I played Dishonored for many, many hours on a non-Steam copy of the game. I completed it multiple times and I loved it so much that I bought the game again on here simply to do it all again. I've done everything the game has to offer numerous times, including no kill / no detection runs and full exploration of the game's rich, sprawling (though self-contained) environments.

After all of those hours and all of these years, Dishonored is indisputably my favorite game of all time. It was the first game I ever tracked pre-release and bought on release day. It introduced me to intelligent, player-focused game design, and it took the systems that I loved from the original Deus Ex and transposed them into a package that was modern, accessible, and much more fluid than any other game I had ever played. In short, it did everything I could ask for and it did all of it well.

Dishonored is a first-person action / adventure game with light RPG elements (a skill tree of supernatural powers that one can unlock and level up via collection of an in-game resource). It focuses heavily on three things -

1. Freedom of Direction
2. Player Mobility
3. Frenetic melee combat augmented by powerful abilities

These three compose the core systems of the game. The short of them is this—the player in Dishonored has complete freedom to tackle the challenges presented to him in any way he sees fit. You are capable of completing the entire game without killing a single character, be it random grunts on the street or primary, story-relevant targets. Yet you're also capable of eviscerating everyone you encounter, leaving an unchecked swath of destruction and blood in your wake. You're able to sweep through the entire game without being seen, or, as before, able to make yourself known in stunning and spectacular fashions with the help of a huge arsenal of Batman-esque gadgets and mystical superpowers.

Player mobility is central to this feeling of freedom. In Dishonored, the player has supreme control over his character—you can mantle, vault, slide, leap high into the air, and use your aforementioned mystical abilities to blink instantly to locations. This mobility is intimately married to the game's environments, creating a stunning package that is both electrifying and smooth. Every mission provides a patch of city, often composed of several different distinct locations and buildings, each of which you can traverse in the way you see fit. Dishonored provided me verticality—something no other game really had before. I climbed on top of a dizzying number of buildings, using the height to plan calculated strikes against enemies or to plot stealthy courses through a zone. Nearly every building has secrets, ranging from items, encounters, hidden paths, and side quests that can provide you with powerful information or assistance later in the zone.

Combat is amazingly well-animated and feels terse and weighted in every moment. Swords swing heavily, limbs are severed forcefully, and blood erupts readily from slain foes. The combat itself is a display of digital artistry; every animation feels hefty and realized.

While Dishonored's systems comprise the bulk of its appeal, its narrative qualities are not to be overlooked. Dishonored tells a dark, gritty story that makes up for what it lacks in originality with complex character relationships, ulterior motives, and well-woven environmental integration. It's one that sticks with you, and it serves as good justification to move from point A to point B.

I tell every single person I meet to play this game, as it's a well-polished exemplar of the best parts of the gaming universe. I fully believe that there is no better way to spend $10 (less when on sale) than this game. I highly recommend playing with all HUD elements disabled except for your quest markers, as it turns the game into an immersive, cinematic masterpiece that I don't expect to be topped for many, many years.