ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analysis of the design choices made to support dark play in dishonored. The dark play is considered to be a positive aspect of dishonored because it allows the player to explore ethical questions and see the consequences of their actions. The chapter highlights certain techniques used by the game in order to make the player focus on ethical reflection surrounding the choices of their actions. It further shows how the game corresponds with ideas in ethical philosophy and how the game utilizes other design approaches discussed in game studies and game design literature, and also argues the techniques identified may be used for designing games that deliberately focus on subversive play. It is important to stress the players who act on the game as an ethical game are accepting certain kind of mind-set. This implies a player may choose to ignore the mind-set and fictional consequences and play the game with the computational procedures in mind.
