Well, obviously you cannot kick somebody with nothing.

Recently I am revisiting Dark Messiah and..damn I wish I could use those nasty kicks in Dishonored, too! Oh at least give me a bashing ability just like the one in Skyrim...
I still don't understand why they used the Unreal Engine. It is so outdated (especially its horrible physics!).
While I do agree - I would have prefered Source over UE3 - I think Arkane did a good job with the visuals. It's actually the first UE3-based game that I like for its graphics. No joke; ME, Bioshock, Frontlines, Spec Ops: TL, Batman AA all had a clunky, plasticy and superficial feel to it, that derived from the Engine itself. Arkane somehow achieved a very deep and yet elegant look.
Just to show how good the game can look, I take the liberty to post some screens by jim2point0 from the steam forums:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8048/8107778991_a486f2813b_h.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8467/8107785989_63d66444c3_h.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8194/8102831779_bc85b623bd_h.jpg
Needs a little tinkering, but even as an AMD user you can get similar results

Biggest flaw of UE3 has always been no native support of AA, if you ask me...
Sorry for the hijack btw.
And yes, I too would have welcomed a "real" 1st person view, as it worked out really nicely in Dark Messiah.