Dishonored dev says industry lacks variety

I don't know about this. I mean, isn't it a normal psychological process to try and better understand something unknown by finding similarities with what we already know well?

Giving such statements are rather curious at this time.  It will be interesting to see if this game does well and we then see a sequel.  Bioshock was a major development for the first game, and it was groundbreaking with its system, interface and world.  Now with this game, they have directly taken the health and mana parts, the artistic design, and even the interface with the weapons and abilities.  The funny thing is that I'm most excited about this game for the  year and have it pre-ordered, so I'm not being overly critical.  I love the demo videos and the numerous ways to complete the same objectives.  Hate saying this as well, but the game also grabs from Hitman (now that I think about it) but has a better look to it and is in first person.  WIth this being said, the developers need to relax, create a great game that can hopefully create a sequel and pull in more money for the company.  The more that the develop tries to state that this game is truly original and that others are not creates more questions to the developers themselves than answers.  Hurry up and allow me to possess a fish already! (watch the stealth demo if you don't know what I'm talking about)

Looks like a must have.

IP, etc., I am interested only if a game is worth my interest and money period.  I could care less about the rest..

I totally agree with him.  And the way every new IP gets habitually marginalized due to any perceived similarities to established series really does get tiresome.  Bioshock and Dishonored clearly have some common themes, but watching Dishonored clips you can tell it does a lot of things very differently. 

@evil_m3nace thats arguable I would say Half life was more innovative, Deus Ex plus more those are just my favorite 

@1337hackz You mean the very company that helped make Bioshock? The most innovative FPS of our time? 

Bioshock and Dishonored APPEAR to share many similarities.  It's not critical, but an example would be something like the right hand uses a weapon and the left hand uses powers.  The games both have steampunk influences.  They are both first person perspective.  They both have rpg elements.  If you were to make a list of similarities between the two games, it would be quite extensive.  But that doesn't mean that Dishonored won't be original and it sure as hell doesn't mean we've already seen what Dishonored has to offer.

No one cares what you say dishonored dev.

"there have been too many sequels, and too many established [intellectual properties] that have been ruling the market."

Said Viktor Antonov, a credited designer to the video game Half-Life (which we should probably reiterate is NOT an established IP with a sequel and did NOT impact the market in any way).

me too..

I agree.

He went on to say: ".....and too many first-person.......f***, never mind. Can we edit that part back out?" Great. Let's roll that back and do another take.

I see the point, bit extreme but i get where he's coming from. The games that are released year on year with minor updates and no inovation/variety really is getting boring now. Look at all the creative minds out there surely we can have something a bit different?

PREACH! this is nothing but the truth

I assumed that there won't be a game called Dishonored 2.

Wow - he is worked up!  You would think that he knows that most creativity comes from what we all experience and do - and therefore as a game creator, influences of other games are sure to play a part in their final product.  That said - Dishonored does have very positive aspects that look similar to Bioshock and others.  He should be happy with the association, and then be extremely happy when the game is out and it can stand on its own as its own unique product.

It's funny what people choose to care about. I get that he thinks there's not enough diversity in gaming or whatever, and maybe he's right. But is comparing his game to another game really enough to make him get out the soapbox and climb right up to start preaching?

When the game comes out and every other reviewer mentions Bioshock, the poor bastard is going to have an aneurysm.

That's a terrible way to word the title.  At least italicize Dishonored.

To me getting in the same company as Bioshock (and be extension) System Shock, and Deus Ex is the highest compliment, they should take that hype and run with it, I know he doesn't want the game to get "labeled", but you could do worse.  Those games stand pretty high in people's opinions, so why fight good company like that, seems kinda silly if you ask me.

I agree completely. I wouldn't worry too much about the comparisons, people just have that weird need to compare stuff to know if they'll like something, or to hate it for no reason. Just your typical fanboy/hater activity.

The way he talks and worries about the matter seems good for Dishonored though :)

Currently a large part of my faith in the modern gaming industry lies exclusively  on the shoulders of Dishonored and Thief 4.  I actually heard this Bioshock comparison from a Gamestop employee just days ago and didn't understand where exactly he was coming from.  Dishonored looks like one of the few breaths of truly fresh air to come along in a long time.  Such spectacular art direction from Antonov certainly won't hurt ;)

Agree 100%, and particularly with the part concerning Bioshock.

This is why I'm loving what I see of Dishonored, it looks like something new (like what "new" meant in the late '90s). People are just grasping at straws drawing parallels between this and Bioshock, and, understandable though it may be, it's just not accurate.

Couldn't agree more with Antonov.

Let's see the 10 best selling games of 2011 (this guy is right):

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)

2. Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3)3. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360, PS3, PC)

4. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)

5. Madden NFL 12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2)

6. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, Wii, NDS, PC)

7. Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)

8. Gears of War 3 (360)

9. Just Dance 2 (Wii)

10. Assassin's Creed: Revelations (360, PS3, PC)

Really, games are lacking varieties. Really?! No they are not, there so many different games out there being made that can apply to anyone's wants compare to back then. Back then your stuck with zelda, top view, magic wizards etc.. and tetris looking games. Now we have so many choices. If you want side scrolling, you have rayman, braid, and much more interesting you can find in the arcade live, indie games, or psn.There are alot of creative games also out there. If you  like adventure with traveling you got skyrim or something. Then we got mass effect with crazy choices that affects all the way to third sequel. "Ohhh only shooting war games are being made" Really, that's only the media.  So much more varieties you can find if you ACTUALLY explore instead of relying to medias to help you find games. What the REAL problem is ya'll CONSUMERS are NEVER CONTENT.

Spec ops:the line, is a fine example that the gaming industry is becoming flat and uninteresting.

But theres always some developers doing interesting things.but you just have to wade through all the garbage to find them.

If you like variety, i recommend ditching your consoles and buying a PC, From Total War, to Half life 2 , to Street fighter and Dead space and sht 3rd person action games like Residient evil 6 are all there. But you get games that break the mold on PC. You get Amnesia, cool little games like SLENDER then you have major sims like ARMA 2 adn interestinf FPS's like STALKER. games that stray away from the AAA boring same ol same ol 3rd person run to cover boredom fests.

If you want variety, get a PC.

The gaming industry is not lacking of variety, it's lacking of creativity. It's just FPS war games are targeted to the fans of  that genre and it's easily over-hyped because it's easy to play. Another problem is that the greedy publisher companies like to milk a game dry to maximize profit which is resulting more clones of the former games.

bioschock + thief + dark messiah + deus ex + saboteur + your mamma = Doshonored. :pStill im waiting for this one like i havent for anyone in a looong time.

The problem I have is that there is a good amount of variety in this gen and large companies are coming up with new ideal and level design. It is just lazy to say otherwise in hope people will think your game is one of them.

The only similarities between Dishonored and Bioshock I see is the art style and graphics. I guess that's because of the lack of variety in the game industry. There should be more games that look like Bioshock.