Mass Effect 3

Bring up the topic of video game endings, and Mass Effect 3 will undoubtedly be mentioned. As the grand finale of a trilogy that honored hundreds of player decisions, Mass Effect 3’s outro felt incredibly lackluster and underwhelming. Heck, many 10-hour games contain more branching conclusions than ME3. But ME3 has a heart of gold that can get overlooked. Some of the most memorable highlights in the entire saga take place within the third game. Mordin has perhaps the most heroic moment of the series, and a hefty amount of story threads get a satisfying resolution. For players who were appalled by the simplistic ‘crayola coloring’ endings, it really is the journey and not the destination that makes Mass Effect 3 so spectacularly special.

As caught by RockPaperShotgun, Colantonio spoke on a recent episode of the Quad Damage Podcast when asked about sequels to the Prey and Dishonored games. While he didn’t express any interest in a new game in the Prey series, Colantonio was keen on working on a hypothetical Dishonored 3.

“I’d love to,” said Colantonio. “I mean, we’re talking totally hypothetically at this point – I could see myself working on Dishonored 3 right now because it’s been so long that, you know, why not?”

He mentioned that quite a few of the developers at Arkane had their own ideas for a new game in the Dishonored franchise, including Deathloop director Dinga Bkaba and Dishonored creator Harvey Smith. However, since these are just ideas for now and haven’t even been pitched as of yet, Colantonio doesn’t believe there is much of a point in talking about a Dishonored 3 at this stage.

“I don’t think it would make sense to talk about it,” Colantonio continued. “Which of those three versions will ever see the day, now we’re talking about science fiction at this point. So many of the people [that worked on the series] are scattered around, and Harvey is not at Arkane any more. I’m not at Arkane, and Dinga is working on Blade.”

The first Dishonored game, back when it came out in 2013 on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, essentially put Arkane on the map after the studio had previously worked on niche titles like Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Dishonored was able to successfully combine an oppressive visual style in the vein of Half-Life 2 with the stealth-based gameplay of the Thief franchise and some of the more fanciful abilities you’d see in titles like System Shock 2.

Its sequel, Dishonored 2, was also a critical success. The game was especially praised for the wide variety of powers that players could get access to, as well as intricate level design that still hasn’t been seen in other games since then.

While Arkane Lyon, the studio that worked on Deathloop, is currently working on Marvel’s Blade, the game is still some time away. Back in December, reports indicated that the studio was internally aiming to launch it in 2027 “at the earliest.”

Arkane Austin, on the other hand, was part of a host of studio closures at Microsoft last year. The studio was joined by Tango Gameworks, Roundhouse Studios, and Alpha Dog Studios. Bikaba has previously called the closure of these studios “absolutely terrible.” He also called out company executives for making developers’ work environments “Darwinist jungles.”

For more details, check out our coverage of the closure of Arkane Austin. In the meantime, also check out our review of Dishonored, Dishonored 2, and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.

In an interview with PCGamer, Eveillé spoke about how expensive the game was to make (seemingly costing more than The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim), and the studio’s reputation of refined video game releases.

“It was a bit strange and weird,” said Eveillé. “I think when Bethesda was looking at the numbers, they thought, ‘OK, Skyrim sold so much. And it cost less than Dishonored 2 to make.’ So they were asking questions. From an executive spending standpoint, it makes sense to ask those questions, ‘Why should we keep going with you?’ But we knew we had a kind of seal-of-quality protection, making what would maybe be considered the most refined games of the whole Bethesda catalogue.”

Eveillé revealed that Arkane’s reputation for developing refined titles “kind of saved the studio.” He also spoke about the departure of founder Raphael Colantionio and how studio director Dinga Bakaba took control. All of these actions contributed to the “future success of the studio.”

While Arkane Lyon hasn’t released any single-player titles since 2021’s Deathloop, its next major is Marvel’s Blade. While few details have been revealed, we know that it will feature a third-person camera – a departure from a studio known for making first-person games.

Since its original announcement, art director Sebastien Mitton has posted a few pieces of concept art for the upcoming game, confirming it will take place in Paris.

Arkane hasn’t yet announced the release date for Marvel’s Blade, but rumours from December 2023 indicate that it’s internally aiming for a 2027 release. If more development time is required, the release window could get pushed back further.

Back in May 2024, when Arkane Austin was shuttered due to the poor sales of Redfall, Arkane Lyon director Dinga Bikaba took to social media to discuss the closure. He also asked executives to not “throw us into gold fever gambits,” among other things while confirming that Arkane Lyon was safe.

For more details on Arkane Lyon’s previous works, check out our reviews of Deathloop and Dishonored 2.

