In 2012, Arkane and Bethesda brought Dishonored, a fps-stealth title clearly inspired by other works such as Thief: Deadly Shadow and Bioshock, to the market. Unlike these titles, however, the mission in the game is clear: to entertain the player by providing two approaches, one stealth and one more action-focused. Thanks to the various skills made available, whether passive or active, the player can choose what to do with them, mixing as they do 2-3 skills at a time. The combat system and the level design are strictly linked between them. Levels are full of interactives objects and paths with which the player can implement his strategies
 

Ex: Break a glass to attract NPC in order to lure the guards to one spot, escaping unscathed a little further away.

The skills provided by the team can be divided into 2 macro-families, as mentioned before, stealth and action, and among these skills there are some that can be used simply to increase the exploration range such as the Blink, the Posses and the Far Reach. Each level of the game allows and presents the player with situations that can be overcome in different ways, let's say at least: stealth, 'assault', and a mix of the two ways of fighting and even in the variety of enemies themselves and objects in the scene, the player can vary his strategy.
For example, by taking possession of a guard located shortly after the gate of light (a gpe capable of killing the player should he attempt to pass through it without disabling it)he can pass the area without a fight (if only the player had chosen this option), or if he simply wanted to distract, he could take possession of an animal (should there be any nearby). Situations like these, where are zones inspected by enemies, can be overcome by killing guards with skills such as Bend Time (slows or freezes time) and then shooting or using the sword, or even using a bomb that has been thrown by the guards and come back (again thanks to Bend Time)and after that hiding corpses thanks to the rat's skill, 

Devouring Swarm, which can be used either to attack first or simply to eliminate corpses that might alarm other guards and blow their cover.

Another interessant is WindBlast, capable of deflecting projectiles and projecting enemies at great distances from us, killing them (not exactly stealth,this time, as an ability). Listing some of the skills and explaining how to use them makes it quite clear that this whole mix of skills and situations and possibilities presented to the player are all parts of the experience that I would call revolutionary for the stealth genre. The whole combat system, if used skilfully, can give satisfactions that are not within everyone's reach. In fact, using the various combos, among the skills we can use, we will realize how these actions have a certain rhythm, with cinematic timing: slowing down time, or stopping it altogether, shooting while doing so, resuming when the player wants and continuing. There are in fact several skills that allow this 'musicality' of gameplay such as the Bend, The Far Reach, the Possess and the WindBlast, if used at the right time are able to create this rhythm, and of course satisfaction in the user and enjoyment for those watching them do. Of course, after all this frenetic “beat” there is no better than underlining the end of a piece of music, the 'finish him' moment, which leaves the player with the enjoyment of watching in slow motion a lethal shot with all the details.
In addition to skills, there are of course weapons in the game: swords, crossbows, bombs, guns. They can be used in place of certain skills, if you prefer a much more classic approach to the game without too much magic; or in combos with skills, as we talked about above. The only weapon that will always be available to the player will be the sword, while the others will have to be managed with extreme care, assessing situation after situation, as the game certainly does not have an abundance of ammunition, and perhaps not always find the same ammunition or all the ammunition in a single loot: it is part of the gaming experience, to try to understand when to use a weapon rather than another, for example, the crossbow is an excellent stealth companion, but only if you know exactly where to go and have calculated, more or less, the enemies. Guns and bombs are certainly more 'visually impactful' but would be best used in extraordinary cases with lots of enemies coming towards the player, as their ammunition is well calculated within the level, and there aren't many of them. I have to say that level design is an active part of combat design, in fact we can divide the level into three parts: lower parts ( generally sewers or beaches), ground floors ( mainly ports of the city, or the
lower parts of an islands or slums and the poorest parts of the city) and at last the higher parts of the level ( villas, palaces or interns of a building).
The verticality of the level is important because we found different experiences due to the changing of enemies: gradually, the higher
you go, the more the enemies change. In order from bottom to top we will find rats, gang members, soldiers, machines or even supernatural beings, guiding the player through the different
ambiences of the levels.