Played the tutorial level back in 2017 or so, and while it was interesting, it wasn't something that gripped me. Stealth itself felt a bit too shallow, while the level design was extremely linear. And people were calling this "immersive sim" and back then the only immersive sim I've played (or so had I thought) was Bioshock.... which to me was ultimately a sub-par linear shooter than some generational masterpiece I was led to believe.

Turns out, people actually don't call Bioshock immersive sim much (even though it's supposedly a System Shock's spiritual successor?), and Dishonoured's tutorial level is an extremely poor representation of what the rest of the game is. The stealth and things you can do are very accessible for a first-timers of the genre like myself, but the level design is a delightfully intricate toybox of sort, with each elements carefully sprinkled throughout that nothing is TOO out of reach. When you discover a new way to doing an objective, it feels genuinely emergent, even though when you think about it, the developers definitely put the hints there for you to notice (whether it be clues, visual cues or level design that makes you go "I think I can do that").

It's a game made up of the best quests of New Vegas. Or what I always wanted Ubisoft game to be when it has some inexplicable limitations in its systemic gameplay. As it happens, I've always wanted a game like this, without knowing I already had it installed a long time ago.