Dishonored has no multiplayer. At all. That's right: it's both an original IP and a single-player-only experience. It's the unicorn of the gaming industry.

In a world where multiplayer is viewed as the only way to make serious money off video games (and prevent people from trading them into GameStop), Dishonored seems a strange exception. So when talking to Dishonored director Harvey Smith during a phone interview last week, I had to ask: did he ever feel pressured to add multiplayer?

"I've been at a lot of publishers," Smith said. "I've worked in games for 18 years. I've worked independently at times; I've worked in big teams, small teams. And I can honestly tell you, no smoke, that this is the smartest group of executives I've ever worked with."

He's talking about Bethesda, the publisher that financed and helped put out Dishonored. And he attributes part of Bethesda's success to the way that they work with creative designers like Skyrim auteur Todd Howard.

"If you look at the success of Fallout and Skyrim and games like that, this is a group of people who have just sort of grown up in the industry trusting creative talent," Smith said. "And it was such a good fit for [Dishonored developer] Arkane, we still are pinching ourselves. And so when we walked into meetings with all these guys... and we started talking about Dishonored, you know, it was very strange. Like it's clearly outside their comfort zone at times. And so it's a first-person action game with RPG elements and a stealth system. We talked at length about why view cones and simulation were important to us. We started making this art style that everybody was like, 'Wow what is this?'"

"It was very nerdy and very weird and very novel I guess," he said. "And at every step along the way those guys have supported us... This is as close as you'll get to me saying that I have not had that experience with other publishers I've worked with, who forced us to bolt on multiplayer, or who said inane things like 'First-person perspective doesn't sell!' or 'RPGs don't sell!' I can tell you from the inside, 18 years, that this is a crazy, crazy business.

"Long story short: No one ever pressured us to do that. We told them that this was an aggressively single-player game, and they said alright, we moved forward, and that was it."

Okay: but did Smith himself ever think multiplayer could be an interesting addition to a game like Dishonored?

"I never— [co-designer Raphael Colantonio] and I, once in a while we'd start meetings with the team by saying 'Well, guys, we have an announcement: we're going third-person and we're gonna add multiplayer!'" he said.

"We could probably envision the kind of game that would be fun to do co-op or whatever, but frankly, we are driven mostly by what we'd like to play... We're going after a specific experience that we think we a hard sell 20 years ago, but moving forward, people are hungry for depth. And adding multiplayer to that might harm that in some way, I dunno. Our goals all along were single-player."

Lots of reviews have compared Dishonored to Valve's classic Half-Life 2. Both titles enjoy richly-drawn gameworlds with play mechanics that let you get creative. And they've both got lead characters who don't talk. So, you'd figure that Gordon Freeman served as a model for Dishonored's Corvo, right? Not exactly.

"I hate what Valve does with the silent protagonist," said Austin Grossman, who served as writer on Arkane's action/stealth hybrid. "I find it incredibly awkward and really creepy. I find Gordon Freeman creepy as hell. The difference between Dishonored and how it works in Half-Life 2 is that it's a lot more personal. I think you get that involvement because the character has personal relationships with people from the beginning. And it's very clear that people have fucked with you in a very personal way."

Grossman offered these opinions to me when I spoke to him over the phone last week, and he made it clear that he was speaking solely for himself and not for either developer Arkane or publisher Bethesda. When I noted that Valve's crowbar-wielding hero gets a lot of people talking at him, Grossman agreed and took it a bit further. "It's people talking at him, about him and sometimes even for him. He just happens to be in the middle of this whole thing."

"I'm biased, of course, but I think Dishonored grips you much more viscerally, more emotionally. And that's on purpose. Corvo doesn't talk and I think it works because everybody knows what Corvo would have to say," Grossman continued. "His actions form a sort of speech, something like "If I could kill the people who screwed with me… And if that includes you, then I'm going to kill you right now."

Grosman may have a point when comparing Corvo to Gordon. To be fair, more is shown of Corvo's relationships in Dunwall than of Freeman's in his backstory. But you could also argue Corvo's quest for vengeance is a much more personal motivator than Gordon Freeman's guilt. Part of the reason why one silence feels so different from the other might lie in the protagonist's backstories, too. If Freeman's muteness carries an element of cold detachment, it might be because he's a scientist who's been shifted through time and space. And Corvo's quiet could seem like it contains more menace because we're told he's an assassin. Still, silence is golden in each instance, even if each game finds its shine a different way.

There are lots of games out today. Lots and lots of games. Stealthy assassins, anti-alien defense squads. Kinect wizards. Lots of games!

So tell us: what are you planning on getting this week? Free free to pick multiple options if you plan to get more than one game.

