^ The wild rumour going around is that it's about 4 hours to complete it. Which is bollocks, because I've spent that amount of time on it through the tutorial and the first mission alone. The guy who did it was clearly taking the guns blazing approach and on a speed run, ignoring anything else the game offers like sidequests, hunting down runes/bone charms and not reading notes/books. Besides, that applies to every game. Skyrim could be beaten in a few hours, as is the case with any RPG, but you would be missing out on everything else the game has to offer.
Really enjoying this. I was going to go into it being completely stealthy and a pacifist towards everyone but I think I'd just be limiting myself from the first time experience in using the powers and weapons. I will mainly go for a non lethal approach seeing as it gets the best ending and that's just how I play these types of games anyway, but if I have to, then I will use the lethal approach when it suits. If I feel like it, then I will play it again on a second playthrough and go for pure stealth/pacifism in order to set myself a real challenge (one of the achievements in the game even asks that you beat the game without using any powers or upgrades at all)
It's a very atmospheric game, and for a totalitarian, plague ridden, rat infested city, Dunwall is a wonderfully realised place that looks gorgeous, like an oil painting come to life. I like reading the notes around the environment, it builds up an interesting setting and adds to the fiction as well. Playing on Hard definately adds to the challenge, guards are more alert and you can die real quick in combat. I'm having fun just messing around the levels right now, trying to explore every nook and cranny.
The coolest moment thus far comes in a mission where you have to deal with 3 thugs looking to rob a character called Granny Rags (who's delightfully creepy) and she asks you to deal with them in any way you see fit. So I just made a save and reloaded it to try out different possibilities. I would usually go to the second floor and teleport outside and behind them, where I could then teleport behind them and try to take each one out non-lethally by choking them without them realising, or I could quickly stab one from behind and deal with the rest in combat. I even cooked a grenade and threw it just in time to take all of them out in one stroke. I think my finest moment was where I actually did it the direct way and as one of them was banging on the front door, mid knock I opened it up, pulled out my pistol and shot the guy dead (which btw, the pistol is a fucking beast. It kicks hard, kills anyone almost immediately and it is LOUD). I then dispatched one guy immediately with my sword and parried the third guy just in time for me to do the brutal counter hit move which killed him. Doing that after planning it out in your head, without getting hurt, and resolving that situation in a matter of seconds was really satisfying to pull off.
It's a game where you can get achieve lots of cool moments like that. But this too is also pretty sweet.