Welcome to the greatest single player fps.
Don't start screaming at me until you play it, or at least read this review.

Dishonored is a game which is extremely hard to put in a genre. Yes you shoot there, but it isn't a shooter. Yes, you constantly slash people, but it's not a slasher, it's not an RPG, even though it has elements. It's not even stealth action, because even though there is both stealth and action, and even some stealthy action, it is way more than that.

The best way to describe Dishonored would be "A decision making simulator, with a highly developed first person combat and stealth elements".

Now let's break down this description into a couple aspects, just to better understand the inherent excellence of this game.

1. The environment
The first aspect of the game i would like to discuss is it's most fascinating one. Dishonored has a very simple, yet intricate story. It is built on conversations, in-game scenes, and most importantly - environmental storytelling. The latter one being the child of Viktor Antonov, the art director for dishonored, who has previously worked on one of the most recognized games of all time "Half-Life 2". His work is scene in every location you go through, every single item you see on screen is used to tell a story, whether it be a very detailed interior of a flat, which tells a story about a family dying from plague, or a hidden letter exchange between two lovers, found in a secret spot. Everything you see in this game is important and builds upon the story, down to the last detail. And this applies to every location in the game, trust me - if you spent an hour trying to climb to some spot that seemed barely accessible - even there you will find something worth your while.

2.Combat
There have been thousands of articles, videos and other bodies of information discussing the incredible complexity of Dishonored combat. The thing about it is - it is layered, it mainly consists of regular sword fighting, yet you can add so many things to it to change it. You can pick a flying style, where you specialize on getting higher ground and diving down on your opponents. You can choose a dualist style, picking opponents out of their groups and using ducking and blocks to kill them. You can freeze time and put a bomb on one of the enemies, throwing him into another, triggering the bomb and killing them. Or you can forget about hand to hand combat and call a swarm of rats to kill an entire group of enemies. The possibilities are so wide, that it would take me hours to describe every kill i can even imagine.

3.Decisions, decisions...
Dishonored has an extremely complicated system of decision making, where in a wider picture, every single thing you do affects the game and the story. If you chose the non-lethal route, but after knocking out an opponent - you forgot to hide away the body and he became rat food - you are therefore indirectly condemning him to death and spreading the plague, and the game will remember even that action of yours, and it will change your playthrough.

4.Sound design
The game is scored excellently, but the true magic is hidden in those silent moments, when you're crawling through a rat infested sewer, or opposite - hiding up on a tall perch. You hear the sounds of the city, the conversations of npcs (sometimes giving you valuable info, opening new ways to complete a mission). There is even an in-game item allowing you to hear thoughts or deep desires of characters, drawing out backstory and giving character to every single guard or civilian you encounter.

5. Story.
The story of the game is quite simple, yet sets up a very vast in-game lore. As mentioned before, there is a multitude of ways, in which the story is told. But the crux of the lore is surprisingly not held in documents and letters, as it is usually done in games like this. Most of the story and lore you learn from overheard conversations, which makes it very hard to miss.