{"id":1954272,"date":"2026-05-25T13:18:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T10:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1954272"},"modified":"2026-05-25T13:18:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T10:18:58","slug":"dishonored-dev-arkane-studios-nearly-made-thief-4-and-a-blade-runner-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1954272","title":{"rendered":"Dishonored dev Arkane Studios nearly made Thief 4 and a Blade Runner game"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/thief\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Thief<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Dishonored dev Arkane Studios nearly made Thief 4 and a Blade Runner game<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Word of prey.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Screenshot-2026-05-25-at-13.45.43.png?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The Thief holds out his hand on the left, while a flying car from Blade Runner zips past a FMV billboard on the right\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Screenshot-2026-05-25-at-13.45.43.png\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"319\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Warner Bros. \/ Square Enix<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1533038852.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1533038852.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/vikki-blake\">Vikki Blake<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-05-25T13:18:58+00:00\">May 25, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"36a836ea-d809-4e51-a772-2b69a57fc0a6\" data-name=\"Thief\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Thief\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Thief\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Thief\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Thief\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Thief\" title=\"Follow Thief\"><br \/>\n  Follow Thief<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/redfall\">Redfall<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/deathloop\">Deathloop<\/a> developer Arkane almost worked on Thief 4 and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/blade-runner\">Blade Runner<\/a> game before it made the first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/dishonored\">Dishonored<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s according to former Arkane co-directors Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith themselves, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZVq0af9DwPU\">sat down together earlier this week<\/a> to talk about their time at the studio, the games they made, and also the games they <em>nearly<\/em> made.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow &#8211; Official Launch Trailer.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vtJPasgfcY0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As spotted by Knoebel and shared on <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/knoebel.bsky.social\/post\/3mmk7kpumzs2v\">BlueSky<\/a>, Colantonio spoke of a time when Bethesda approached the studio to consider adding to the Thief franchise.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Before we did Dishonored, we were supposed to either do Thief or Blade Runner. Bethesda approached us with the proposition, &#8216;Hey, we have the Thief franchise, and we know the people to make that game, and it&#8217;s you&#8217;,&#8221; Colantonio said. &#8220;It&#8217;s our game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Which is basically like coming to two cats and saying, &#8216;We have a big bag of catnip here on the one side. We have another bag of catnip here, which one do you want? You want both?'&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;We were both so excited. Blade Runner and Thief, two of our favourite things of all time.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were in such a dire situation business-wise, and they came up not only to save us from business, but also to bring frankly the IP that I would have liked to work on the most,&#8221; Colantonio added.<\/p>\n<p>Smith said: &#8220;We had an amazing pitch for Thief. Would have been Thief 4\u2013&#8221; \u2013 &#8220;we have more than a pitch, we had some videos,&#8221; Colantonio interjected \u2013 &#8220;\u2013and for Blade Runner, we had worked with our brilliant animator, specialising in first-person combat, a really good guy, and a game designer on top of everything.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We also did some Replicant fighting because we had talked to [the godfather of immersive sims] Doug Church, and he said, you know, even sitting around in a room together, they would be doing things with their bodies that humans couldn&#8217;t do. Like, reaching in and grab[bing] the eggs out of the boiling water or whatever. So we had flips and it was super exciting to be working on Blade Runner.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The story pitch we had for Blade Runner was just\u2013 I loved it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreihmhhujzsyjqead6lao236yyqemycnxin4fngw5fw25ok2si7r3xy\" data-bluesky-embed-color-mode=\"system\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:uxvdusz3e6eqapsbaf7eue5u\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mmk7kpumzs2v\">\n<p lang=\"en\">Arkane Studios nearly worked on Thief 4 or a Blade Runner game before they made &#8216;Dishonored&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>9:30<\/p>\n<p>youtu.be\/ZVq0af9DwPU<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:uxvdusz3e6eqapsbaf7eue5u\/post\/3mmk7kpumzs2v?ref_src=embed\">[image or embed]<\/a>&#8211; Knoebel (<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:uxvdusz3e6eqapsbaf7eue5u?ref_src=embed\">@knoebel.bsky.social<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:uxvdusz3e6eqapsbaf7eue5u\/post\/3mmk7kpumzs2v?ref_src=embed\">May 23, 2026 at 8:45 PM<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The funny thing was that we initially thought we were going to be [working on] Thief. I was so excited, and they said, well, it might also be Blade Runner, and there was no way I could focus on Thief and Blade Runner at the same time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Colantonio went on to explain that though none of it worked out \u2013 and as they hadn&#8217;t been acquired by Bethesda yet, they were a little concerned \u2013 but Bethesda ultimately to them to &#8220;keep what you&#8217;re doing and call it Dishonored&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[Dishonored] started on the base of Thief 4,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>The video is just the first in a multi-part series where Smith and Colantonio will be joined by several members of the original Dishonored development team to &#8220;tell stories, share design insights and probably get eaten by rats&#8230; a lot&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Arkane remains one of my favourite studios of all time, and Dishonored is one of my favourite games ever, too. As I wrote at the turn of the decade, games often touch us not only because of what they are, but what they&#8217;re not and, for me, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games-of-the-decade-dishonored-taught-me-there-is-no-right-way-to-play\">Dishonored was a game that relaxed traditional gameplay in a way I hadn&#8217;t quite anticipated<\/a>. It &#8220;unshackled expectations, permitting me to explore Dunwall&#8217;s battered, broken environs at my own pace and in my own style&#8221; (which was often Low Chaos in intent, and High Chaos in actuality).