Dishonored put Arkane Studios on the map again. The combination of first-person stealth/action alongside a very distinct artstyle and worldbuilding made it a standout title. But after Dishonored 2 in 2016 and the standalone game Dishonored Death Of The Outsider last year, the immersive sim series is taking a break.
“I can’t say definitively what might happen down the road, anything could happen, but [Dishonored] is resting for now,” said Ricardo Bare, lead designer at Arkane speaking to VG24/7. “As far as pure immersive sims go, I don’t know if we’re going to continue to make like carbon copy – this qualifies as an immersive sim and it’s the only thing we’re ever going to make.”
Arkane is the few developers that continues to champion the ‘immersive sim’ genre name these past years. Immersive sims had a small resurgence but has apparently died down. The other big immersive sim series, Deus Ex, is now on hiatus as well.
Bare’s answer also indicated that Arkane in the future would not be strictly sticking to the immersive sim banner. He outlined a few core tenants of whatever their new game will be.
“The things that are important to us as a studio are coherent, deep world building and environmental storytelling – we’re always going to craft spaces that you feel like you’re visiting, whether it’s Dunwall or Talos 1. It’s just as important a character as the player or the people you meet,” he said.
“Then it’s improvisational gameplay – giving players a bunch of cool abilities and tools, then saying, ‘You figure it out, you be creative, you own the experience’. And, typically, we stick to first-person, though that’s not a hard rule and we might try other things from time to time.”
In the meantime, Arkane has been adding new content to its other immersive sim game Prey (2017). The Mooncrash DLC is out now and a another DLC, Typhon Hunters, will be out soon.
Via VG 24/7