‘We Never Really Felt The Need For Boss Monsters’ In Dishonored, Designer Says

Kotaku - There are no boss battles in Dishonored, no massive, drawn-out fights where the doors suddenly close and you have to take down a really tough enemy to get to the next level. There are some difficult encounters—like the Tallboys, pictured above—but there are no bosses.

It's an interesting design choice, something that might have improved last year's Deus Ex: Human Revolution (which was excellent nonetheless). But it's also something of an anomaly in gaming.

[Xof]

An interesting choice... not the word I use. It the same kind of conservative game design that's been dominating the industry--in both the East and the West--far too much in recent years.

But I suppose I should give Dishonored some credit for breaking the mold with respect to not having making all of the enemies humanoid.

Though I'm certain 95% of them will be, just like every other game made in the last 7 years.

Hell, it occurs to me now that might be a reason for the popularity of the Souls' games: enemy variety.

[deadfrag]

Inded!Variety in the enemys shoud be a prime choise when making a game especially fantasy games.My main reason to not finnishing some games is actually the lack of variety or a poor story.COD games come to mind!

[Knight_Crawler]

"But I suppose I should give Dishonored some credit for breaking the mold" Someone has not played any of the Fall Out games.

[lastdual]

Bosses are fine if they fit the game (in the FPS space, Metroid Prime comes to mind as doing bosses right), but in a stealth-focused game like Dishonored it's clear that they would be out of place, so this is a good call.

Harvey Smith seems to really *get* what makes games like Thief and Deus Ex work. If the final game stays true to the vision that Arkane has communicated, it will be something really special.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

The game looks rushed, but the gameplay is nice.

[isarai]

Good, it just wouldn't fit in this game to be honest, seems like it would turn out horrid like the shitty out of place bossfights in Deus Ex

[urwifeminder]

Boss fights suck in gaming.

[DigitalRaptor]

You must have hated Shadow of the Colossus then.

[urwifeminder]

Never heard of it must be on consoles i dont play.

[DigitalRaptor]

How can you not have heard of Shadow of the Colossus? Shocking. One of PS2's prime games.

[deadfrag]

I has hoping that actually this game will have at least final boss fight since the character has a hand full of powers.I really love BIOSHOCK Boss fights, Big daddys and other enemies fights.But HALF LIFE was also a great game and didnt offer boss fight,but had a narrative than didnt need them,lets see how DISHONORED gets the story out without using boss fights.Tastes are tastes and i actually like a good boss fight if well interacted in the story arc.

[gaminoz]

I'm glad they've gone for immersion over 'boss battles', aim for weaknesses, rinse, repeat.

[reznik_zerosum]

i love boss fights in game like DMC but in fps/tps is always the same,boring.

[Son_Lee]

A lot of games don't need bosses. For me, Uncharted doesn't need bosses. It makes no sense to have boss fights in a primarily stealth-based title.