17 hours played so far but still have not completed the first assassination mission.
And you might wonder, why? I'll tell you why.


[SHORT HALF VERSION]
Turn off HUD for aim, health\mana bar.
Turn off the ability to see where your destination is.
Don't use dark vision ever.
Listen well and use the keyhole often and quick.
Don't not choke maidens that is in your way, be patient and find a way.
Don't kill anyone that isn't your assassination target because your blade deserves better.
Don't choke, shoot sleeping darts on lower ranked guards, as you are better than that.
Never be seen, if you do get seen for a short brief of a second, move away quickly and vanish.
My choice of abilities is blink and possession, so far.

This way, you will find your way around without any assistance, just have to use your brain and read into things.
Also, without any HUD showing where to go, you will explore more and focus more on what is -now- compare to go from A to B.
Sense of journey becomes enhanced, I believe.


[COMPLETE FULL VERSION]
Because I have so much fun with the game.
It has taken me a long time to find my "identity" in the game.
"Identity?" Well yeah, I was playing around to figure out who I would be.
Did I want to murder everyone? What kind of revenge did I want? What kind of abilities would I use?


So let's start at the beginning. With no spoilers.
When I managed to get out of jail, I did it without touching anyone, did not even stranglehold anyone.
But before that was my style, I played multiple times on this first map, learning how to play.

So in the end, I decided there was no reason to be seen or hurt anyone if it was not necessary.

?The Code of Harry?
from Dexter (series) about a serial killer who is killing bad people.


So when I got to the next location after escaping prison.
I took plenty of time to explore the place and talk to people, read books, listen to audio recordings.


The First Assassination Mission
It was here that I first used a lot of time to find out what special forces I would use. Took me awhile to figure it out but in the end I was satisfied.
** Minor Spoiler, Look Away Now **
First thing that happened to me was meeting an old lady, mysterious old lady.
I thought she seemed a bit strange and I kinda felt there was an evil presence around here.

But I have no idea what is good and what is evil in this world, what is right or what is wrong. This is something I plan to learn more about as I play thru the game.

First example, right. Old lady's house.
You have three bandits knocking on the door, so what do you do?

You decide to look through the peep hole in the door, sees three Bandit.
They want something, you do not know what, you listen a bit longer and you'll find out that they will only trouble.
So I go up on the second floor, blink myself behind one of the three bandits outside and takes choke hold on him
while I move backwards so to blink back to the second floor of the old lady's house and drop the body on the
floor while I run with all haste down, unlocks and opens the door for the thugs as I stay hidden in the corner of the second room.

Now there are two thugs left.
I see the first bandit going into the second room where I'm hidden in the corner, he has his back against me as he walks forward.
And as I see the second bandit going through the hallway toward the old lady, I move on quickly at first bandit - takes a choke hold on him.
I move quickly out in the hallway, shots second bandit (and last) with a sleeping dart found on the chair in the second room right before the end of the hallway.

So what did I ask myself here?
Did the bandits deserve to die? That I do not know.
But anyway, now that I took them down the not lethal way, the old lady can get a chance to live another day.

The main point is that it is not easy to find out what is good and evil, what is right and wrong.
So this is just up to you to decide or discover, some will use more time on this than others. Like me.


17 hours played so far but still have not completed the first assassination mission...
This game just feel deep, there are many paths ahead of you.
If you avoid some special powers such as you see through the wall for example, then you will listen more and look through the keyhole more often.
And like that, you will spend more time when you don't want to be seen and don't want to harm people that is not necessary to harm, like a maiden that is in your way.
No need to choke her, really.

Also I have found out there is a lot to read, so you can learn more about the stories of people in this world.
Safes that can be opened up by finding the code somewhere, written down.

It's just so much you can do in this first assassination mission.
And right now, I find myself closer to something and I've used possession on a dog that was locked inside that I first let loose, so I could use the dog to get pass guards and other dogs, that was a real joy first time using. When I felt the possession was going to end, I hide behind some boxes and right away blinked my way high up as a guard was about to pass me.


I give this game 10 out of 10 just because I enjoy spending so much time in this game and it forces me to explore and discover things out on my own insted of following guidelines, paths or maps in the corner of my screen. And I have yet to see any bugs, it's awesome.

My second playthrough is exactly the same. All the HUD elements turned off, Very Hard and trying to sneak and get everything. It's amazing fun and even Thief couldn't manage this in some aspects. Good to know I am not the only one doing this.

I decided to ease myself back in. Have played with everything turned on. I'll turn things off in subsequent playthroughs.

It's telling that the only way to have a decent stealth experience with this game is to turn off all the aids and "next-gen" overpowered crap and LARP your way through it.

uhm.. no

He's a Codexer, just ignore him.

Have got to say, I can't imagine taking 17 hours to complete the first (proper) level. It took me about 4 hours with all the helpers turned on; would probably have taken me another 4 hours, max, without them.

It was very difficult to determine exact spot where I would place the guy that I was going to save from being poisoned.
I choked the bad man when he was showing his painting of himself to the guy he tried to poison because I saw he was about to stab the good man with his sword.
So in this secret room of the bad man, he takes up his sword to kill the good man, so I choked the naughty man while I shoot an anesthetic arrow in the neck of the good man, at the same time.

(Oh and you have to take this bad man all the way up again to put him in a chair and mark his face, so pass the guards you never touched, aye, that can take sometime.
And then all the way down again to get your good guy to this "safe place".)

So yes, finding the "safe place" was pretty hard without objective tips or path guide.

Remember I'm playing Dishonored for the first time, without any hud (interface) and on hard difficulty.
So when I knew I would have to take this person to a "safe place", I had nothing to go on.. It was bloody hard I tell you..

But you learn as you go, and as I've completed the first assassination mission, I have learned a lot.

First assassination mission completed with 0 kills, 0 bodies found and never detected. But I'm not sure how I will evolve thru the game, perhaps I will become more "deadly"!? But to be honest, killing the target for the assassination would just be letting him go off easy, if your dead - your dead, you feel no pain or anything, how is that a punishment for the bad guy?

Impressive. It took me a long time to get used to the controls and mechanics and possibilities. I messed up a lot, so I just ended up killing a lot of people. Subsequent playthroughs will be a lot more intentional.

No sarcasm when I say this is an inspired play-through. Mine has had some crunch since I'm working out logistics for a pseudo NGP guide for people but at Normal with only Blink to use and sleep/choke not being seen or it's a personal fail that's been an adequate challenge for me to start. I enjoy the atmosphere of the game so one PT will definitely be indicator-free. There are two tiny things I hope they'll think to fix, the second less likely or necessary---just something I'd like.

1. An organize function for books, notes and audiographs you've found at the minimum. A closer ideal would be to bundle split up pieces of manuscripts together, like the various strictures from the first target mission. Having just reached the second one, it would be good to separate notes according to mission. Overall, I'd like it to be neater as I would re-read things with pleasure.

2. A personal etching of paintings you take from the frames. It'd be cool to look at them when you like, but thematically you are taking it and fencing it. There's no reason Corvo would care about a copy. But I do *sniffle*

Sorry for random asides there. Again, very cool. Thanks for sharing.

This game is just awesome, very awesome!
I hope they will bring some DLC to keep it alive for months to come, as I see there is a DLC button in the menu!
I'll pay, just give content in the near future, thank you!