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Dishonored Dev: Fiction In Games Has Suffered This Generation

Dishonored is one of our most anticipated titles of the year and in fact, of the generation. Here's part of the reason why:

Everyone knows that sequels and established franchises have often ruled the sales charts this generation, as only a few select new IPs have managed to be truly successful on both the critical and financial fronts. Arkane Studios boss Victor Antonov doesn't like the repetition and the saturation and in speaking to Eurogamer, he said the last five years have been awfully mediocre from a fiction standpoint. Said Antonov:

"There have been too many sequels, and too many established IPs that have been ruling the market. And a lot of them are war games. And they're great projects and great entertainment, but there's a lack of variety today. So, when you step out of this established genre, people cannot grasp it, or the press tries to find a match.

There's a place for thousands of different sub-genres and genres. Imagine the times when you were in the '40s and there were Westerns in Hollywood cinema: there were so many of them that none will be compared with another one, because there was a genre."

Antonov, who created the memorable City 17 in Half-Life 2, said his team is producing a "historical piece, a retro-futuristic piece" in Dishonored. Unsurprisingly, he cites Bioshock as an inspiration; it's obvious in looking at the footage that Irrational's award-winning series was a spark for the Dishonored developers.

With every passing week, we get more and more excited for this one...

Related Game(s): Dishonored

Tags: dishonored, arkane studios, game sequels, gaming industry

7/19/2012 10:20:45 AM Ben Dutka

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Comments (11 posts)

Ole_Gunner
Thursday, July 19, 2012 @ 10:40:27 AM
Reply

This guy is partially right. He must be referring mainly to FPS's but there have been some wonderfully innovative titles this gen-especially in the digital space like Journey and Limbo.

It's nice to see a new AAA IP like Dishonoured coming in so late though I'll be skipping on this one. I just hate the steam punk genre..

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WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, July 19, 2012 @ 10:45:00 AM

Digital games are kind of stuck where they are though, they don't have huge budgets and use the technological advancements today's consoles have.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, July 19, 2012 @ 10:47:30 AM
Reply

He's right about that, with the power in the PS3 and to a lesser extent the 360 I would have thought there would be a lot more experimentation within genres but instead the need to sell millions to break even has caused gaming to crowd into a few tiny areas like war and, well war.

But the success of something like Bioshock or even Red Dead (I mean who was really begging for a western?) proves we reward good games from all genres.

Dishonored is going to be a nice fresh treat, can't wait.

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Ole_Gunner
Thursday, July 19, 2012 @ 10:51:32 AM
Reply

I agree World! We should have seen more ambitious/innovative console titles a la Heavy Rain, Bioshock, Alan Wake, Last Guardian (please dear God release this gen) etc.

But I guess the cost pressures of the games industry has pushed devs to rely on safe bet old dog tricks i.e. sequel after sequel or rinse-repeat game mechanics

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bebestorm
Thursday, July 19, 2012 @ 12:03:51 PM
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So in other words too much reality and not enough fantasy.

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xenris
Thursday, July 19, 2012 @ 12:39:15 PM
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I like this man too. I really hope new unique games survive the coming years. It's a shame the same dusty brown shooters sell bajillions while unique games get overlooked because of not enough pew pew pow kaboom. Not that I don't like that but they could at least pew pew in a more unique setting.

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Axe99
Thursday, July 19, 2012 @ 5:24:57 PM
Reply

I don't think this is fair - the quality of the writing and stories in games this gen has easily surpassed those previous, in most genres. Sure, there's only been a couple of Steampunk FPS games, but how many were there last gen? The stories in the ME series, Dragon Age, Batman games, Medal of Honor (sure, a lot of people with no understanding of the military got it, but it was actually put together really well for a game that was trying to get a bit closer to an actual military vibe, rather than the Hollywood approach most games have always taken - yes, there was still plenty of room for improvement, but it was a step forward). I haven't played it, but I hear the Witcher 2 is excellent as well. And then there's Heavy Rain, Uncharted and Alan Wake. Or Metro 2033. Hell, I actually really enjoyed the story in CoD 4, and some of the other CoDs weren't half bad either (W@W was also well done). I can't think of another generation where the stories available come within kicking distance of this one.

I think, as always, people are confusing a lack of variety in 'big selling games' with a lack of variety for what's available in gaming. I reckon this bloke's just got fixated on which games are selling big, and lost sight of the bigger picture. Or only plays Ninty games, which don't really focus on the whole story thing (note: I'm not saying this is a bad thing - just what it is).

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Kiryu
Thursday, July 19, 2012 @ 9:51:54 PM
Reply

He's Right Fiction has suffered this generation because we wanted realistic games.

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___________
Friday, July 20, 2012 @ 7:05:52 AM
Reply

sad but true.
one thing that really worries me about next gen.
new consoles came out this gen and developers went on a graphics and big explosions frenzy!
only now are we finally starting to catch up and add a bit more than just big explosions into our games!
this is not hollywood, we dont need to turn into another michael bay industry!
and that is exactly what worries me about bringing in new consoles next gen.
this gen they came in and everything went out the window, the only thing developers cared about was big fancy explosions!
so whats stopping the same happening next gen?
i hope it wont happen obviously, i really hope games like heavy rain and the last of us show the industry that we want, no, need more of our games!
and hopefully next gen its the michael bay games which are the niche rare titles, and not the intelligent story driven experiences like heavy rain.
id be nice, im not holding my breath, in fact if that actually happens ill eat my hat!
but id be nice.............

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Axe99
Friday, July 20, 2012 @ 6:10:58 PM

What about Resistance - I thought that had a great and well presented story - and a launch game on PS3 ;). Bioshock was early in the gen as well, and has one of the best stories in gaming ever ;).

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___________
Saturday, July 21, 2012 @ 9:32:51 AM

bioshocks exception to the rule.
as for resistance the story in that was never too crash hot to begin with.

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