Dishonored co-creators Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith answered two big questions posed by the gaming community on the Bethesda Blog.
When asked whether Dishonored would feature a "New Game Plus" mode like numerous action titles, notably those from Japan, the duo provided an indirect answer that can more or less be summed up as a negative.
"We encourage multiple playthroughs with Dishonored," the response began. "As you can't get all the powers and upgrades in one playthrough, and there are different endings based on how you play: surgical assassin or sneaker vs. brutal killer."
In other words, there is no need for a "New Game Plus" mode, because the game—like Deus Ex and Thief—are designed to provide a somewhat nonlinear experience based on the choices you make throughout the playthrough.
The duo also answered a question regarding the aggressiveness of the AI and whether alerted guards would have the ability to inform other guards to your presence.
"The AI has several states of 'alertness', so it goes from totally unsuspecting, to suspecting, to aware, to search, then it cools down to search patrol in high alert but it never cools down to the initial state.
"Also, AI communicate their level of alertness to allies within range and therefore they let each other know about the presence of the player when he’s been spotted."
It looks like stealth is going to be a lot more believable, or at least more challenging than Skyrim's forgetful foes who forget that you're there the second you go invisible. It must've been the wind, says the bandit with the arrow sticking out of his neck.
