Mark of the Ninja

There are parts of Mark of the Ninja - infiltrating enemy strongholds, using deadly gadgets and esoteric magic, systematically eliminating (or sneaking past) guards and evading traps, as you make your way toward an objective - that are impossible not to compare to Dishonored. The comparison actually feels pretty good; there are distinct differences, like Mark's extremely underwhelming story and Dishonored's irritating upgrade items, but the central conceits of both are both pretty great.

Last time I made passing mention of Mark's solid mechanics, which, impressively, continue to develop as the game proceeds: story progress unlocks new supernatural abilities (like sensing traps through walls), and upgrade points net your ninja new and awesome weapons and techniques. And like Dishonored, these various avenues of augmenting your sneaking/killing machine can feed into varied playstyles -- personally I'm all-in for the stealth-assassination approach, but the game has plenty of love for those who prefer to sneak and distract without killing anyone, and even some accomodations for players who want to face their enemies head-on.

As I said above, the story is pretty, well, meh. But it is at least well-presented, with some cool animation in (thankfully succinct) cutscenes, and a particularly excellent, highly-stylized final level. Otherwise this really feels like an interactive masterpiece: tight controls, exciting mechanics, excellent level design, and varied playstyle options.

Mark of the Ninja is great. You should play it.

Better than: Shank, most stealth games
Not as good as: Batman: Arkham City, I guess?
It is a shame I won't be playing New Game Plus: because it removes the sound indicators, which just turns everything into guesswork bullshit.

Progress: Complete