals. However, you can't see your legs and you cast no shadow. It's ironic that in some instances The Source Engine rendition in The Dark Messiah looks better than in this game (that's a 6 year difference).
The gameplay is where the game shines (especially the melee). The melee fights are as satisfying as ever although they don't last as long as in the Dark Messiah. You get to wield a melee weapon and a range weapon. There are plenty of upgrades that you get at your home base, as long as you have the coins and the proper blueprints. The stealth has been pulled off pretty well, which is further expanded with the ability to hid bodies. Although there's no indication if you are hidden or not so you have to rely on your instincts. You have a choice of knocking out or slaying your unaware foes but if things go sour you can easily dispatch them with your weapons too. That happens to be one of the few gripes I have with the game, even though some enemies get tougher later in the game. You also get to teleport which I think makes the game easier in oh so many ways. You also get to collect magic runes and put them towards your character development, (higher jump, more health, the ability to see in the dark, etc.)
I won't spoil the story much. You play as a mute imperial bodyguard/turned assassin, Corvo, bent on restoring the imperial throne and avenging the conspirators in a dystopian alternate reality world. I don't know why FPS developers are having such a difficulty with adding voice to the main character, it kills the immersion. Anyways, you get to put the pieces together, discover what the world has to offer and seek for clues for how the rat plague started. It's also interesting to meet various characters. Each one of them offers something a different view on reality and the nature of society. You get to do secondary quests and backtrack throughout the world. Overall, the pacing of the game feels real.
There are moments when you don't have to fight enemies for a long time if you want the game to play life Thief. You also don't get to fight hordes of enemies although you are almost always in danger of being discovered. And even WHEN you are discovered you can quickly dispatch the enemies. I feel there should have been more danger and repercussions for being discovered. Although, if you play on hardest difficulty, it will only take a guard to slice you 3 times for you to die (maybe 5 with the health upgrade). You can also fight every enemy you see and clear the areas that way although you may run out of ammo quickly.
Overall, this is a great game with many twists and epic moments although there is some slight imbalance as far as your super-powers go, otherwise, everything else has been nailed pretty well. Don't forget, this is a Single-Player only game, which is saying a lot these days.
A LOT of love and effort went into this game.