You are Corvo, the Empress' Bodyguard, who's falsely imprisoned for her murder by the corrupt Lord Regent.
Corvo is not your everyday bodyguard; hes got special powers that allow him to pause time, spawn allied beasts, and can possess animals.'He's not only a skilled combatant accomplished in the art of not being seen, but Corvo has a suite of supernatural powers that combine with his natural talents and unusual gadgets to make him one of the most lethal men in the known world,' GameInformer explains.
"The trick is that a single power doesn't just do damage or heal you. You can combine them organically to create interesting effects," GI adds.
This creates a wide range of choices for gameplay. GI offers examples: "Stop time and knock a bunch of stuff off a table in one direction then book it in another, so the guards search for you in the wrong place. Summon a swarm of rats to attack one guard, but possess one of the rats and escape in the chaos."
Dishonored features a 'Chaos' system that determines how violent you are and how much damage you cause. These actions change the world around you as a result.
'Unlike a light/dark side meter, though, it's a behind-the-scenes element that affects story decisions without punishing the player or pushing them to play one way or another,' says GI.