One franchise that’s in with a fair shout of getting more than a handful of votes though is Arkane’s Dishonored. The first was in 2012, it’s sequel and subsequent DLC in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Deathloop – purportedly set in the same universe – released in 2021. Following Arkane’s misstep with last year’s Redfall maybe a return to one of their success stories is just what they need (ignoring the fact Arkane Lyon currently working on Marvel’s Blade). A return to Dishonored is just the ticket; this stealth-orientated action-adventure series won a lot of fans following Dishonored 2’s release despite its component parts lacking distinction when viewed individually.

See, it’s freedom to approach objectives in a variety of ways isn’t unlike Hitman. It’s level design – whilst exceptional, of course – isn’t objectively better than Bioshock or any of FromSoftware’s offerings. Its story is arguably middling, its FPS combat relatively shallow. Yet, these elements coalesce beautifully to create a vibrant whole. Underpinned by fantastic stealth and – potentially the game’s biggest strength – its replayability, then there really hasn’t been anything like Dishonored 2 since.

Discussing deeper it’s replayability, now the point has already been made that the facets comprising Dishonored 2 aren’t all that unique on their own and justifiably its possession of high replay value doesn’t make it stand out above anything that’s been released since. Disco Elysium, for example, provides opportunities to solve its central mystery straight as an arrow or as an absolute train wreck, or some form of concoction blurring the two. NieR: Automata encourages you replay the story up to five times to experience the story from multiple perspectives, with numerous possible endings the result. Dishonored 2, however, does this but with much more.

Principal behind its replayability are its two central characters – royal guard, assassin, and protagonist from the first game, Corvo Attano, and dethroned Empress of the Empire of the Isles, daughter and protegee of Corvo, Emily Kaldwin. Following the undermining of Emily’s rule due to enigmatic The Crown Killer assassinating her political opponents and the resulting coup the player can then choose one or the other to complete the game. Their chosen character then escapes through picturesque seaside city Karnaca whilst the other is turned to stone; defeating conspirators, forging alliances, and rescuing their next of kin from rocky prison make up the bulk of ensuing narrative. Two playable characters equals two possible endings, of course, but it’s not just how the story concludes that encourages replayability. There are many ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes, and the same is true here. How you reach the story’s conclusion can vary wildly depending on the choices, playstyles, and approaches you employ with each character along the way.

High and low chaos playthroughs, calculated predominately on opponents indiscriminately killed alongside completing specific side objectives, influence places that are accessible, NPCs that are encounterable, plus the number of guards, rats, weepers, and bloodflies and their relative strengths and stature. Going further, you may opt for a pacifist run with either character, favouring non-lethal takedowns. Or, maybe a pure stealth run whereby you attempt to avoid enemy detection throughout the entire game. You could choose to eschew supernatural powers or use nothing but. Perhaps an all-guns blazing approach akin to FPS is your choice, even if the game isn’t well suited to this approach. It’s still a viable strategy.

This rampant choice of playthrough styles feeds into the game’s aforementioned freedom to explore different approaches whilst you wade through Dishonored 2’s levels (a facet unremarkable on its own remember). For example, your modes of traversal can differ greatly should you opt not to use supernatural power versus a run where you embrace them totally. Unsurprisingly, both Corvo and Emily have unique supernatural powers too. Corvo, a combatant more adept at silent infiltration than Emily, possesses the Blink ability granting him power to move forward rapidly. Emily, an assassin more accomplished with swords and gunfire, has the Far Reach ability enabling her to pull herself rapidly across a set distance. Whilst both abilities might perform a similar function at first glance it’s the possible upgrades that send them off into different directions. Corvo’s Blink ability can be upgraded to stop time or incapacitate enemies in its duration whilst Emily’s Far Reach upgrades involve pulling objects, corpses, or still living enemies towards her.

Further abilities see Corvo possessing and controlling host humans, or Emily adopting a shadowy, stealthier form. Corvo can summon rats to wipe out multiple enemies whilst Emily’s Domino ability chains humans together to wipe them out simultaneously. These supernatural powers are undeniably cool and together with the litany of stealthy methods of enemy takedown – the sabotaging of electrical appliances or the array of traps available, for instance – means you’re never short of differing approaches to explore.

Speaking of cool, special shoutout must go to Dishonored 2’s A Crack in the Slab mission and it’s Timepiece artefact. This artefact allows you to shift between two timelines within Aramis Stilton’s manor – the ruinous present-day contemporary to the game, and more lavish three years in the past. Now, Titanfall 2 had already experimented with a similar mechanic in its Effect and Cause level, but it wasn’t done with as much finesse as Dishonored 2’s attempt. Flicking up the Timepiece’s lens presents a window into the past. You can see guards patrolling an area as they did three years ago, then swiftly swipe into their timeline, eradicate them, change history, and traverse back to the present day. Taking actions in the past that have consequences in the future is the kind of head spinnery that belongs in a game like Dishonored 2. It’s enthralling, especially the first time.   

