The Assassin That Need Not Assassinate
Typically, games involving player choice are for the most part, just like every other non-choice involved game. You explore a world, kill people, upgrade your avatar, meet new characters, and when the time comes, make an important decision. Whether this be the bombing of Megaton in Fallout 3, the sparing of the council in Mass Effect, or the entirety of The Walking Dead, these decisions are predetermined to take place and have a clear consequence/benefit balance. This is not how decisions have to be. Imagine my description of choice based games without the most crucial aspect of 90% of games nowadays: killing people.
Dishonored is one of the most unique games on the market for this very reason. The entirety of the game can be played through and through without the taking of a single life. The average mission in the game will set you loose in a wonderfully designed level showcasing a single portion of the corrupt, plagued city, Dunwall having to eliminate a key political player by any means necessary. Any means necessary. This means if you are after a religious leader who has wronged the people, you can slaughter his guards, sneak into his personal quarters and skewer him as he sleeps.
Alternatively, you can silently strangle each guard, knocking them out - and upon reaching this man's quarters, steal his journal instead of his life. Exposing his journal of corruption will relieve him of his duties and thus he is taken out of the picture. Dishonored also consistently manages to keep it original in their means of peaceful elimination, and the player is rewarded with a better ending, and a better city throughout the game for their effort and good-natured, non violent game-playing This revolutionary new way to play has surely proved its excellence.
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