Arkane Studios: We like games that aren’t just a shooting gallery with scripted pop-ups

Dishonored developers have spoken out against scripted linear shooters which don’t allow players to play creatively, and have called Dishonored a first-person action game instead of a first-person shooter.

“They are not first-person shooters; they are first-person games with depth. First-person action games are very immersive; they are from your perspective and they mix simulation, stealth and storytelling,” Arkane Studios’ Harvey Smith told GamesIndustry.

“It is all about player freedom. We never want to make a game that is a linear canyon where you start here in this canyon, you can’t go left or right. You see lots of pretty scenery, but you always arrive at the end. We never want to make that game. We want to make a game where you can go behind the building, go on the roof, swim in the river and come in through the sewer drain and come up with a fish.”

He added that, “That’s really our goal with Dishonored; to empower the player so the player can play creatively. It requires more on the part of the player; these games don’t play themselves.”

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