Interestingly though, despite its appeal the mission involving the Timepiece is the only one in the game that doesn’t encourage a multitude of approaches. Powers can’t be used, it’s the Timepiece and the Timepiece only. Still, as a mechanic its vastly underutilised in gaming and something which, should we ever see a Dishonored 3, Arkane would do well to refine and reuse.

Technical shortcomings plagued Dishonored 2’s launch on PC, but with a decent enough spec machine it should run absolutely fine in 2024, with ability to hit that maximum 120 fps. With the game occupying the lower end of the price scale, with regular discounts to boot, you’d be missing out were you not to give it a go, assuming you haven’t blasted through it multiple times already. There aren’t a lot of games like it. As already mentioned, its components don’t shine individually, but they combine exceptionally well. The Southern Mediterranean influenced coastal city of Karnaca has such a strong sense of place that it’s a joy to revisit. It’s just a shame the game’s story and associated character development weren’t up to the same standard as its stealth, supernatural powers, and world design, but these are things that Arkane can address in a follow, should one ever materialise.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Insomniac Games had much riding on it after the success of Marvel’s Spider-Man. How would it take advantage of the PS5’s technology? What direction would it go with the introduction of the Symbiote and Venom? While some looked at it as more of an iterative sequel than revolutionary, it’s interesting how much it does so well. The ability to play as either Miles Morales or Peter Parker is great, especially considering each has unique suits and abilities, while the Symbiote adds an extra layer of brutality to the latter.

Then there are all the technical improvements, from the almost non-existent loading times to the always-on ray tracing and increased scale of New York City. With so much to do and collect, the pacing never suffers for it, delivering a memorable story and fights. It also doesn’t hurt that new suits and features continue to be added with post-launch updates.

PORTAL 2

With a main story about 8-9 hours long, Portal 2 is nearly thrice as long as its predecessor, but just like its predecessor, feels like the perfect length. Valve’s ingenious puzzler sequel throws in plenty of new mechanics and design ideas on top of the first game’s foundations, and over the course of its meticulously chiseled runtime, gets absolutely everything out of all of its best ideas.

System Shock Remake (2023)

System Shock is considered to be one of the most important games of its time, as it was one of the earliest pioneers of systemic game design applied in a first-person space. But even apart from it, System Shock is an impressive game with a gripping story and a detailed world with plenty of lore to surround it all. Nightdive was hard at work on a full-fledged remake of the original, and System Shock Remake was finally released earlier this year to great reviews. It does a great job of modernizing this classic with plenty of clever design tricks and changes that make this experience a more digestible one for fans accustomed to modern first-person games. 

The following titles will be available at launch:

• Among Us
• Descenders
• Dishonored 2
• Doom Eternal
• Fable Anniversary
• Fallout 4
• Fallout 76
• Forza Horizon 4
• Gears 5
• Grounded
• Halo 5: Guardians
• Halo Wars 2
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• Human Fall Flat
• Inside
• Ori and The Will of the Wisps
• Psychonauts 2
• State of Decay 2
• The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited

Note that the game library may vary by country. More titles will be announced before the service’s launch in September. New games will be added two to three times yearly, though how many at any given time is unknown. Those currently subscribed to Xbox Live Gold will automatically switch to the new plan with no change in pricing.

Games with Gold officially ends on September 1st. Any Xbox One games redeemed through it are still accessible if you subscribe to Game Pass Core or Game Pass Ultimate. Xbox 360 titles obtained through the same will remain in your library, even without a subscription.  Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Batman: Arkham Knight

How ironic is it that Batman: Arkham Knight looked incredible on PS4 and Xbox One while running better on both consoles than on PC? Probably as ironic as it looking better than Gotham Knights, even though it’s also stuck at 30 FPS on consoles. I digress. Either way, there’s no denying that Arkham Knight is gorgeous with excellent texture quality and character models.

The rain effects and how they realistically interacted with the environment; the lighting and fog quality; the draw distance, and sheer attention to detail – it’s spectacular and ran at a rock-solid frame rate. Regardless of the Batmobile hate, almost everyone can agree that Arkham Knight is a technical marvel. Again, on consoles, but the PC version has improved over time.

Please note that we will only be including single-player games on this list.

With that out of the way, let’s begin.

Hitman 2

IO Interactive has done a fabulous job with its new brand of Hitman games, which features some of the best maps the series has seen to date. Not only are these maps large in size, but also dense with opportunities to murder your targets in some of the most creative ways possible. Beating a level for the first time is just the start in Hitman, and the fun comes from knowing the ins and outs of the level to a point where you can essentially become a ghost within these labyrinthian environments. Completing the many Mission Stories and additional challenges of each level nets you rewards in the form of new costumes and alternate starting locations for future playthroughs, which also makes replaying these levels a much more convenient task. We picked Hitman 2 for this list simply because maps like Florida, Mumbai, and Ark Society are some of the most replayable ones in the entire trilogy.