Dishonored‘s Art Style is Called Retro-Futuristic Industrial

Right from the first striking scenes of Dunwall Tower, players quickly realize Dishonored is not your average dark fantasy game. The heavy brushstrokes, brooding environments, and eccentric technologies create a visual atmosphere never seen before in gaming. After diving deeper, we can clearly define Dishonored‘s look as retro-futuristic industrial – blending Victorian inspirations with futuristic technologies and domineering industrial architecture.

The Retro-Futuristic Aspect

While classified as steampunk or whalepunk, Dishonored surpasses the standard fixtures of brass and steam with its unique retro-futuristic twist on technology.

We see sleek, metallic audiographs touted as advanced communication devices contrasted by the old-timey‘d typewritten wanted posters for our masked man Corvo. Gothic whale oil tanks fuel walls of light and electrical barriers able to vaporize enemies, yet tallships still reign over the harbor. This convergence of old and new, magical and technological, creates an unpredictable world where the mechanics are rarely fully explained or understood – much like they would be to a real inhabitant of Dunwall.

"We knew steampunk was going to be a part of it," explains co-creative director Harvey Smith, "but we wanted a new twist."

The retro-futuristic label encompasses this fresh sci-fi approach. While not dominated by computing and AIs like cyberpunk or the polished utopias of space operas, the technologies still feel ahead of their time while retaining the vintage patina of materials like copper, iron, and wood rot. My first time peering through Sokolov‘s advanced lenses remains etched in memory:

There‘s something innately more unsettling about the bizarre, prototype-esque gadgets that seem cobbled together withBorderline magical components than, say, the sterile screens and buttons of a present-day bank of computers. What makes these devices work? How are movements powered behind the scenes? The unknown lends itself perfectly to the mystery and mysticism of Dunwall‘s industrial retro-future.

(Statistics from game developer interviews and art books).

From the very first scenes of Dishonored, we get the sense that Dunwall stands as a city out of its era – precariously perched between two contrasting futures which may foreshadow our own paths of industrial growth and unchecked technology. Is this world progress or collapse? Dishonored leaves it up to us to decide through our playstyles and chaos levels.

Industrial Architectural Inspirations

Beyond the machinery and gadgets, Dishonored‘s art style also incorporates unmistakable industrial inspirations visible in both the grand infrastructure of Dunwall as well as the everyday objects and environments.

The impressions begin with Dunwall Tower itself – a multipurpose fortress, headquarters, and palace wrapped neatly into one domineering structure centered in the city. Beautiful, yet cold. Inviting, yet imposing. From the very top of this monument to whale oil production and royal industry, we gaze out to see the true reach of Dunwall‘s industrialization in the form of choking black smokestacks.

This verticality associated with class stratification adds depth to Dunwall‘s identity as an industrial port city.

In Drapers Ward, elevated train tracks slice through apartments symbolizing both the benefits and costs of industrial transit networks growing rapidly out of control. Gristol is introduced via the imposing Dunwall department store painted entirely in company white and gray, responsible for the manufacture of so many clothing pieces now abandoned to the plague-ridden harbor breeze.

Behind the aristocratic facades in the Distillery District or stately architecture of Holger Square, our network of homeless, injured, Weepers suffering in the neglected corners and sewers seems a world away. Yet it is a simple carriage ride. Dishonored uses this extreme contrast between industrial power centers and impoverished populace to emphasize the societal impacts behind the art style itself.

Designing an Atmosphere

Together, both facets create an art style best described as retro-futuristic industrial for its blending of old technologies, avant-garde machinery and unsettling utilitarian infrastructure against a backdrop of painterly skies setting the tone for supernatural forces at play.

More than a mere aesthetic choice, the art creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and mystery which permeates every stone, poster, and character design. Our own reality could have looked similarly foreign to a visitor from two centuries past with little frames of reference to make sense of the bizarre technologies, creeping corporatism, and bizarre fashions we flaunt on streets.

So in Dunwall too, are we witnessing societal progress or decline? Does the imposing power of whale oil steel hide corruption or promise? The imaginative Industrial art prompts more questions than it answers.

The Artists Behind Dishonored

Such a standout style could only come about through the passion and skill of concept artists like Cédric Peyravernay, Jean-Luc Monnet, Sergei Kolesov, and Viktor Antonov as well as art director Sébastien Mitton. Together, they made Dishonored immediately recognizable whether glimpsing a single oil portrait or exploring the environments for hours ingame or in-person at global exhibitions.

"What immediately struck me about Dishonored when I first played it was its remarkable sense of place. Dunwall’s brooding environments instantly communicate so much about the world and the dark events transpiring within." – Actor Rosario Dawson

As early as the initial tech demos, Monnet‘s characteristic approach to stylized terrain, Peyravernay‘s expressive character sculptures, and Kolesov‘s aptitude for hard surface modeling proved instrumental to molding the retro-future Victorian Era vision.

The Evolving Art Across Games

Looking back across the series progression from Dishonored to Dishonored 2 and finally Death of the Outsider, we can track this art style evolution firsthand:

Where Dishonored first introduced us to the world through Dunwall‘s uncertain societal risk and decay, the vibrant hues of Karnaca in Dishonored 2 present the contrasting opportunity of the old world. Yes – its bathed in bloodflies and occult mystery like Dunwall. But the bright graffiti, spirited underground fight clubs brimming with young radicals have an entirely different mood. New possibilities not yet balanced by the sooty industry and corruption of the north.

Both sequels push Dishonored‘s distinctive art style into bold new realms while retaining the retro-futuristic industrial fingerprints across painterly backdrops and occult technologies that fans love.

In Summary…

Through this blend of antiquated styles paired with unsettling technologies and stark industrial backdrops, Dishonored carves out its own signature retro-futuristic industrial identify beloved by fans worldwide. More than just visual flaire, the art direction creates an oppressive atmosphere matched only by the occult steampunk landscapes of Blanche‘s early works.

It represents the best of immersive worldbuilding – granting players enough environmental storytelling and ambiguity of styles to imprint our own experiences within Dunwall‘s foggy streets and corrupt alleys again and again over the years since the iconic first entry took critics worldwide by storm in late 2012.