<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"3\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Taken individually, Dishonored&#8217;s unique art style, brooding setpieces, engaging story, and innovative design are enticing enough,&#8221; I wrote at the time. &#8220;Woven together, however, Arkane delivers one of the most distinctive, engrossing titles I&#8217;ve played in years.&#8221; (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/2021-in-review-how-deathloop-emboldened-this-boring-player-to-take-risks\">Deathloop is criminally underrated<\/a>, too).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/redfall\">Redfall<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/deathloop\">Deathloop<\/a> developer Arkane almost worked on Thief 4 and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/blade-runner\">Blade Runner<\/a> game before it made the first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/dishonored\">Dishonored<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s according to former Arkane co-directors Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith themselves, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZVq0af9DwPU\">sat down together earlier this week<\/a> to talk about their time at the studio, the games they made, and also the games they <em>nearly<\/em> made.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow &#8211; Official Launch Trailer.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vtJPasgfcY0\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As spotted by Knoebel and shared on <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/knoebel.bsky.social\/post\/3mmk7kpumzs2v\">BlueSky<\/a>, Colantonio spoke of a time when Bethesda approached the studio to consider adding to the Thief franchise.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Before we did Dishonored, we were supposed to either do Thief or Blade Runner. Bethesda approached us with the proposition, &#8216;Hey, we have the Thief franchise, and we know the people to make that game, and it&#8217;s you&#8217;,&#8221; Colantonio said. &#8220;It&#8217;s our game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Which is basically like coming to two cats and saying, &#8216;We have a big bag of catnip here on the one side. We have another bag of catnip here, which one do you want? You want both?'&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;We were both so excited. Blade Runner and Thief, two of our favourite things of all time.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were in such a dire situation business-wise, and they came up not only to save us from business, but also to bring frankly the IP that I would have liked to work on the most,&#8221; Colantonio added.<\/p>\n<p>Smith said: &#8220;We had an amazing pitch for Thief. Would have been Thief 4\u2013&#8221; \u2013 &#8220;we have more than a pitch, we had some videos,&#8221; Colantonio interjected \u2013 &#8220;\u2013and for Blade Runner, we had worked with our brilliant animator, specialising in first-person combat, a really good guy, and a game designer on top of everything.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We also did some Replicant fighting because we had talked to [the godfather of immersive sims] Doug Church, and he said, you know, even sitting around in a room together, they would be doing things with their bodies that humans couldn&#8217;t do. Like, reaching in and grab[bing] the eggs out of the boiling water or whatever. So we had flips and it was super exciting to be working on Blade Runner.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The story pitch we had for Blade Runner was just\u2013 I loved it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreihmhhujzsyjqead6lao236yyqemycnxin4fngw5fw25ok2si7r3xy\" data-bluesky-embed-color-mode=\"system\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:uxvdusz3e6eqapsbaf7eue5u\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mmk7kpumzs2v\">\n<p lang=\"en\">Arkane Studios nearly worked on Thief 4 or a Blade Runner game before they made &#8216;Dishonored&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>9:30<\/p>\n<p>youtu.be\/ZVq0af9DwPU<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:uxvdusz3e6eqapsbaf7eue5u\/post\/3mmk7kpumzs2v?ref_src=embed\">[image or embed]<\/a>&#8211; Knoebel (<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:uxvdusz3e6eqapsbaf7eue5u?ref_src=embed\">@knoebel.bsky.social<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:uxvdusz3e6eqapsbaf7eue5u\/post\/3mmk7kpumzs2v?ref_src=embed\">May 23, 2026 at 8:45 PM<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The funny thing was that we initially thought we were going to be [working on] Thief. I was so excited, and they said, well, it might also be Blade Runner, and there was no way I could focus on Thief and Blade Runner at the same time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Colantonio went on to explain that though none of it worked out \u2013 and as they hadn&#8217;t been acquired by Bethesda yet, they were a little concerned \u2013 but Bethesda ultimately to them to &#8220;keep what you&#8217;re doing and call it Dishonored&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[Dishonored] started on the base of Thief 4,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>The video is just the first in a multi-part series where Smith and Colantonio will be joined by several members of the original Dishonored development team to &#8220;tell stories, share design insights and probably get eaten by rats&#8230; a lot&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Arkane remains one of my favourite studios of all time, and Dishonored is one of my favourite games ever, too. As I wrote at the turn of the decade, games often touch us not only because of what they are, but what they&#8217;re not and, for me, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games-of-the-decade-dishonored-taught-me-there-is-no-right-way-to-play\">Dishonored was a game that relaxed traditional gameplay in a way I hadn&#8217;t quite anticipated<\/a>. It &#8220;unshackled expectations, permitting me to explore Dunwall&#8217;s battered, broken environs at my own pace and in my own style&#8221; (which was often Low Chaos in intent, and High Chaos in actuality).<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"3\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Taken individually, Dishonored&#8217;s unique art style, brooding setpieces, engaging story, and innovative design are enticing enough,&#8221; I wrote at the time. &#8220;Woven together, however, Arkane delivers one of the most distinctive, engrossing titles I&#8217;ve played in years.&#8221; (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/2021-in-review-how-deathloop-emboldened-this-boring-player-to-take-risks\">Deathloop is criminally underrated<\/a>, too).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Thief Dishonored dev Arkane Studios nearly made Thief 4 and a Blade Runner game Word of prey. Image credit: Warner Bros. \/ Square Enix News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on May 25, 2026 Follow Thief Redfall and Deathloop developer Arkane almost worked on Thief 4 and a Blade Runner game before it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1954272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1954272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1954272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1954272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1954272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}