5 Best Video Games Like Dishonored

In stealth games, few titles can match the complete meal that “Dishonored” brings to the table. It’s arguably the definitive modern stealth game in the genre, giving players a wide range of options for combat, completing its story, and navigating its dense, lore-rich world. While developer Arkane Studios nailed several factors of the game, the stealth mechanics are some of the best you’ll find anywhere else. Of course, there’s plenty of other aspects of “Dishonored” that have kept players coming back to Dunwall for over a decade.

Whether you’re a fan of the sneakiness, the exploration, or the mechanics in “Dishonored,” there are other games that can give you a similar experience. While the overall vibe of “Dishonored” is difficult to match, you could look to several other first-person action games to replicate the feeling you have either when exploring the Victorian-themed Dunwall, or when completing a mission without being seen by a single enemy. Below, you’ll find five games that are the most like “Dishonored” in one crucial way or another.

Arkane Studios has a few different franchises under its umbrella, and while “Dishonored” might be the most recognizable, “Prey” is their most underrated. Released in 2017, “Prey” features the same graphical style as “Dishonored” as well as a similar gameplay feel. The major difference between the two games is that “Prey” is less centered around stealth, but there are certainly sneaky parts of the game that allow you to slip past enemies undetected.

For the most part, though, “Prey” focuses on dealing with enemies head-on, and there are plenty of foes you’ll face during its story. “Prey” is set on a space station that’s been taken over by a hostile alien race, and the team that your character was initially a part of appeared to be experimenting on these aliens. Now, you’re being hunted by these same critters and must try to find a way to escape the space station that acts as your prison.

The catch? Your character has lost their memory, so you start with no knowledge of anything that’s been going on and must explore the station to survive, learn about what you were doing there, and how to escape. There are even multiple endings to “Prey,” so there’s some replayability on offer as well. While it’s not a 1:1 experience to “Dishonored,” if you like that franchise, there’s a high probability you’ll enjoy “Prey” too.

BioShock Infinite

From a stealth standpoint, “Dishonored” and “BioShock Infinite” are about as far apart as possible. “BioShock Infinite” doesn’t feature any major stealth sections, as the game is more about fighting enemies head-on with guns and melee weapons that you find throughout the story. However, if you enjoyed exploring the world of Dunwall in “Dishonored,” then you might like uncovering the secrets of the city of Columbia in “BioShock Infinite” even more.

Columbia is a city in the sky, powered by massive turbines that literally take the city off the ground and into the clouds. It’s not futuristic like you might think, though, as the city is run by “The Prophet,” who has turned it into a retro-steampunk version of the United States. The Prophet acts as the main villain of the story while you play as Booker DeWitt, a gambler tasked with paying back a debt that involves a girl named Elizabeth, The Prophet’s daughter.

Eventually, you and Elizabeth uncover a huge conspiracy in Columbia as you explore ever more of the city, which also sees Booker gain otherworldly powers that you can use for traversal and combat. Those parts of “BioShock Infinite” are fairly close to what you experience in “Dishonored,” just minus the stealth.

Deathloop

“Deathloop” is another big title release from Arkane Studios, and it blends a lot of elements from “Dishonored” into its gameplay loop. Like “Dishonored,” “Deathloop” is a first-person shooter with guns, melee weapons, and distinctive powers that your character can use to gain an advantage during a fight with a given enemy. Fortunately for our preferences, there are some stealth elements in “Deathloop,” but as you’re racing against a clock throughout the game, you’ll need to pick and choose where to be sneaky.

The main plot of “Deathloop” has you and another character trapped in an endless cycle of repeating the same day, “Groundhog Day”-style. The primary goal of the story is to escape the loop, which involves gathering intel in different spots on the map and eliminating eight targets before the day is done. You can engage with each enemy encounter differently, which often affects how the day plays out. However, regardless of how you decide to approach combat, your overall goal is to find out how to flee the trap you’re stuck in. “Deathloop” features gameplay that’s similar to “Dishonored,” and the two games even take place in the same universe.

Metro Exodus

“Metro Exodus” is one of the top-rated titles from the entire “Metro” franchise, and “Dishonored” fans will find plenty to like throughout its 20-hour story. For starters, “Metro Exodus” is an immersive first-person shooter that takes place during a post-apocalyptic period in different parts of what’s left of Moscow, Russia. Moscow has been ravaged by a nuclear war, and you’re a survivor who’s simply trying to find your way out of the city.

During the story, you’ll encounter other survivors, and all of you must band together to overcome the stacked odds against your survival. “Metro Exodus” offers a decent amount of stealth, but you can also brute-force your way through most of the combat parts of the game. You’ll encounter a surprising number of different enemies, including Russian soldiers, feral mutants, and other warped creatures lurking in dark corners of the map. As the game goes on, you and your band of survivors will use the metro train to travel to different locations as your search for an escape takes some wild twists and turns. “Dishonored” fans will appreciate the immersive first-person gameplay and world exploration, but “Metro Exodus” also remains one of the best post-apocalyptic games of all time.

Thief

If you solely enjoy the “Dishonored” franchise for its genre-defining stealth gameplay, then the next game you’ll want to — nay, need to — check out is “Thief.” While the modern version of “Thief” was released in 2014, two years after the original “Dishonored,” it’s not a rip-off of Arkane’s franchise. In fact, “Dishonored” takes heavy inspiration from the original “Thief” series, which was comprised of four games released in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The 2014 reboot of the series, simply titled “Thief,” tells a completely new story from the original series, so it’s not a remaster. And as you might expect, it features gripping first-person gameplay that’s centered around your character being a master thief who uses stealth to commit crimes and assassinations against an oppressive regime.

Your character has access to a wide array of stealth mechanics, including a bow and arrow that you can use to eliminate enemies from long distances or cause some close-range panic. While the story isn’t as strong as “Dishonored,” “Thief” is a fantastic stealth game that offers plenty of exploration, combat mechanics, and ways to master the art of being a burglar in a way few other titles could match.