Half-Life 2 and Dishonored share someone in common


Ever wondered why Dishonored’s Dunwall looks so close to Half-Life 2’s City 17? Well, that is because these two games share a common art director, Viktor Antonov. Speaking with Eurogamer, Antonov revealed that he was the man responsible for Half-Life 2’s City 17, its suburbs and the alien Combine architecture and technology. Since Valve stopped producing games though, Antonov collaborated with Arkane to do Dishonored. And that’s precisely why Dunwall looks so close to City 17.
Antonov has also expressed his feelings about Arkane Studios:
“What I really enjoy about the philosophy of Arkane is that it’s a small, core team that does risky creative projects. And when I went to Valve, they were a small company. They’ve grown now, they’re much bigger, and I’m interested in a certain level of creative risk taking and a certain energy that can be compared to jazz, jamming or rock n’ roll, where it’s small, it’s intense and it’s about making revolutions in the media.”
And that’s also why we love Arkane Studios. The team has been behind some interesting project like Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Sure, those games were not big hits but they were way better than your average multi-platform titles.
Developed under the direction of co-creative directors Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith, Dishonored is scheduled for release in North America on October 9, in Australia on October 11 and throughout Europe on October 12, 2012.
Enjoy!