Bethesda Passed On Dishonored 3 For Deathloop

gameranx.com:

There was plenty of hype over the initial release of Dishonored, and while the franchise might not have captivated enough players to warrant a third mainline installment, it was at one point considered. In fact, we’re finding out now that the team over at Bethesda opted to scrap Dishonored 3 in favor of a brand-new, smaller gameplay experience. The problem was that the game ended up being about the same expense if Bethesda had decided to give Arkane a chance to develop a new Dishonored game. 

Speaking with Rock Paper Shotgun, Raphaël Colantonio, the founder of Arkane, spoke about Deathloop’s origins. Apparently, Bethesda wasn’t interested in doing a Dishonored 3, and instead, they wanted Arkane to do something simple and short. That would allow the developers to work on something and further learn when it came to crafting a new experience. According to the interview, there was a few attributes that the developers wanted to include. For example, this next game project would need multiplayer, possibly microtransactions, and a roguelike experience.

From there, the team got to work, and that’s when they came up with the idea of Deathloop. It would be a short game with players revisiting sections of the map at different periods, which gave some roguelike elements. However, the production continued to get bigger, and in the end, they were given a new product that Colantonio says would have cost just as much if they had decided to make a Dishonored 3. 

We’re sure that Dishonored fans would have been pleased with Arkane going back to deliver a third mainline installment. It would be interesting to see if Bethesda will finally green-light the development team to go back and revisit this IP again. However, Arkane Studios is