GameInformer has just released this http://www.gameinformer.com/p/dishonored_world_map.aspx, revealing a lot more about the world of Dishonored. Turns out it's an entirely fictional world, where an industrial revolution on a set of islands is being fuelled by the blubber of leviathan tentacled beasts named Whales. Apparently the game will take place mostly in the capital city of Dunwall, which is only a small part of the islands, which themselves are an absolutely tiny part of the world as a whole (there's also an absolutely massive, mostly unexplored, continent). Definitely a lot of room for sequels, spin-off, adaptations, etc.

It sounds absolutely fascinating to me...

I can honestly say I'm am very much looking forward to this game after that.

So is this an open world sand box type game?

As far as I know its some kind of open world game, so yes.

Not clear yet. It won't be taking place in the whole of that map, though - as far as I can see, it takes place in just one of the cities. The map is to put it in context.

It provides a background and context for the game. This is good thing. But it obviously hasn't had too much effort put into making it; compared to the complexity of some other fictional worlds. Like Tolkein's, Martin's, or even Bethesda's Elder Scrolls.

pretty sure they said it wasn't open-world. i'd be surprised if it was.

it's really nice to know they've put enough thought into the setting to build a world around it.

I might expect it to have Thief/Deus Ex inspired levels with Harvey on board. Not a fully open sandbox world, but definitely large areas with multiple pathways and solutions. The described gameplay would seem to suit that sort of level design.

Not open world. More like a wide corridor. There are levels that have various opportunities and options you can take advantage of, ignore, or alter...but you can't go off and find quest givers and go anywhere and do anything.

Wow thats pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing

Seeing as Thief 4 is basically vaporware now and their studio is doing some major streamlining, I must say I am really excited for this game. Stealth games have been my favorite genre since I played the first Splinter Cell and Thief Metal Age. Heres to Arkane hopefully making a great game!

Nice map. It seems Arkane studio is shaping up a nice setting and background for the game. Hopefully their hard work won't go in vein by bad design choices and anything else that might ruin this wonderful idea of a game! Can't wait to see the good results.