Announced as ‘Game of the Show’ by a jury of international videogame journalists at gamescom this year, Dishonoured may initially appear to be yet another dystopian stealthathon but it’s actually deeply immersive and brilliantly inventive. Players are empowered to find their own ways through the game using a combination of action and supernatural powers to assassinate targets, set against the plague ridden, and industrial town of Dunwall.

Getting hands-on in the game halls of Köln, the interesting blend of opulence and squalor in and around the 17th Century inspired historical architecture is punctured with brassy, Steampunk rivets and bolts. It’s colourful and bold; not the dull, grimy grey world we were expecting. Playing as the masked assassin Corvo – once trusted bodyguard to the Empress, framed for her murder and now driven by revenge – our mission was to knock unconscious and kidnap a Doctor Solokov. Using the Blink ability to jump between areas of cover at super-fast speeds, we infiltrated the Doc’s high-rise residence with its large rooms and plush red carpeted corridors which are typical of Dunwall’s wealthy elite that live in comfort from disease whilst the poor living in the streets below are overrun with plague. The Doc must be an important man as his pad was littered with guards that we either confronted directly with a blade or pistol or led into sneaky traps. Walls of Light (electric barriers/gates) cordoned off the routes ahead so we either removed their whale oil battery to sneak through or hacked the gates to kill our enemies instead. The same, stolen whale oil battery could be refilled and used to power the out-of-order lift or be chucked as an explosive bomb. No wonder the oppressive government of Dunwall are using this technology to create some devastating, sci-fi inspired weapons – more on that later.Back at the Docs and the choices are never-ending. Slumping him over one shoulder, we chose a different route out and ran straight into an alleyway filled with uniformed City Watch officers. Commanding a hoard of flesh-eating rats to gnaw down a couple, we used wind blast to blow people out of our way before possessing one poor chap, using his body to raise the alarm round a corner, luring other officers away from us as we headed down to the murky river with our Doc load. There were probably several more ways to get to the same point, all of which are permitted – linearity is nowhere in this game’s vocabulary. In fact developers Bethesda Softworks and Arkane Studios claim that during one playthrough, you might only witness 60-70% of the game, and it’s a richer experience for it.Thinking we had almost made it, we ran into one of the more brutal government weaponised enemies, stalking the streets and eliminating anyone breaking the enforced curfew – the Tallboy. A deadly sentinel on spindly, metallic, powerful legs, towering above the world for a perfect view, he was instantly and accurately shooting explosive projectiles at us. Slowing down time à la Bernard’s Watch, we decided this fight was perhaps too big for us and we hastily snuck through his legs, melting into the shadows before delivering the unconscious Doc. Phew!

In addition to the heart-pounding missions and cutting edge painted art style, Dishonored features a stellar vocal cast including Susan Sarandon, Carrie Fisher, Lena Headey, John Slattery and Michael Madsen. With the freedom of Skyrim, the beauty of Bioshock, mixed with the strike or stealth choicecs of Deus Ex (apparently it’s possible to play the entire game without shedding blood – at least not directly…), Dishonored is wondrous in its ambition and scale, offering players almost overwhelming choice and options. This is one to get excited about and is our top recommend for October.

Dishonored is due for release on 12th October for X360, PS3 and PC.