(Ridiculous photo via auremar/Shutterstock)

Two amazing games come out today: stealth-action-RPG Dishonored and strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Both are vastly different, but equally lovable.

Before you abandon all other duties because how the hell else are you going to make room during the day to play both games, read up on some tips from Jason and Luke/Kirk that you may find useful while playing each game.

Before You Start… Tips For Playing Dishonored The Best Way

Revenge ain't easy. While playing Dishonored, an excellent new stealth-action game that's out today for consoles and PC, you might find yourself face-to-face with a pack of pistol-brandishing guards or surrounded by a swarm of hungry, plague-infested rats. More »

Before You Start: Tips for Playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown the Best Way

Saving the world ain't easy. It takes strategy, preparation, determination and more than a little luck. So don't be thinking you can just fire up XCOM: More »

Revenge ain't easy. While playing Dishonored, an excellent new stealth-action game that's out today for consoles and PC, you might find yourself face-to-face with a pack of pistol-brandishing guards or surrounded by a swarm of hungry, plague-infested rats. Or maybe you just don't know where to go next.

Whether you're stuck in a tight spot or just wondering how to get the most out of your Dishonored experience, allow us to help. Here are some tips for playing Dishonored the best way:

Decide Your Approach In Advance

I won't tell you whether to turn your Corvo into a lethal assassin or a sneaky pacifist. That's totally up to you. But I do recommend that you pick one way from the outset and stick with it for as long as you can. Why? Because the game tracks your performance with a statistic it calls Chaos. When you murder lots of people, the stat raises. When you sneak around or use nonlethal methods to take out your opponents, it stays low.

The entire last mission plays out much differently based on whether you're in High Chaos or Low Chaos mode, so if you switch approaches halfway through the game, you might not get the ending you want.

Play Around With All The Options

You might be the type of person who loads up a new game and ignores all of the options. Don't do that. Dishonored has tons of sliders and switches you'll want to spend time looking at. In addition to the difficulty level, which you'll decide as you start a new game, there are all sorts of options to toggle and tweak. You might want to turn off mission markers and try to plot your own way to each new target, or you might want to play without any health bars or other interface obstructions. Your call.

Explore

Wander around. Find hidden passageways. Break into peoples' apartments. This is a game you can play by barreling from target to target, trying to kill everyone as quickly as possible, but to do so would be missing the point. There are all sorts of creepy characters to meet and interesting things to see. Go find them.

Upgrade Blink ASAP

The blink spell will be your best friend and your staunchest ally as you use it to teleport through the dim alleys and dusty streets of Dishonored. As soon as you pick up a couple of runes—hidden treasures that you can use to select skills—I recommend you use them to upgrade blink, which extends your teleport distance and lets you travel even further. This is eternally helpful no matter how you want to play.

Don't Be Afraid To Use Potions

RPG fans might be conditioned to hoard their resources, saving them only for difficult encounters. This is unnecessary in Dishonored. There are potions just about everywhere, so don't be afraid to use them. (Plus, there are no boss battles to wait for.)

Look, Read, Listen

You're exploring, right? While you're scouring the hotels and brothels and government offices of Dishonored's main city, Dunwall, take the time to experience the art. Check out the posters on peoples' walls. Read the book excerpts you'll find in cabinets and desk drawers. By far the most impressive thing about Dishonored is the intricacy of its world design, so let yourself get wrapped up in everything it has to offer.

And if you're not listening in on conversations everywhere you go, you're missing out on some of the game's best writing.

Think Vertically

If you're ever stuck on a particularly tough area, know that there are always many ways to get past a problem. Often these are vertical solutions. Blink up to the rooftops and take down enemies from above, or climb down to the sewers and sneak into an enemy-infested building without making a sound. If you're ever not sure where to go next, get high or get low.

Get Creative

Sneaking up behind an enemy guard and stabbing him in the neck is always satisfying, but there are so many ways to kill people, you'd be remiss not to try them all. Experiment with your spells and gadgets. There are a lot of combinations to discover. (For example: stop time as an enemy is firing his gun at you, then possess another enemy and move him in front of the frozen bullet. Unfreeze time. Bam, friendly fire.)

Be Prepared To Play Again

During an interview last week, Dishonored designer Harvey Smith told me that he thinks the second playthrough is even more satisfying than the first. Having spent a fair amount of time replaying the game's missions, I think he's spot on. Going back through the game again allows you to try new approaches to every challenge, find connections that you didn't know were there before, and uncover cool little secrets and easter eggs that are hidden just about everywhere in Dishonored. This is a game worth experiencing multiple times.