5. First Person (Non) Shooter
Arkane have made this game a first person adventure, so in other words you are looking through the eye sockets of the assassins mask the same way Corvo Attano does, which adds a breath of fresh air to the stagnant First Person camera angle. Yes there have been other franchises which have used the first person camera angle in games that ultimately didnt need it, such as Mirrors Edge. However even those that claim to be different from a FPS - Borderlands for example which claims to be a FPRPS (First Person Role-play Shooter) - are ultimately still a shooter because that remains the main objective of the game, point and shoot. Dishonored, whilst having the shooter elements with the crossbow, ultimately encourages you to try and take a stealth approach, with the crossbow being either a last resort or a means of avoiding detection. With the emphasis more on exploring and sneaking, this game could quite have easily been Third Person but instead chose differently and with good reason, one of which I will talk about in one of my next points. Aside from the fact that making another assassination game which is third person could potentially cause Dishonored a lot of headaches, First Person has become, mistakenly, associated with the gun and run shooter when really it is supposed to be used to immerse yourself more in the game; when you step into the game you become that character. Dishonored gives you that experience, added to the morality of you choosing how you conduct yourself and seeing the consequences of how you act - Bethesda want you to feel more responsible and invoke an emotional response from you, whether it be sadness or joy or something else. With the character visible on screen you have someone to point the finger at on a subconscious level, but when everyone is looking at you through the TV you feel more involved than you ever would in a Third Person game.