Arkane: Dishonored play testers "didn't know what to do," needed more hints

Dishonored

Dishonored empowers would-be assassins with multiple angles of attack, but apparently some choices present themselves a bit more strongly than others: a Games On Net interview reveals developer Arkane plugged in a few more hints after players lost direction.

"People would just walk around during playtesting of the 'Lady Boyle' mission," Dishonored executive producer Julien Roby said. "They didn't know what to do. They didn't even go upstairs because a guard told them they couldn't. They'd say, 'Okay, I can't go upstairs.' They wouldn't do anything."

Roby explained that a few clues now nudge Corvo along his noble mission of sinking his dagger into his target, saying, "We try not to lead the player by the nose, but at some point we found that if we don't give a little information, people just get lost and don't know what to do. It's just overwhelming. So we tried to add this element that gave just a hint to help a little. But we try to do it as little as possible."

For more info on Dishonored's impressive openness, read up on our preview .

Omri Petitte

Omri Petitte is a former PC Gamer associate editor and long-time freelance writer covering news and reviews. If you spot his name, it probably means you're reading about some kind of first-person shooter. Why yes, he would like to talk to you about Battlefield. Do you have a few days?