'Death has more weight' in Dishonored, dev says

Killing is a common task in video games, but Arkane Studios hopes that by grounding players in the fictional world of Dishonored, it can at least make it a more considered one. Arkane Studios creative director Raf Colantonio spoke to VG247 about how the first-person role-playing game came to be and what his team hopes players get out of it.

"Look at the games that don't give you a choice, the ones that ask you to just kill everyone in a variety of ways," Colantonio said. "But when you look at the games that give you choice, the fact that there is a possibility not to kill makes killing that little bit more impactful in this case, because you have made the choice to kill. Death has more weight."

The game is being published by Bethesda. Colantonio said the company approached Arkane and requested it make another title in the vein of its previous releases, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and Arx Fatalis. "From there they let us do whatever we wanted and we said, 's*** yeah, that's awesome, why haven't we hooked up before?'" he said.

Colantonio said he wants Arkane to continue working within its specialty of first-person RPGs that emphasize intricate worlds and deliberate action over the faster pace of most first-person shooters.

Set for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on October 9, Dishonored puts players in the boots of Corvo, an assassin tasked with protecting the empress of stylized steampunk city Dunwall. However, the empress is soon murdered, with Corvo framed for the killing, and sinister forces grant the accused assassin supernatural abilities to pursue his revenge.

For more on Dishonored, check out GameSpot's latest preview.