The Pendleton brothers are one of your targets in Dishonored. How you off them (or banish them) is your call.

Our latest look at Bethesda's steam-punk-y, supernatural assassin-starring title, Dishonored, tasks us with infiltrating a high society masquerade ball to exterminate an evil-doing aristocrat named Lady Boyle. While sneaking into a costume party as masked protagonist Corvo Atano doesn't pose much of a problem, distinguishing our target from her two similarly dressed sisters proves to be the mission's real challenge.

According to Arkane Studio's co-creative director Harvey Smith, there's a variety of ways to breach the Boyle mansion: “There are multiple spacial pathways through the mission...the front door, the back door, over the rooftops, through the windows, up through a water drain as a possessed Hagfish...and all support a different moral axis.” While pondering whether we'll adopt a violent or silent approach to entering the exclusive event, we catch an unexpected break while eavesdropping on some guests outside; one of the party-goer’s invitation is scooped up by a gust of wind, allowing us to snatch it from the ground before nonchalantly presenting it to the hulking guard manning the entrance.

Lady Boyle certainly doesn't look particularly winsome in this freaky red party mask.

Once inside, we mingle with guests and even receive complements on our costume — the clueless attendees just think it's an amazing mock-up of the cloak and mask worn by the wanted murderer who's been bloodying Dunwall's streets. After locating the trio of potential targets, which look identical save for their different color costumes, we spy a guard protecting the estate's second floor. Seeming like the perfect opportunity to take Corvo's possession power for a spin, we assume control of the guard, walk him upstairs, then slit his throat when he's served his purpose.

Unfortunately, a bunch of his burly friends patrolling the corridors quickly put a cramp in our prowling. Using Corvo's teleporting blink skill, we stealthily navigate the entire floor, thinning enemy ranks and sniffing out clues as we go. Letters, notes, and diary entries offer insight into the three sisters' personalities and preferences, spilling the beans on everything from their taste in men to one's apparent alcohol addiction.

Taking guards and hostiles on directly is a tough path to take on throughout the game.

Feeling confident with our new intel, we head for the first floor to begin narrowing the field of potential targets. It's at this moment, however, an alarm sounds and guards begin storming the stairway — oops, guess we should have hidden the dozen or so corpses we created earlier. Switching gears from strategic skulking to soiling our skivvies, we frantically run like hell and hide in one of the Boyle sister's private bathrooms.

This affords us a few seconds to both catch our breath and arm Corvo's crossbow. As our pursuers begin piling into the connecting bedroom, we unleash every bolt in our arsenal, creating quite the corpse pile in the process. The guards keep coming though, so we desperately scan Dishonored's radial wheel for whatever ammo we've got left. Spring Razors — mine-like explosives that viscerally shred targets with what looks like a whipping  tail of barbed wire — finally clear a path, albeit a bloody one, to the door.

Certain powers let you peep critical intellgence for stealth playthroughs.

Before we can make a break for it, however, all three Boyle sisters run into the room; apparently in all  the chaos and confusion, they're ordered to retreat to their quarters for safety. We consider tossing out our detective work and killing all three, but their terrified pleas manage to sway our moral compass in the right direction. Of course, not so much that the sound of more enemies approaching doesn't trigger our snap decision to drive a sharp length of steel through the lady dressed in black.

Turns out our black-equals-evil strategy works, as the two innocent sisters are spared while their corrupt government-funding sibling lie in an undignified heap. When we later boast of our successful, if lucky, play-through to Smith, he takes us down a few pegs, reminding “the mission is dynamic and always changes.” In other words, the lady in black won't always be the one deserving of Corvo's blade. We look forward to re-tackling this mission — particularly using an especially inspired non-lethal method Smith shares with us, but we won't spoil here — when Dishonored launches this October.

PUBLISHER: Bethesda Softworks • DEVELOPER: Arkane Studios • MULTIPLAYER: None • RELEASE DATE: October 9 • FOR FANS OF: Stealth, patience, gory kills, swapping powers, replay value